7 Return to Work Conversations

At this point in the pandemic, dental offices are starting to open back up. Some team members are eager to return and others, understandably, are hesitant. The following are my reflections on a few of the recurring themes from podcasts, webinars, social media groups, posts and videos regarding dental practices. I have identified 7 key observations from conversational banter* with fellow dental professionals and industry executives and I’m offering suggestions for addressing these challenges in your practice.

Infection Control was Shabby before COVID

The shortfall of proper infection control protocols in dental offices has been brushed aside or ignored for years. If employees felt psychologically or physically unsafe in their work environment prior to COVID-19, yet tolerated that work environment, they may now be doubling down on the importance of a safe workplace by not returning. (I am curious why it took a pandemic for the intolerable safety conditions to be acknowledged, but that is for another blog.)

ALL people want to work in a safe environment, and patients seek safe care in all dental practices. If your standards were below the bar before COVID-19, hire an infection control expert and make the needed changes now. By doing so, your former team and patients are more likely to return and become your advocates rather than your detractors. Employers have an opportunity to attract team members and patients by implementing proper infection control measures and having suitable PPE available.

No Leadership, No Plan = No Team

If you own or manage a dental practice and your team is voicing that they do not want to come back to work, a place to turn to discover why, might be…the mirror. Leadership is the art of transforming others, and to transform others you first must be able to transform yourself.

How often have you been able to spot your growth edges? Growth edges are areas of our life and work that trigger our frustrations. The anxiety these edges provide is a signal that we must grow in order to become our best selves.

A few questions to ask yourself:

• How regularly have you reached out and had conversations with team members during the shutdown?
• Do you have a recovery plan in place? If yes, does it include improved infection control measures and PPE?
• Have you communicated your reopening plan to your team? Dental leaders who have a plan and have communicated that plan to their employees and patients are re-opening their practices with their full teams and patients ready and willing to come back.

Not sure where to start? I can help. You might consider sending a survey to your employees with questions around how concerned they would be about their own and patients’ safety when they return to work, what would be the biggest concern in returning, phasing in team members, appointment schedules and templates. If you need support with a welcome back letter or verbal skills, please email me and I will send you a sample survey and template you can customize. My email is kristine@kristineberry.com

Telehealth/Teledentistry is Here to Stay

Technology and technological advances, specifically the current focus on teledentistry, are not the future of oral health. They have been in place but are becoming an increasingly important tool in promoting and delivering care since COVID-19. Prior to COVID-19, many practices with multiple locations, public health and or school based were implementing a teledentistry model to serve their patients and or work with the limited amount of specialist in their geographic areas Post COVID-19 it will be the norm. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being absolutely; Do you believe you have the capability to sustain teledentistry after COVID? If not, why not? Developing policies, protocols, lasting integration (standard operating procedures,) behavioral health training and accountability and follow-up are all aspects on installing a new service within a practice. Do you need support designing an effective business plan for telehealth/ teledentistry? I invite you to set up a complimentary coaching call. Click here to secure your spot https://oneononesession.as.me/teledentistry

Immunity and Behavioral Health

Our professions now may feel a new urgency to learn evidence-based health behavior change theories. After all, think about what it took to get people to wash their hands more frequently, wear a mask and stay in place.

They have to:

• Believe the risk to their health is real
• Believe the benefit of behavior change outweighs the effort
• Believe in their competence to change behavior

Case acceptance will change from telling patients what they need, to having conversations (reflections and open-ended inquiry, stages of change etc.) so that we can elicit the patient’s inner motivation to want dental and dental hygiene services and tying those reasons to their overall health, wellness and improving their ability to build immunity. This crisis confirms that one person’s illness can threaten everyone’s health. Inevitably, for our communities to thrive, we will recognize too, that everyone’s well-being is interdependent with the well-being of all. What additional training and behavior change skills do you need?

Dental/ER Link

How many of the readers had an interdisciplinary relationship with a local ER department prior to COVID-19? In 2012, working as a director of dental services (mobile, general, oral surgery and pedo) for a community-based hospital, it was torture creating the on-call after-hours and weekend schedule so that ER providers could call the dentists to triage cases. The dentists wanted desperately to be at the table with their contemporaries in healthcare, yet all I observed was resistance and obstacles on the part of the dentists. I prefer to support my clients with communication and relationship building strategies, so the practice is seen as a complete health dental hub. The outcomes are bi-lateral referrals and a healthier community. During the pandemic, there has been an increase in hashtags showing support for local ER departments. In order for that to continue, intentional steps can be put into place (teledentistry model), so dentistry continues to be seen as part of the solution- post pandemic.

Dental Home Fantasy/Reality

We’re all aware of statistics stating that 50-60% of the US population does not have a dental home or visit a dentist at least once a year. Oral health care needs to be able to promote preventive care freely and fearlessly. It’s time to break down the silos and protectionism and take the actions needed to loosen the reciprocity for licensure between states and increase the ability for dental hygienists to have their own practices. To promote the importance of oral health, the dental industry needs to remove the self-imposed barriers of delivering care so that patients have increased access to the care they need and to make dental and dental hygiene services essential parts of overall behavioral health and wellness.

Reframe Meaningful Work

I have noted an influx of references to and derisive remarks comparing the increased usage of PPE to wearing “space suits” among dental professionals. I get curious about the joking because that is what the healthcare heroes who have been on the frontline have been wearing. We’ve seen stories that workers are thankful they are finally getting the proper and appropriate inventory of PPE. So why do some dental colleagues think that a change in protection is tinder for jokes and does not need to fall on dental shoulders? If you find yourself uncertain about wanting to wear a head bonnet or shoe booties, I invite you to pause and ask yourself, “Do I continue to find my work meaningful?” or “Do I still want to continue to provide oral care to patients?”

The studies on interpersonal sensemaking and the meaning of work shows that how you make sense of your work—value or devalue it—supports or detracts from one’s feeling of self-worth. Do you feel that you are worthy of wearing additional protection? I invite you to notice and identify where you are on the purpose spectrum. No position is good or bad—it just is. You may want to have this discussion with your team as well. A pillar of team engagement is meaning. If you keep alive and share your “why” with patients and team, it builds resilience and the derisive “space suit” orientation may fall away because you are walking your why—and it might just be what oral health heroes wear.

I may not know the future of the dental industry, and one thing I feel strongly about is that the future of our work will be complete health focused, authentic and personalized.

Are you ready for your practice to pick up? Are you ready to transform yourself and your team’s growth edges? The road between here and there is rarely direct. You are likely to run across some obstacles and problems. As the Stocis of ancient Greece said, "The obstacles are the way.” They tell you it’s time to grow. Let’s talk about the obstacles that you’re faced with in re-opening your practice. Click on this link to schedule a 30 minute appointment to see how I can help: https://oneononesession.as.me/recoveryplan

Onward and Upward,

Kristine

* Acknowledging all the conversations, articles, webinars, sharing of thoughts, narratives, stories, analytics and projections that influenced the writing of this article.