Restart
Newsletter 29th April 2020
Information provided by Dr Jon Kozeniauskas & Erica King of refocused dental
Hello Drs,
It has been a non - stop week reading & becoming fully informed of all the information being presented for dentists right now that Level 2 restrictions are in place.
To help you feel positive about taking this next step here are our thoughts for action now.
This week we will cover:
1) Jon’s Perspective
2) ADA Guideline References & Department of Health Training
3) Communication to Patients
4) Not Business As Usual
5) Feedback
1) Jon’s Perspective
The speed of change right now is daunting.
We educate, plan and structure over many years and now changes are thrust upon us in a matter of days.
All of you have either restarted or are about to within days.
“Make haste, slowly & cautiously”.
Be sure that you are fully re-set and have followed your checklist plan; have communicated with your team and patients.
It is essential that you are very clear about what you can and can’t do at this time with Level 2 restrictions.
I strongly believe that the most crucial issue at this time of restart is ‘what is my patient response’ to coming into the practice for treatment?
This patient feedback is critical to being able to assess the percentage of patients’ wanting to resume treatment plus the level of treatment that they can afford.
When you receive negative patient responses, try to ascertain politely why they don’t want to return now & also the approx. timeframe of when they want to come back or hear from you again.
This vital information will assist with your staffing; days & hours of opening and how best to move forward.
Remember that patients have been through as tough a time as you have so please keep treatment to a minimum & fully utilise item nos for maximum rebates.
This is a difficult time, so keep asking questions with your accountant and email us with your questions [email protected] and we will try to assist.
Help is at hand.
For now, ‘let’s get into it’.
2) ADA Guidelines & Department of Health Training
The ADA has put together some excellent resources that we highly recommend yourself & your team members read through, discuss & action.
These documents can be found on the ADA Federal website www.ada.org.au
Login with your ADA Member Number and review these documents under Covid19/Dental Professionals.
- Managing Covid19 Guidelines
file:///ADA-Managing-COVID-19-Guide-25-March-2020%20(1).pdf
- Level 2 Decision Tree
file:///Level-2-Decision-Tree-(v2)%20(1).pdf
- Checklist for Practice Start Up
- Refocused Dental Checklist
https://www.refocuseddental.com/post/one-down-all-out
- ADA Webinar Thursday 23rd April – Practicing through the Pandemic
https://www.ada.org.au/CPD-Portal/Resources/COVID-19-Practicing-through-the-pandemic
- The Federal Health Department have an excellent online module to provide you & your team with recognised infection control training.
This is a free 30min training session that ends with some questions to check understanding & then provides a certificate of completion.
https://covid-19training.gov.au/index.html
We highly recommend that you and each of your team members completes this training.
You can then communicate to your patients that your team has this acknowledged training to help keep them safe.
3) Communication to Patients
When you are emailing your patients’ we suggest that you provide this list so that they know exactly what changes are now in place in your practice.
Please modify this list as appropriate to your practice.
It would also be helpful to have this same information printed and put in a prominent position in your practice.
To Your Patients - For Your Safety & Ours:
1. Our team has completed training concerning corona virus and infection management from the Department of Health.
2. We have implemented a system which requires our team to report if they are exhibiting corona virus like symptoms before attending work.
3. We will be thoroughly screening all patients before attending the practice to confirm they are not exhibiting corona virus like symptoms before making an appointment.
4. The practice has had a thorough deep clean before reopening.
5. There will be a reduced number of dentists & hygienists working in the practice to reduce the amount of people.
6. You will be asked to wash your hands & use an antiseptic mouth rinse on arrival into the practice
7. We will have social distancing markers placed on the floor in reception to ensure patients remain 1.5m away from each other and our team at all times.
8. There will be reduced number of people allowed in the waiting & reception areas at any one time. We ask that you come alone for your appointment.
9. Our reception team will be wearing personal protective equipment to help keep both our team & you safe.
10. When initially seated in the treatment room you will be asked to use a hand sanitiser & antiseptic mouth rinse again. Your temperature will also be taken & recorded on your file.
11. Additional time will be allocated for every appointment to allow for extra sterilisation & social distancing measures.
12. We ask that you arrive on time for your appointment. This isn’t new but it is more important than ever. This is to make sure there is minimal contact between patients.
13. You may be asked to wait in your car or outside if we have too many people in the waiting areas. If applicable
14. We have also stopped accepting cash or providing change due to the safety risk associated with passing physical money between people.
15. A new 4 step payment procedure for tap and go has clearly been marked at reception. Or whatever measures you have implemented to process payments with the least amount of personal contact as possible.
Please remember that if you have travelled or returned from overseas in the past 14 days, been in contact with anyone who has COVID-19 or are experiencing flu like symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties) please inform us, remain at home and keep us all safe.
4) Not Business As Usual
Please don’t make the ‘fatal’ mistake of thinking in anyway that it will be ‘business as usual’ because there are many changes as discussed & highlighted that must be implemented.
Reality is that returning to full appointment books with comprehensive treatment will not happen in the short term.
Work with the patients that do want to see you, respect their financial limitations and go slowly forward.
Nothing we do will ever fully be the same again.
5) Feedback
To help us help you more specifically we would greatly value your feedback:
Email to [email protected]
- What are your patient responses to returning?
- What are the most common reasons for not wanting to return?
- What percentage of your patients want to book an appointment?
Thank you all
Until next week.
Kind Regards Jon and Erica