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First day of placement at Churchill Meadows Dental with Dry. Peeved. It was a really exciting and nerve raking experience. When I first walked in and met Jean the dental receptionist I couldn’t help but notice how much space there was in the front office and how it had 2 computers. I was a little surprised when I found out the office was paperless, thinking that I would have to scan every piece of paper into each patients chart.
One thing I was really familiar with was their dental software BELATED as I learned it at KGB so it was a relief to be able to know how to schedule and look for he patients contact list without asking how. Jean didn’t wait any minute to put me to work, she asked me if I could do confirmations calls for each patient that was coming for the following day. I called my first patient and told him the date and time that his appointment was.
I unfortunately messed up on the date number, I felt embarrassed with the patient and I apologized and told the patient the right date. I personally think I can improve by pacing myself when I speak, pronouncing my words clear and making sure I have the correct date and time. Jean also showed me how they have his marketing tool called Demand Force on a website where it sends patients an email 2 days before reminding them of their appointment. (let saves them lots of phone calls but apparently the marketing tool is expensive).
Patients can also include comments about how their last visit went and what they like or don’t like about the office. Another thing that stood out was that their clinic was mostly not assignment meaning the patient had to pay up front after he/she finished the treatment and then the insurance would send the patient’s cheese of what was covered. Jean told e that it causes less stress to the dental office in dealing with insurances. I thought the idea was great of Just taking patients that are not assignment and making exceptions when needed.
Jean explained to me the basics of handling insurance and how to send them but I definitely need more practice . Tuesday March 12th 2013 am – pm I changed my dental practice, and today I started at Argentina Dental Centre. The office has 3 computers, one at front, middle and back. I met Loran the dental receptionist who told me to grab a sit and she would show me how the system works in general. But first we got to know each other for a bit and showed me the whole Reflective Journals By Lorraine clinic.
The dental software they use is called Dendrite, when I first took a look at it I felt like I was in a different planet I had no idea how to use it. I sat beside her and she slowly showed me how to look for the patient’s contact information in the software to confirm their appointments, she said I should observe for a couple of days to get a better understanding of the language to use with a patient before I can do it myself. She showed me how to change the appointment from saying “Confirmed” to “Here” hen the patient arrived.
The Dendrite software had a little more of features from the one that I learned at KGB. For example, I can change the appointment to “LIMIT “, “ELM”, “DAVID”. Having this features makes it easier for the other dental receptionist to see whether the patient was left a message once or twice for the reminder of their schedule. Later in the afternoon, we went and got the mail. I was shocked at how much mail we had, all from insurances. I really wanted to find out how the dental office would acknowledge the cheeses and put them in the system.
Loran told me to open the mail ND take out all of the cheeses, while I was doing it I quickly was looking at how much do insurance cover. She explained to me that we have to first look at the patient and go into his/her ledger where the dental claim was sent electronically, we clicked on it and we put the amount that was cover by the insurance and the number of the cheese. It was a really complicated thing to do since you have to know and remember a lot of stuff, but I think with time and practice I will become an expert with it.
Tuesday March 19th 2013 am – pm Today I came to the office and sat at the front desk by myself. Loran asked me to stay in front so I can greet patients when they arrive and change their appointment status to “Here”. I was scared at the beginning since I didn’t know how or what to expect from some people but everything went fine. I had a new patient that came in and Loran explained and showed me the 2 papers that needed to be filled out. One for his/ her personal information and medical history.
She also indicated that after the patient was done filling everything out. I needed to highlight the parts that said ” yes” in the medical history so when the dental assistant takes a look it makes it more kibbles and aware. Loran showed me the manual book to check it out since it included sample of welcome letters, objectives of scheduling and following up on appointments, opening and closing messages. But the one that I put the most attention to was what to say when answering the phone.
It included your greeting, your name and how may I help you. For example: “Thank you for calling Argentina Dental Centre, this is Sam speaking how may I help you”. I also started to watch how to bill patients, I find it easier if you check the patients files and check to see if there’s any primary or secondary insurance fore he finishes his appointment and comes to the desk to pay. I also learned how to send faxes and scan documents into patients file.
The only thing that I don’t like about the software is that they like to put notes everywhere, so if we call a patient to confirm the appointment we have to make a note with the date in the computer. Tuesday March 26th 2013 am – pm – April 2nd am- pm Today was an exciting day since I got to do lots of things, Loran went to the back and gave me my own little desk and phone to sit and answer phone calls. I was nervous at he beginning since I didn’t know what to expect from patients when they would call, but most of them were booking or canceling appointments .
I found out that the most awkward moment when was a patient cancel and I had to tell them the office policy meaning they would have to pay 50 $ for their last minute cancellation fee. I also did the continued care recall, most people try to avoid talking to you if they hear you’re calling from the dental office, since most of them were busy with new babies, work and so on. I slowly feel like I’m a part of their dental office which I love.