Cover
Preface
About the Companion Website
1 The Developing World of Dental Care Services
1. History of the Nonclinical Dental Team
2. The Ethos and Ethics of Dental Care
3. Dental Reception Skills
4. Supervisory Management Skills
5. Reception Manager Personal Specifications
6. Salary
2 Administration
1. The Administrative Role on the Front Desk
2. Building Dynamic Systems
3. Dental Reception Systems
4. Keeping Systems Fit for Purpose
5. Supervising Administrative Tasks Carried out by Receptionists in Your Practice
6. Rules for an Effective and Efficient Reception Desk
7. Providing Written Instructions
3 Marketing
1. Marketing Definition
2. Market Research
3. Marketing Mix
4. Effective Marketing to Create a Competitive Edge
5. Product Sales
4 Financial Administration
1. Financial Aspects of Patient Consent
2. Managing Cash Flow
3. Credit and Collections
4. Protecting Practice Income
5. Terms of Business
6. Informing Patients of Fees and Payment Terms
7. Written Estimates
8. Payments Due
9. Collecting Fees Patient Payments
10. Informing Patients of Fees Due
11. Website
12. Perception of Value: Car Parking Issues and Welcome Packs
5 Staff Selection
1. Define the Current Needs of the Practice
2. Advertising Job Openings
3. Preparing a Fulfilment Pack and Posting the Job
4. Creating the Shortlist
5. Interviewing
6. The Provisional Job Offer
7. Appendix 5.1: Interview Record Form
6 Quality Management
1. Quality in Dental Care
2. The Receptionists Role for Quality Management
3. Health and Social Care Act 2008
4. Definitions
5. The Role of Policy and Procedure
6. Continuous Improvement
7. Quality Theory
8. Total Quality Management (TQM)
9. Policy Building
10. Making Improvements
11. Systemic Shortfalls
12. Quality Audit
13. Policy, Process, and Procedure
14. Quality Circles in Practice
15. Quality Summary
7 Working as a Team
1. The Role of Management and Leadership
2. Nature and Nurture
3. Team Roles and Related Behaviours
4. Communication – The Cement of Society
5. Defence Mechanisms
6. Burnout
7. Working Successfully with Difficult People
8. What Can You Do?
9. Communicate with Care
8 Team Meetings
1. Introduction
2. Structuring Team Meetings
3. Communication Aids for a Team Meeting
4. Experiential Learning
5. Structure Information to Assist Remembering
6. Answering Questions
7. Gathering Feedback
9 Safety and Well Being
1. Safeguarding
2. Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults
3. Vulnerable Adults
4. A Stepped Approach to Safeguarding
5. Principles of Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults
6. Children
7. Modern Slavery Act of 2015
8. Mental Capacity Act of 2005
9. Health and Safety Laws
10. Risk Assessment − Because Prevention Is Better than Cure
11. Hazards
12. Employee Responsibilities
10 Customer Care
1. Steps of the Patient Journey
2. Customer Care Strategy
3. Making Patients Feel Valued
4. Gathering Patient Feedback
5. Private Dental Care Complaints
11 Treatment Coordination
1. Practical Considerations
2. The Business Case for Care Coordination
3. Working with Patients
4. Care Plan Scripts
5. Preventative Home Care
6. Appointment Planning
7. Practical Considerations
8. Ethical Aspects of Coordinated Care
9. Ethical Selling
10. Informed Consent
11. Practical Considerations
12. Care Quality Standards
12 Computers in Dentistry
1. Using Computers for Dental Administration
2. Data Security and Protection – NHS Practices
3. General Data Protection Regulations
4. Emails and Messaging
5. Health and Safety Issues when Using Computers at Work
Index
End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Chapter 2
1. Figure 2.1 Working with an untidy desk is inefficient.
2. Figure 2.2 Quality audit.
3. Figure 2.3 The appointment book is the most important tool in the dental practi...
4. Figure 2.4 Training receptionists to keep an efficient appointment book.
5. Figure 2.5 Where reception tasks should be performed.
Chapter 3
1. Figure 3.1 The receptionists have opportunities to gain insights into patients'...
2. Figure 3.2 Create an eye‐catching display for products sold to patients.
Chapter 5
1. Figure 5.1 Organizational chart identifying the current needs of the practice.
2. Figure 5.2 Staffing ratios.
Chapter 6
1. Figure 6.1 PDSA cycle.
2. Figure 6.2 Continuous improvement cycle.
3. Figure 6.3 Framework for decision‐making and defining implementation measures.
4. Figure 6.4 The role of the reception lead can mean that you are wearing many di...
5. Figure 6.5 Effectiveness and efficiency analysis.
Chapter 7
1. Figure 7.1 Preferred roles. Adapted from Belbin’s team roles.
2. Figure 7.2 Practical ways to prevent aggression from the public and within the ...
3. Figure 7.3 Aggressive team interactions.
Chapter 8
1. Figure 8.1 Using SMART objectives for planning team meetings.
Chapter 9
1. Figure 9.1 Procedures for responding to concern about child’s well‐being.
2. Figure 9.2 Emergency contact information.
Chapter 10
1. Figure 10.1 Apps can be used to gather ratings and reviews.
Chapter 11
1. Figure 11.1 Care coordination pathways.
2. Figure 11.2 A care coordinator can provide important introductions and informat...

