Holiday How-To

Happy Holidays! With time off (hopefully) in the not-so-distant future, it is important that your patients AND team are prepared for any holiday closure time. Patients should ideally be made aware of any practice closures in advance. Emails, texts, or custom recorded voicemails are the best way to ensure that patients know you are closed AND know what to do if they have a dental emergency. Your team also needs to know the expectations for checking email, voicemail, and text messages while the practice is closed. Listen in to these reminders to ensure that you are fully prepared for any time off this week! 

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Transcript

Are you looking for a podcast where you
0:04
can hear from real people regarding
0:06
their real dental drama? If so, then
0:09
you've come to the right place. Join
0:11
hosts Bethany Penny and Dr. Reena Kuba
0:14
as we dive into the solutions we've
0:17
created and the mistakes we've made
0:19
while managing dental drama.
0:22
Let's get started. Happy holidays,
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friends. It is hopefully a fun week for
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so many of you. I know it is a busy week
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for many of you, which is why I wanted
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to do just a brief episode today with
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some holiday howto's
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regarding time away from the office. So,
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I know this is kind of an interesting
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week with Christmas falling on Thursday.
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It leaves both a weird week this week
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and a weird week next week. Now, I know
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plenty of my clients will actually take
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time off this week and they'll shut the
1:00
practice down for the week. I've got
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clients that'll do it up for the whole
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week this week and then they're off some
1:07
of next week as well. And then, of
1:10
course, I've got plenty of clients that
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are working today and tomorrow and even
1:16
half a day on Wednesday. And so
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everybody's holiday week looks
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different, but I wanted to set up a few
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key reminders on how to take time off
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well during a holiday break period like
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this. So
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many times what I see with practices is
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that the practice owner has a general
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idea of how that time off is going to
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go. They block the calendar accordingly,
1:48
hopefully many months in advance, and so
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the whole team knows that we're closed
1:54
on this day, this day, this day. But
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outside of being closed, a lot of
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practice owners haven't taken the time
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to envision how those closed days will
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go in particular. Are they expecting the
2:09
phone to be answered? Are they expecting
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emails to be responded to, text messages
2:15
to be responded to? Are we editing a
2:19
voicemail and telling patients when we
2:22
will return to the office? Are we
2:24
sending out a mass email and telling
2:28
patients about our holiday hours? What
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are we doing about emergencies? Where do
2:34
those go? Is the doctor on call during
2:38
the break for those emergencies? If so,
2:40
how do are the patients aware of that?
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So many times
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the doctor has an idea on those things
2:49
but hasn't fully communicated his or her
2:52
expectations to the team. So, while it's
2:56
a little bit last minute, you're
2:57
listening to this episode today. If your
3:01
practice is already closed, then you may
3:03
have missed the boat on this or you may
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need to communicate to your team what
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the expectations are.
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If you are still working today and
3:14
tomorrow or whatever the case may be for
3:16
this week, then I would encourage you to
3:18
take time at the end of today to review
3:22
your expectations. So, let's say that
3:24
you're closed Wednesday through Friday
3:27
of this week. I think it's very
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important that number one, you make some
3:34
preparations for the patients to know
3:37
that you are closed. I prefer for a
3:41
holiday email blast to go out, honestly,
3:44
ideally before this week. I like for it
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to go out about a week before you're
3:48
going to be closed so that patients know
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that you're going to be closed. If there
3:54
was an issue that they've kind of been
3:56
putting off, the last thing that we want
3:59
is for that to blow up on that patient
4:01
over the holiday break. And so if they
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know ahead of time that email that says,
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"By the way, happy holidays to everyone.
4:09
Our office will be closed." And you list
4:12
out the closure dates. then that can
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sometimes be a reminder that to that
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patient that's been having a little
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lingering pain to go ahead and give you
4:21
a call sooner rather than later. Now, if
4:24
you're going to be closed on, let's say,
4:27
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this week, I
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would encourage you to coordinate with a
4:32
team member to get an email sent out
4:35
today letting patients know that you you
4:38
guys will be closed on Wednesday,
4:40
Thursday, Friday. Now,
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it's important that patients who have a
4:46
true emergency know what to do. So, it's
4:50
important that in that office hour
4:53
closure email that's sent out that you
4:56
describe what a true emergency is. You
4:59
um here are the symptoms. You know, if
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you have this symptom, this symptom,
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this symptom, then we would consider
5:05
that a true emergency. If that occurs
5:08
over this holiday break, step one is
5:11
this or option two is this. Line out
5:15
what the patients need to do in the case
5:18
of the emergency that you described.
