Do's and don'ts for time management: Manage your time like a pro

For a dentist, effective time management means achieving efficiency when treating patients. Schedule patients wisely, based on parameters designed to achieve the greatest efficiency. This will enable you to increase production, reduce stress, maintain energy throughout the day, and provide better patient care.

Create an optimal schedule. Practices should conduct procedural time studies --recording and averaging how long it takes to perform at least 10 of the most common procedures 10 times. Use these average times to create a more accurate schedule.

Don't forget to make all treatment rooms uniform. Uniquely designed rooms may be desirable in other settings but not a dental practice. Time studies by Levin Group indicate that dental practices that have similar treatment rooms are able to work 10% to 12% faster than those without. Wasted time equals lost production. Uniformity saves time.

Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the founder and CEO of Levin Group, the leading dental practice consulting firm in North America. For the complete list of dates and locations where you can attend his latest seminar, visit www.levingroup.com/gpseminars.

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