Getting good at anything requires practice.
Currently I’m learning a foreign language and having tennis lessons. It’d be nice if those skills were easy to acquire but they both need sustained effort.
There’s an old joke:
Club professional to golfer: “Would you like a lesson?”
Golfer: “No thank you. I learnt yesterday.”
That doesn’t work for golf or dentistry. If you want to become better you need to put the work in.
When was the last time you:
Role played what you were going to say to patients to explain treatment?
Got your clinical camera out and practiced so you can quickly take perfect photos?
Practiced taking a patient history on your receptionist?
Practiced how to explain simple treatments like crowns and root fillings?
Let your nurse practice taking clinical notes with you coaching her?
If the answer is “never” then you really should.
Many dentists attend my Case Acceptance course and then go back to their practice and never practice the skills they were taught. Instead they just take one or two simple tricks and let the rest go.
I suggest to you that next time you have a patient cancellation and some free time, practicing your skills with your nurse. It will be more beneficial than sitting around chatting about the weekend.