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Now, it's challenging to find quote
5:25
unquote coverage for your holiday break
5:29
period of time because a lot of people
5:31
go on holiday at the same time. So,
5:35
this next suggestion is going to be a
5:37
little bit tricky, but it may still be
5:39
worth considering, especially if you're
5:41
taking a longer period of time off and
5:45
are either going to be out of town or
5:47
out of pocket for a week or more than
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that. In that particular case, that
5:53
blast email that you send would need to
5:56
have an emergency contact. So, let's say
6:00
that your office is closed from this
6:02
Wednesday until next Thursday because
6:05
that's New Year's Day. Then I would list
6:08
whoever your colleague is that is going
6:12
to be covering call for you. List the
6:15
doctor's name. List the practice phone
6:17
number or their personal cell number,
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whatever it is that you've arranged with
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that provider, so that patients have the
6:24
opportunity in a true emergency to
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contact another doctor.
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Now, that's part of this whole thing
6:32
that you need to think of in this
6:35
holiday howto is do you have somebody
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that covers call for you or is that
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something that you've always covered
6:43
yourself and therefore unfortunately
6:46
have never really gotten a break. Um, in
6:49
that particular case, I would say it's
6:51
time for you to coordinate with somebody
6:54
either in your community. Oftentimes I
6:57
will see my clients get to know a fellow
7:01
doctor dentist in their area in their
7:04
same town even and they coordinate with
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that doctor to cover call when they are
7:09
out of town or out of pocket. So if you
7:12
haven't developed that type of
7:13
relationship, I would encourage you to
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do so as quickly as possible. Once
7:19
again, it's a little bit late for that
7:20
this week, but I think going forward, it
7:24
gives you the opportunity to get away on
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vacation and actually not have to worry
7:28
about your patients being in need. So,
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that email blast should include the
7:34
dates of your closure.
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It should include what a true emergency
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is, what to do in that true emergency,
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and if you have an on call on call
7:46
doctor, it needs to list that doctor's
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information and when to contact him or
7:53
her or their practice in the case of an
7:56
emergency.
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Those details are going to be incredibly
8:00
helpful for number one, telling your
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patients that you're going to be closed,
8:03
so they don't need to be hunting you
8:05
down. Number two, it is going to be
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helpful to communicate to your team what
8:13
the expectation is as far as their role
8:17
in helping with these patients over the
8:19
holiday period of time. If you've gone
8:22
to the appropriate steps of building a
8:26
relationship with a colleague and having
8:27
them cover call, then there's a high
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likelihood that you won't necessarily
8:32
have to have phone coverage during that
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time that you're away. If you do not
8:38
have a colleague that is covering call
8:40
for you, then you may need a team member
8:43
that is at least checking in on
8:46
voicemail or wherever your messages come
8:49
through to ensure that you haven't
8:51
missed an emergency. The only
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alternative would be that if on your
8:58
voicemail, whatever you want to call it,
8:59
when a patient calls in, if you don't
9:02
have somebody on call and you yourself
9:05
are going to be the emergency contact
9:07
cuz you want your team member to have a
9:09
full week off or whatever the case may
9:11
be, then you'll need to list your
9:13
personal cell phone number in that email
9:17
and also in that voicemail.
