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Knowledge management in large dental practices
How do practices keep up to date with specialist topics, new products and product handling? What challenges do they face, how do they avoid losing knowledge when team members leave? We asked dentist Sandra Perplies from Lüneburg these and other questions. Since joining the LüneDent practice in 2007, she has worked there as one of six practitioners. The practice team also includes 31 employees.
Ms Perplies, it is certainly a logistical challenge to keep everyone up to date with the latest training. In a large practice, how do you ensure that knowledge about products and handling is kept up to date?
With a team as large as ours, the most difficult part of organising training is actually scheduling. It is not easy to reconcile up to ten assistants from one area. This is another reason why we introduced a weekly one-hour team meeting a few years ago, in addition to a weekly 90-minute doctors' meeting, in which all staff members participate. We divide the knowledge requirements into the individual areas, be it prophylaxis, assistance, implantology or other. One person is responsible for each area and, if necessary, conducts a small further training course or moderates an exchange of information within the framework of these team meetings. However, we also have a lot of experienced staff members who extremely enrich this procedure.
Under what aspects do you select the training topics and also the speakers?
Over time, the selection becomes more difficult, as we practitioners and also the staff have been in the profession for different lengths of time. Basically, we dentists choose which training we offer and regularly review our processes and workflows for this. On the one hand, we hold regular staff meetings in which, especially during the pandemic, many of the team came forward to take training on specific topics. On the other hand, the weekly medical team meetings reveal many topics where we see a need. There is a lot of theoretical knowledge available, which is why I think the hands-on courses are the most useful. You can always use them - and for two years they were the least offered.
Presumably, fluctuation is not particularly high in your company. If someone nevertheless leaves the team or someone new joins, how do you ensure that no knowledge is lost?
Of course, in practice there are manuals for all processes. In addition, clear responsibilities are important. Every new staff member is assigned a mentor who acts as a supervisor.
How do you ensure a continuous exchange on the topics that are in focus or pose a challenge on a day-to-day basis?
We really enjoy being six and being able to exchange ideas on such different topics and areas. Someone brings in something new or we consult on patients. We consider ourselves really lucky to be able to practise like this. Progress is unstoppable. So we are very grateful to be able to refer to each other in the practice and exchange ideas. We always have the possibility to fall back on the respective expertise, and we live this very consciously.
Do you use an external pool of speakers for your events or do you choose different speakers for each event?
Different. In terms of content, there are already good partners on the market who offer a wide range of topics on treatment techniques, products, handling, etc. But it is often difficult to find good speakers on the required topic. That's why we now only turn to external speakers when the shoe pinches particularly hard, so to speak, and we need support.
How do you deal with product selection? What criteria do you use to decide on new products?
Our top priorities are quality, result, patient satisfaction, especially with filling materials, bonding, etc. The filling area is still one of our main activities, the product has to work for us as a doctor – and in the end especially for the patient. So we focus primarily on the result: the product must work, the patient must be satisfied, the filling must be aesthetically pleasing. In addition, there is the aspect of economic efficiency. When we try out new materials, we naturally also look at the acquisition costs and see whether we are working economically. However, the top priority is always quality.
Do you regularly try out new products? Do you do test phases?
True to the motto "Never change a running system", we change little. But now we have done so in the composite area, after having hesitated for a long time. We are now very, very happy with the new preparation from Kulzer – Venus Pearl ONE. The quality is right, it's user-friendly – that’s important because we use it so often in our daily work. It looks great, the patients are all pain-free and symptom-free. I have to say, it's a great product at a good quality.
Keyword patient satisfaction: Where is the focus in the patients' demands on your work?
For many patients, the focus is on aesthetics. The claim is: "If something has to be done, then please with an aesthetically perfect result". Low-pain or pain-free treatments are also high on the list, but the aesthetic area is definitely on the rise. Especially during the pandemic, we are recording significantly more orthodontic corrections, especially with the aligner system. A treatment like this takes time, you can't do it within a week, and many patients use this time when you wear a mask anyway. Hardly anyone notices that something is being changed.
What is your wish for the industry, the manufacturers in terms of products, handling, information and training?
We would like to see more on-site training – without having to travel to Hanover, Frankfurt or Stuttgart. It would be helpful if the events were better distributed throughout the country. And if the offer was accompanied by many hands-on courses. In our size, I can wonderfully imagine that further training courses take place in our practice, with 15 - 20 helpers who, for example, try out a product. From a cost-benefit and time perspective, that would be the ideal case for us.
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