That feeling of dread
Last week's article really got a reaction. Seems that I'm not alone in finding dentistry stressful.
For me, the most apparent symptom of the stress was a feeling of dread that started to creep over me on Sunday afternoon. Later in my career that feeling even crept into Saturdays.
It turns out that anxiety is common in the professions and not just dentistry as an article from this week's Sydney Morning Herald shows.
The question is what to do about it.
I have no psychological qualifications whatsoever so I can't advise you from that point of view but what I can do is give you some management tactics that worked for me to reduce day-to-day stress in the office.
The side benefit (or main benefit, if you're not stressed!) of these tactics is that they will also make you more productive – you will achieve more per unit time.
Idea #1
Realise that your time and energy are finite and need to be spent wisely.
Doing good dentistry is a challenge just on its own. But so many dentists feel they need to "lead from the front" and are constantly having their concentration broken to deal with non-essential issues.
A friend of mine described it like having the weight of the world on his shoulders while the staff walked around the office each carrying an A4 sheet of paper. Maybe that's a tiny bit over dramatic but you get the idea.
Having worked in dozens of practices as a locum I can say that it was common for me to spend 2, 3 or even 4 hours a day doing tasks that could have easily been delegated to the staff. I once wrote down all the delegatable tasks that I had been forced to do and there were 74 items on the list.
A dental degree is a rare thing. Your time and energy are precious. Do you want to use them up doing tasks that can be easily given to staff?
So, my first suggestion is to look at all the tasks you do in the office. Write a complete list. Then circle the ones that require a dental degree and start delegating the others.
Doing this this will require some staff training. It will also require you to let go and trust your staff more. Maybe it will also require an extra staff member.
But, if you can free up just one extra hour per day to spend with patients, you will not only feel better but the extra revenue generated will pay that staff member's wage three times over.
I'll give you another stress reducing, efficiency increasing idea next week.