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Now, this type of email is helpful to
9:22
the patients, but it's also helpful to
9:25
your team. If you are going to have
9:28
somebody that is answering phones for
9:31
you during the holiday break period, you
9:34
need to indicate to him or her what your
9:38
expectations are. For example, let's say
9:41
you're closed Wednesday through Friday
9:42
of this week, Wednesday being Christmas
9:45
Eve. Then you may say to, let's say it's
9:48
sweet Sally. Sweet Sally, thank you so
9:51
much for being willing to watch the
9:54
phone. My expectation is that you would
9:57
please log into the phone system from
10:01
noon to 1 and would you check any and
10:04
all voice messages that have come
10:06
through, respond to any emails or text
10:09
messages, and then you're done for the
10:10
day. Or maybe it's, "Hey, sweet Sally,
10:15
thank you so much for being willing to
10:16
help out at the office. I'd love for you
10:19
to be on site at the office to be
10:21
available for any deliveries or packages
10:23
or things like that and to be answering
10:26
the phone from 8 to noon. Whatever the
10:30
case may be, you want to come up with a
10:31
plan. Maybe it's not Christmas Eve that
10:34
you're worried about. Maybe it's the
10:35
fact that you've chosen to take off
10:37
Friday, December 26th. In that
10:40
particular case, you would need to
10:42
arrange with a team member. Maybe that
10:44
means again, hey, sweet Sally, thanks so
10:47
much for being willing to come in, get
10:49
caught up on phone calls, and also
10:51
confirm Monday's appointments. My
10:54
expectation would be on Friday, December
10:56
26th, that you would please come to the
10:59
office from 2 to 4. And during that
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time, if you could check any messages,
11:04
respond to emails, and get Monday's
11:06
appointments confirmed, that would be
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awesome.
11:09
So, this type of communication is
11:12
important because
11:15
team members, first of all, want the
11:16
direction. They need to know what you're
11:18
expecting out of them. But also, I can't
11:21
tell you how many times I've spoken with
11:23
a client of mine who was frustrated
11:26
because the team member who agreed to
11:29
come in on Friday, December 26th, came
11:31
in from 8 to 9:00 a.m. and then missed
11:35
multiple calls that came through that
11:37
morning. and they're like, "Why did why
11:39
did she think that 8 to 9 would be a
11:41
good time period to come?" Well, she
11:45
made her best guess because y'all didn't
11:47
talk about it. So, I think it's
11:49
important to really be specific in those
11:51
expectations.
11:53
Obviously, this applies for this holiday
11:56
week, next holiday week, but honestly,
11:58
any week going forward where you're away
12:01
from the office or even day that you're
12:03
away from the office, make sure that
12:05
you're lining out a plan for your
12:07
patients and that they know about that
12:09
plan, but also that you're lining out a
12:11
plan for the team on what you expect of
12:14
them during that break time. So, again,
12:19
short, sweet, and to the point. I didn't
12:21
want to give you too much to think about
12:22
today because it's a holiday week. If
12:25
you're off already, I do hope that you
12:27
will thoroughly enjoy your time away. If
12:30
you haven't communicated a clear plan to
12:32
your team, even if they haven't asked, I
12:35
think it's helpful to shoot out a quick
12:37
text message saying, "By the way, this
12:39
is our plan for the week." Um or you can
12:43
um coordinate with the one person that
12:45
you know is going to be covering Friday,
12:48
December 26th, and make sure that you
12:51
communicate your expectations for that
12:53
day. Also, if you're already off, it
12:57
still doesn't hurt to send a reminder
13:00
email to patients just to say, "Hey, if
13:03
you happen to call the office and get
13:04
our voicemail, it's because we're closed
13:06
for this holiday week. We wish you the
13:08
very best." and then line out those
13:10
emergency protocols. If there is an
13:12
emergency contact, list that as well.
13:16
If you aren't closed yet, then that
13:18
today is the perfect day to do these
13:21
things. So, chop chop. Get to it. Make
13:24
sure that your patients are in the loop
13:26
with what's happening. Make sure your
13:28
team is in the loop with what's
13:30
happening so that you can check out and
13:33
enjoy your downtime. Happy holidays,
13:36
friends. Have a great week.
13:39
Thanks for joining the conversation
13:41
today. We hope that you are comforted in
13:43
knowing that you are not alone, but we
13:46
also hope that you're walking away with
13:48
some really great tips and tricks to try
13:50
in your practice.
13:52
We value your feedback, so please take a
13:55
few moments to rate and review the
13:57
podcast. Finally, we want to make sure
14:00
that we're covering the topics that
14:02
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14:08
let us know what topics you want us to
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cover.
14:11
As always, please know that we are
14:13
rooting for you today as you manage your
14:16
dental drama.