Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Spring 2020 - 63

Practice Management

Practice Management Diary

What Do Your Reports Say About You?

Dr. Jeffrey Nichelini
PCSO Bulletin Section Editor
and Columnist
American Canyon, CA

Spring 2020 PCSO Bulletin

Regardless of the task, the quality of its completion reflects the care of the individual who completed it. This is true for the smiles in your community that directly show off your work, the style
of marketing your office uses to interact with the
public, how you interact with your colleagues,
or even the communication you provide to the
general dentists in your area. When it comes to
reports, regardless of how annoying they can be
to complete, if they get sent with your name on
them, then they represent your work.
Surprisingly, unprofessional exam reports are
common. They are usually the result of attempts
to streamline administrative responsibilities. Most
practice management software offers a feature to
automate your reports, but unless you have spent
hours refining the software, or taken the time to
edit reports individually, there is a good chance
they have errors in pronouns, redundancies, or
inconsistencies. Some automated reports are
designed to be given to patients, but if the same
reports are sent to referring doctors, the use of lay
terms over professional diagnostic language may
not be well received. For example, would you feel
comfortable advising the dentists in your area that
you are providing your mutual patient with "practice braces," instead of "interceptive orthodontic
treatment" or that you are delaying treatment
until their "grown-up teeth" have erupted, instead
of their "permanent dentition"? Also, delegating
the responsibility of writing reports to staff is a
common practice, but unless the English composition skills of the employee are checked, they will
likely include spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors. These errors all look sloppy. If any of
these habits sound like yours, it might be a good
idea to scan a few of your most recent reports to
make sure they represent you appropriately.

The following are a few tips for writing reports
from my local general and pediatric dentists:

▫▫ Keep reports to a one-page maximum. Brev▫▫

▫▫

▫▫
▫▫

ity is always appreciated by busy professionals.
Specify the goals of treatment. This is especially true for adults who may have limited
treatment goals or for mixed-dentition
patients who will likely have a second phase
of treatment later.
Specify the type of appliance that will be used.
If a patient will be treated with a removeable
appliance, this is a cue to the general dentist
that there will not be interference with prophies or exams.
Use a one- to two-sentence narrative for
special circumstances. Let the dentist know
why you are treating a condition. If the dentist
is concerned about a condition and you want
to delay intervention, then let them know why
and that you will be monitoring the situation
(i.e., position of unerupted upper canines or
ankylosed primary molars). This is also important if a patient has seen you for a second
opinion and your opinion is different from the
first opinion.
Include treatment time estimates.
Special touches show you are paying attention and really care. Send progress reports,
indicate interventions to address poor oral
hygiene, and request copies of periapical
radiographs for suspicious sites.

Not every dentist you work with is likely to read
every report from your office, but if you have
good quality control over this mundane aspect of
your practice, it is a great opportunity to reinforce your high standards to the doctors who do
read them.

Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Spring 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Spring 2020