This edition first published 2019
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Edition History
John Wiley & Sons (1e, 2008)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

The right of Glenys Bridges to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.

Registered Office
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK

Editorial Office
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK

For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products visit us at www.wiley.com.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty
The contents of this work are intended to further general scientific research, understanding, and discussion only and are not intended and should not be relied upon as recommending or promoting scientific method, diagnosis, or treatment by physicians for any particular patient. In view of ongoing research, equipment modifications, changes in governmental regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to the use of medicines, equipment, and devices, the reader is urged to review and evaluate the information provided in the package insert or instructions for each medicine, equipment, or device for, among other things, any changes in the instructions or indication of usage and for added warnings and precautions. While the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data

Names: Bridges, Glenys, 1956– author.
Title: Dental reception and supervisory management / Glenys Bridges.
Description: Second edition. | Hoboken, NJ : Wiley‐Blackwell, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018051417 (print) | LCCN 2018052026 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119513063 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119513025 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119513087 (pbk.)
Subjects: | MESH: Dental Auxiliaries | Practice Management, Dental–organization & administration
Classification: LCC RK58 (ebook) | LCC RK58 (print) | NLM WU 90 | DDC 617.6/0068–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018051417

Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © Matthias Tunger / Getty Images

Preface

This book focuses on the range of knowledge and skills that receptionists and supervisory managers need to offer friendly, patient‐focused front of house and administration services, which support and enhance the reputation of the practice and the work of their clinical colleagues as well as providing patients with oral health gains.

This book aims to detail the impact upon dental administration of the ongoing development of regulations intended to ensure that standards of dental care are continuously improving. This ongoing development culture has resulted in considerable changes in dental team roles and involves the likes of extended duties for dental care professionals and laws to regulate data security and protection.

The reception role was always a challenging one, calling for a range of learned and innate skills as covered in Chapter 2 of this book. Alongside the receptionists' formally learned skills, their innate skills are a reflection of their personality and serve to create the personality that the practice projects every day to all who come across it.

In Chapter 3, the focus is on the front‐of‐house marketing role, looking at how information about the local market can be collected and considering numerous ways that receptionists can use that information to raise the profile of the practice within the local community.

Financial aspects of reception, aspects of consent linked to the financial aspects of treatment, are the subject matter for Chapter 4. Financial misunderstandings are frequently the cause of complaints and patient dissatisfaction. Receptionists have an important role to play in ensuring there is clarity and transparency in financial matters relating to the dental services offered to patients.

Staff selection is the focus of Chapter 5. How to select the right people during recruitment activity as well as the main factors to consider when allocating work and selecting team members for specific responsibilities are discussed.

In Chapter 6, quality management is explored – the ideology that has led to the care quality standards each practice must meet. The chapter then looks at practical ways these management approaches can be applied to enhance the quality of care for patients and the ability of dental workplaces to cultivate job satisfaction and team retention.

Enabling a group of people to come together and become a collaborative team calls for a range of communication skills as covered in Chapter 7, in which considerations of aspects of IQ and emotional intelligence (EQ) are explored along with techniques for responding to challenging behaviour and workplace bullying.

Chapter 8 extends the communication theme and looks at how the reception lead can structure methods of information sharing, the role of meetings to analyse significant events and learn from experience using reflective practice.

Safety and well‐being is the focus for Chapter 9. Here we look at important safeguarding requirements to ensure that should a member of the reception team have concerns for a child or vulnerable adult, they are aware of what the practice expects them to do and are able to act swiftly in a preventive or safeguarding role.

The patient journey is a term that is well established in dental speak and is the subject of Chapter 10. It covers a wide range of aspects of the patient experience and looks at ways the practice can give their patients something extra that shows they value their patients and understand their needs and concerns. This topic is extended in Chapter 11 to look at the newest team role – that of care coordinator. There are many ways that practices apply this role. In most cases, the role is closely linked to the reception team, so they can access clinical expertise to answer patients' questions and ensure that patients can give informed consent to every aspect of their care and treatment.

Chapter 12 looks at aspects of computer technology and the need for every team member to be aware of the required security measures for the prevention of cyberattacks.