A Day in the Life: Orthodontic Treatment Coordinators

A Day in the Life: Orthodontic Treatment Coordinators

Imagine this scenario: It is close to 4:30 p.m., the most hectic part of the day. You are the treatment coordinator at a booming orthodontic office, and you take pride in building strong patient connections. The previous examination spilled over six minutes, meaning you are now running late. You make the hasty decision to begin taking images and start the new patient first visit, without preparing the consultation room. You assure yourself, everything will work out fine. Just pull up the questions when the orthodontist enters the room. All good, right? Absolutely not!

It is safe to assume most treatment coordinators have had moments, or days, like this and barely survived! You try to cut a few corners, save a few precious minutes. You convince yourself that there will be no long wait time, no back-up and everything will go smoothly. But this is in fact, dangerous thinking. Anytime you think you have total control, you are in for a rude awakening.

Jump to the new patient meet and greet. Everything seems to be going well. Mom is in good spirits; the patient is comfortable in the chair and the doctor enters the room. It is time to start the oral exam and you are feeling invincible. Then you prepare to load the patient questionnaire.

As you might have guessed, it will not load. Your ego is instantly deflated, and panic rapidly sets in. Anyone who works with modern electronics knows, they have a mind of their own. You frantically attempt to locate a hard copy of the questionnaire while trying to keep cool in front of the patient. However, this is all for naught, you messed up and now the doctor is also caught up in the 3-minute blunder.

Although there have been many times that you were able to turn this situation around, it is distressing to think that a poor start and lack of proper preparation is what caused this fiasco.

For an orthodontic treatment coordinator, success in a competitive market requires flawless execution of daily practices. This is where a practice operations consultant can help. This is someone who works with orthodontic treatment coordinators to help them better manage their busy schedules and avoid these types of situations.