Creating a healthy work-life balance
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 22nd September 2023
Stress in dentistry can overwhelm any dental professional at any given moment. From patient care, to completing paperwork and looking after the rest of the team, it’s easy to let it catch up with you. Before the COVID-19 pandemic threw the industry into further disarray, over half of all clinicians were reporting symptoms of burnout.[i]
These symptoms can range from emotional and physical exhaustion to depersonalisation and a lack of fulfilment. Principal dentists especially face an extreme level of pressure, and the resulting burnout can affect not only them, but patient care, the quality of treatment and the practice at large.
For principals, managing the well-being of everyone within your practice is fundamental, but the only way to truly make a positive change in the long-term is by targeting the root of the problem; the daily processes and workflows that may lead to burnout. The question is, what steps are needed to optimise day-to-day work and build a heathier practice for you and your team?
Streamlining care
Patient care can be exhausting, and the administrative demands placed upon principals only further pile on stress, ultimately increasing the risk of burnout. Digital solutions could streamline the repetitive processes that negatively impact professional engagement and satisfaction. The current generation of healthcare professionals are the most digitally literate to date,[ii] and it only makes sense to adapt workflows to maximise on this strength.
Clinical reports, patient history and previous radiographs could be centralised on a practice management system, allowing them to be immediately accessible chairside. Diagnoses and treatment plans can be communicated with a patient in an instant, without the endless time spent scouring for information in poorly organised files. Constructing a patient’s report after treatment could be made simple, filing the correct information in one simple-to-understand space, reducing the chance of misfiling important notes.
Overworking can also be a major cause of burnout. Modern practice solutions could track the busiest areas of a practice, and which treatments are especially common. This analysis could support informed decisions, such as hiring dental professionals to relieve the burden placed upon current clinicians. For example, hiring a new dental hygienist if the patient base requires extensive hygiene or supportive therapies that were previously being delivered by a dentist who may be interested in providing other treatments such as dental implants.
Looking after the business
Principal dentists must also appreciate that the practice is as much a business as it is a dental care provider. Those with clinical backgrounds may feel unsure on what is needed to properly manage the financial obligations of a practice – an obvious cause for stress. Perhaps burnout already limits the chance to complete effective business analysis. These responsibilities may include assessing cash flow, managing insurance claims and analysing net production. These are by no means easy, and professionals stretched across multiple platforms, trying to make sense of how successfully the practice is actually functioning, can understandably feel overwhelmed.
Implementing digital solutions could mitigate some of this stress by offering more efficient methods of collecting and evaluating the data. Dental practice management software that centralises key performance indicators into a dashboard can simplify exhausting, and often complex, analysis. Rather than spending hours seeking out insightful data, dental professionals can reclaim their free time, perhaps spending it with loved ones, preventing the feeling of being run down.[iii]
Accessing the power of the cloud
In the modern age of dentistry, information can be made more accessible to employees, no matter where they are working. In the practice or off-site, a cloud-based software makes work flexible around a dental professional’s needs. Schedules can be configured in a way optimises well-being, whilst maintaining high productivity. The stress brought on by spending extensive hours in practice can be alleviated, whilst the workflow keeps moving.
It’s important that your practice management systems can grow with you, taking on the individual demands that your unique place of work creates. A cloud-based software solution not only allows for access from wherever a professional is, but it doesn’t require extensive downloadable updates – instead, they are delivered automatically so you can always have the latest features in an accessible manner.
Creating a work-life balance with Sensei Cloud
Sensei Cloud practice management platform is a dynamic software from Sensei, the practice management software brand of Carestream Dental, providing solutions to streamline your workflows and improve your relationships with patients. An intuitive design places everything a few clicks away, from clinical imaging software to Patient Bridge, an all-in-one patient engagement solution, and dashboards with live performance and financial metrics. Sensei Cloud is accessible anywhere, at any time, ready to work for your practice.
Consider revolutionising your practice by connecting your daily workflows into easily manageable solutions. Burnout can become a worry of the past as you reclaim your own time with improved practice management from wherever you are, for an all-around enjoyable work-life balance.
For more information on Sensei Cloud visit https://gosensei.co.uk/
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @carestreamdental.uk
[i] Physician Burnout. Content last reviewed February 2023. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/prevention/clinician/ahrq-works/burnout/index.html [Accessed June 2023]
[ii] Wong, B. L., Khurana, M. P., Smith, R. D., El-Omrani, O., Pold, A., Lotfi, A., … & Saminarsih, D. S. (2021). Harnessing the digital potential of the next generation of health professionals. Human Resources for Health, 19, 1-5.
[iii] Sharifi, M., Asadi-Pooya, A. A., & Mousavi-Roknabadi, R. S. (2021). Burnout among healthcare providers of COVID-19; a systematic review of epidemiology and recommendations.
