Are You Making Your Schedule Work for You?

Do you ever find yourself coming into the office in the morning, taking a glance at the day’s schedule, and finding yourself exhausted before your day has even begun? If so, you probably haven’t fully embraced the idea of strategic scheduling. Your ideal schedule must be designed to create and sustain a rhythm and work flow that leaves you and your team energized. What type of schedule would make it possible for you to love coming to work in the morning and feel great when you leave at the end of the day? It’s really about preferences. Take this quiz to start thinking about what is ideal for you:

1. When do you prefer to do large cases?
2. When would you like the practice to see new patients?
3. How much time would you like for each of the major case types you do?
4. How would you like your hygiene checks organized?
5. When would you like to see emergency cases?
6. How would you like to optimize assistant time?

Once you’ve answered these questions, sit down with your team to create alignment and gather their input. Developing a shared mindset with your team around the schedule is critical, because they are the ones who actually fill the appointment book. If everyone in the practice knows what is ideal for you and the practice, you’re less likely to end up with an ill-planned schedule that doesn’t meet your objectives or needs. By extension, the same criteria you use to craft your ideal day can be used to craft your ideal week. Are there specific days of the week on which you’d like to see new patients so you can focus on them and showcasing your practice? Is your practice going to devote Friday mornings to a major case? You have many options; decide what feels good to you and your team and plan accordingly. The fact that you have a number of different case types to deal with is just a reality of being a dentist. Being able to organize that reality in a way that makes optimal sense for you, your practice and your patients is what makes you a high-performing dentist.