Don't ask

There are some questions that nurses should not ask patients.If a nurse asks certain questions, or mentions certain things then she may well get a negative response, yet when the dentist asks exactly the same question they will get a positive response.It all relates to the position of authority that the dentist holds. Let's look at an example."You're due for some x-rays. Is it OK for us to take some x-rays?"When I say that the reply is virtually 100% positive. But when the nurses say the same thing they get about 20% rejection.The rejection then makes my job harder because I then have to turn around a negative or forgo necessary x-rays.Another example is: "I think the dentist is going to recommend a crown for that."That simple comment can kill the possibility of doing a crown stone dead before the dentist has even seen the patient because some patients will immediately begin thinking of all the reasons they don't need a crown.There are more examples but I'm sure that you get the idea.Have a team meeting and decide the things that the team cannot say to patients.