Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

About the author Mhari Coxon is a dental hygienist practising in Cen- tral London. She is chairman of the London British So- ciety of Dental Hy- giene and Therapy (BSDHT) regional group and is on the publications com- mittee of its journal, Dental Health. She is also clinical director of CPDforDCP, which provides CPD courses for all DCPs. To contact her, email mhari. coxon@cpdfordcp.co.uk. 25DCPsMarch 28-April 3, 2011United Kingdom Edition front, negotiating and prioritis- ing the agenda for the visit and using the patient’s language rather than medical jargon. You are effectively finding out what it is you can sell to the patient in terms of their wants and needs. Empathy Empathy is sincere and suc- cessful when a patient acknowl- edges that he or she has been seen, heard, and accepted as a person. Barriers to empathy often include using medical termi- nology, confusing sympathy with empathy and feeling that it takes too much time. Effective empathy can be ex- hibited by: • Greeting the client on neutral territory; ie the waiting room • Keep on an even eye level with maintained eye contact • Avoid physical barriers • Reflective speech - Repeat information in patients’ own language • Share experiences/anecdotes • Accept patients’ thoughts and feelings • Use ‘hear’ ‘see’ ‘told’ when talking after listening to show you are thinking of what they said Education To effectively communicate education first assess what the patient already knows and then ask questions to determine what he or she might be wondering . Not all patients will be forth- coming with questions, so be prepared to probe empatheti- cally to discover their most ba- sic concerns and fears. Common questions from patients include: • What has happened to me? • Why has this happened to me? • What will be d o n e t o me? • Can they fix it? • Why will they do this rather than that? • Will it hurt? • When will I have the results? • How much will this cost? Be prepared for these ques- tions and have good answers prepared as a team. Enlistment Enlistment is an invitation by the clinician to the patient to collaborate in decision-making regarding the problem and the treatment plan. It is a challenge to the dental team to create a plan of treatment that the pa- tient will accept and to which he or she will adhere. As all practitioners know, patient non-adherence is a tre- mendous problem – loss of earnings, resources wasted, waste of time. When you are enlisting the patient: • Lay out all the variables for the patient in a simple format, including a description of ben- efits, and review of possible side effects/complications. • Ask for feedback to ensure true collaboration and be prepared to tailor the course of treatment based on the individual’s life- style, habits and routines. • Flexibility is critical to arriv- ing at a plan of action that will best suit the patient’s needs and overall health. • At the completion of the visit, be sure to close effectively by summarising the agreed-upon plan and discussing next steps. This form of enlistment is a necessity and seen as best practice. CQC will smile on this kind of communication. Why bother with all this? By incorporating effective communication techniques into daily patient interac- tions, clinicians can decrease theirmalpractice risk. More im- portantly, clinicians can posi- tively and effectively impact pa- tient health outcomes without increasing the length of visit— a win-win situation for both parties, and indeed the goal of health care. Put yourself in the patients shoes If you follow the four E’s then creating that acceptance of treatment can be enjoyable for both you and the patient and give the principle something to smile about too. Paul Howe, who is a sales advisor, quotes five foundations to successful selling. These are: • Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care • We all love to buy but hate be- ing sold • Clients are happy to be lead but never pushed • Leave them better than you found them....re- gardless • Deliver what you promise, always, on time, first time, every time I genuinely try to fol- low these ideals with every patient and actually, these can be applied to general life as well with great effect. In conclusion Selling is simply exchanging a product or service for mon- ey and everyone in a dental practice does this daily, even if the patient is exempt from pay- ment. Reactive selling, (this is when you are approached for your product and you respond) is the easiest and most effective form of selling, and again, something we do every day. Proactive selling, (this is when you approach some- one to try and enter a dialogue with them to discover if they would benefit from your product or services) is also a suitable form of selling providing you abide by the four Es rule. Ask- ing if someone is interested in a service is not pushy-selling, unless you do not listen to or respect the answer the pa- tients give. DT ‘As all practitioners know, patient non-ad- herence is a tremendous problem – loss of earnings, resources wasted, waste of time’