New Spear Course: Difficult Conversations for the Front Office

Spear’s newest course, Difficult Conversations for the Front Office, is the fourth course in Spear’s “Difficult Conversations” series. Every position within a dental practice experiences patient interaction, and sometimes these conversations can cause anxiety and stress. In our previous installments, we have explored difficult conversations for dentists, hygienists and dental assistants, but in this course we address the front office. Often times, the front office is the first point of contact with patients – either with the initial phone call or when patients arrive for their appointments. Front office staff often has to address patient issues such as cost, arriving late for appointments, and fielding patient inquiries to speak to the doctor when they are with other patients. This course will help your front office staff more easily facilitate these conversations and create a safe environment for future conversations with all patients.

After viewing this course, you will:

• Identify common conversations between the office manager/administrative person/front office and patient.
• Discuss verbiage that can be utilized by the office manager/administrative person/front office, as well as all team members.
• Demonstrate, via role-playing, the benefit of preparing for difficult conversations and working with patients to facilitate health-centered decisions. 

Abigail Pfeiffer is the Editor for Spear Education