You can be a wonderful dentist, but what is the point if you don't know how to communicate with patients?
Dentists regularly improve their knowledge and skills in medicine and technology. But in addition to hard skills, a dentist must have soft skills that cannot be acquired with a diploma. Soft skills are the qualities, abilities, and character traits that allow you to be successful in your profession.
In this article, we will analyze what soft skills a dentist should have to be successful.
1. Communication skills
A dentist must find a common language with any patient. This helps to build trusting relationships, involve patients in the treatment process, and explain the diagnosis and next steps. Learn to listen to the patient, negotiate with them, come to an agreement, and when to persuade. Also, be prepared to communicate well in correspondence.
On one of our broadcasts, Roman Feloniuk shared a cool life hack. When taking anamnesis at the initial appointment, the assistant always transcribes the conversation between the doctor and the patient and then adds it to the commentary in the treatment history. In the course of the dialog, the patient can tell something about children, a dog, a new purchase... And this information will be recorded and saved! At the next visit, the doctor just needs to look through the conversation saved in the comment to the treatment stage and ask the patient: "How is the puppy doing?". This will create a wow effect that the doctor has remembered such details and is really interested in the person, not the teeth themselves.
2. Presentation skills
Presenting yourself, the clinic, explaining upcoming manipulations, etc. At the initial visit, each doctor essentially presents his or her self to the patient: their skills, knowledge, experience, even behavior and personality. The patient's impression of your self-presentation has a key impact on further treatment. Try to think through the entire visit process: what should the patient remember, what conclusions should they draw, why should they trust me? And most importantly, be open and know your job.
3. Teamwork
A dentist should be a team player, not a lone star. This helps to organize work, establish amicable and environmentally friendly relations in the team. Teamwork is a whole complex of communication skills, leadership qualities and emotional intelligence that allows a person to successfully perform their part of the work in a team, interact and communicate with colleagues at the proper level and strive for a single result.
Cliniccards guarantee quality communication through a number of features. First, doctors can leave comments and targeted messages to the stages of the treatment history. Secondly, it is possible to plan the treatment of patients jointly in treatment plans by assigning different stages of the plan to specific specialists. Third, you can always add a doctor's note or comment to a visit. This will allow you not to forget anything and to prepare thoroughly for the appointment.
4. Trustworthiness
The patient must have trust and understanding that he or she is in good hands, that a professional is working with them. This is influenced by many details, but in general, there should be an understanding that the doctor really wants to do a good job, not just impose unnecessary manipulations.
We recommend using a photo protocol and treatment plans to speak the same language with patients, because only when they see the real clinical condition with their own eyes and discuss it with you they begin to trust you.
5. Critical thinking
Ability to analyze the situation and make the right decisions. A dentist should take a comprehensive approach to human health: involve related specialists if necessary, etc. Think logically, learn to observe and identify the essence, which sometimes requires thinking outside the box. Be resourceful and even creative. Accept changes positively and take a holistic approach to problem solving.
Cliniccards has a whole encyclopedia for this! You write it yourself, competently documenting each stage of the treatment history. In this case, it is easy for the doctor to see all the subtleties of the clinical picture and predict all possible options.
6. Punctuality
The clinic must respect patients' time, and patients must respect the clinic's time. Only then will appointments be on time and everyone will be satisfied. Try not to reschedule visits, if you see that because of one too long appointment, you will have to reschedule others - ask the administrator to warn patients in advance. Most will understand and be grateful that the clinic and doctor care about their time.
The interactive schedule will help you quickly navigate and find free time slots, and the Delay of patient visits and Working time report reports will collect detailed information about the patient and doctor's time.
7. Stress resistance
Do you need to be reminded once again that patients can be in a bad mood, irritated, and even cry out of sensitivity or fear (especially in pediatric dentistry)? The doctor must find an approach to any patient and work efficiently even in such conditions.
In addition, sometimes things can go wrong. For example, the patient wanted a filling, but there is a need to treat the canals and put a crown. So, instead of 1 hour of work, several appointments are required, and the cost of treatment is more expensive.
All of the above combines to give a doctor not only knowledge, skills and capabilities, but also confidence in his or her strength. When you are confident, you are calm. And if a doctor is calm, he or she can handle any situation.
The development of soft skills is a doctor's investment in personal mental health, in the ability to balance work and personal life, maintain communication and create a friendly environment. In addition, professional skills become obsolete, while soft skills are always relevant.
To have more time for development, entrust routine tasks to Cliniccards!
