Empathy, Focus, and Perception: redefining patient care for a new era in dentistry

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Empathy.We will understand [the customer’s] needs better than any other company.
Focus.To do things well, we must discard all the opportunities that are not important.
Attribution.People JUDGE the book by its cover. We may have the best products, the highest quality, the most useful software, etc., but if we present them inaccurately, they will be perceived as such; if instead we present them creatively and professionally, we will attribute to them the desired properties”

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

Empathy : we will understand the patient’s need better than any other dental office .
Focus : to be clinically successful we must stop wasting time on things thaught in some conventional courses.
Attribution : People judge the dentist by their “cover” . We may have the best protocols , the higher accuracy and the best technician but if we present them inaccurately , they will be perceived as such , we need to invest time in learning proper communication and marketing so that our patients will attribute us our deserved status .

Customers are not rational , Patients are not rational even less . Spending time in a dental office is a tough experience for the average patient . I will try to describe the experience from their point of view cause , recently , I ve been a patient myself for a problem to my knee.
I had a pain on my knee due to an old accident I had doing cycling with a tear on my meniscus . It seems that now I arrived at a dead point so i went around to understand how to solve this issue .
My first consultation was with a surgeon : I found a waiting room full of people waiting and I ‘ve been waiting for almost an hour ,finally I got in and I started my consultation . After couple of questions about my symptoms he started looking at my MNR and he started commenting the result in a technical way about the shape , type of tear , its classification and how bad my meniscus it was , After he started commenting how uncertain was the result of a surgery and considering my symptoms ( I’ve limitations only on running , surfing , bending completely and weightlifting , all activities not “vital “ for the average human ) he left me with the choice of doing the surgery or not .
Cutting the whole story I did another consultation with a surgeon who deal a lot with tennis players and their knee’s injuries . The first question , after asking main symptoms , was : how much important are these limitations in your life ? I replied : “ a lot , even in this way I am not going to stop what I do, in august I also did a surfing holiday despite my knee “
Zero comments on technical details , just that the meniscus was bad and a clear message : if these activities are important for you ,surgery is mandatory and we will manage , despite some issues , in a way that, for sure, you will get an improvement , maybe not 100% but an improvement for sure , a remarkable improvement .
Here I came with a problem , I felt understood about my needs and i got a clear answer with a straight forward solution . So booked my surgery for end of november .
In the same way our patients come to our office . They come scared and confused , in their case there is also the economical problem (in Italy dentistry is almost completely private ) so what they want is : -finding a relaxing and friendly environment , -feeling to be understood by the doctor ,-they don’t want technical details they cannot understand tiring their brain and getting just more confusion and uncertainty ,-solutions they can understand and manage in their brain .
These are all skills that are not dental-linked but communication linked but in the actual world where competition raised , over informations is abundant and people is confused and also prices are different , these skills are fundamental in the management of a dental office .
Communications is fundamental also from an ethic point of view , learning to communicate is also learning to motivate patients to change their habits in more effective way .
Managing people with periodontal treatment more and more the biggest difference is when we push people to change their habits on their homework and the key is not technical , but a skill related to communication .
Doing dentistry in the modern world is more and more like triathlon , the medical skill is a fundamental PRE REQUISITE (but not enough ) to the success of the office if you have to manage it .
Not everywhere of course , living in a small village or in some countries you can still be successful like we were here in Italy some decades ago but the bar is raising everywhere and it will be just matter of time .
World is changing quickly and better be prepared for the upcoming wave of change .
Drowning is not an option in this case , it’s a choice you re dong now a decade ahead .
The Apple ’s manifesto has to become our manifesto .

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