Ep 18 - Real-World Strategies for Ortho Success

Want to elevate your orthodontic practice with proven strategies? Curious about fostering a thriving team environment? Join us on Practice Talk, where host Lacie Ellis dives into real-world solutions for orthodontic practice success with guests Karina and Baleigh. Karina, Director of Operations at Hallmark Orthodontics, shares insights on cultivating a positive culture through intentional leadership and open communication. Baleigh, the Clinical Lead, reveals how structured chairside flow enhances practice efficiency while maintaining team flexibility. From creative incentives to community-driven marketing, this episode offers actionable tips to boost your practice’s growth and team morale.

 IN THIS EPISODE: 

• (00:00) Intro

• (02:34) How Karina fosters a positive culture within her team

• (07:18) Baleigh explains the chairside flow structure used at the office  

• (12:31) Question from a listener about team incentives

• (18:47) Question from a listener about involving the team in marketing efforts

• (22:14) Strategy for engaging chairside employees in marketing efforts

• (24:57) Baleigh details the uniform dress code of black scrubs for all staff

• (29:01) Karina shares a significant challenge in their office regarding digital lab slips

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

• Karina emphasizes the importance of intentional daily positivity and open communication, utilizing monthly anonymous questionnaires to ensure team members feel valued and heard, thereby fostering a supportive work environment.

• Baleigh describes a structured chairside flow with assigned chairs for smoother operations, while maintaining flexibility to support team members and enhance orthodontic practice efficiency.

• The practice employs creative incentives, such as a cash draw for same-day starts and monthly bonuses for achieving goals like no missed lab slips, which boosts team motivation and drives practice growth.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain errors and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Practice Talk Episode 18 - Karina and Baleigh

(00:00:00) Lacie Ellis: Welcome to Practice. Talk a deep dive into the world of healthcare practices where we invite team members to share strategies to make your work life easier. Now, your host, Lacey Ellis.

(00:00:17) Welcome to Practice Talk, brought to you by people in practice where we specialize in digital marketing, website development, SEO, and so much more. I'm excited for today's discussion as we dive into the topic of Real World Strategies for Ortho success with my two guests, Karina and Bailey. Corina brings over 16 years of experience in orthodontics and currently serves as the Director of Operations at Hallmark Orthodontics known for wearing many hats.

(00:00:43) She seamlessly bridges the gap between clinical care administration and team leadership. Corina thrives. On complex, uh, problem solving, streamlining operations, and most of all, helping create beautiful confidence Smiles, passionate about cultivating a positive and (00:01:00) supportive work culture. She's dedicated to ensuring that both the patients and the team members feel valued every step of the way.

(00:01:07) And Bailey was hired at a growing orthodontic practice in January of 2022, where she was quickly promoted to the clinical lead after only four months. Bailey brings a certain work ethic combined with a positive and upbeat attitude that sets her apart and helps her thrive in such a fast-paced environment.

(00:01:25) She loves learning and utilizing her knowledge to improve procedures within her office. More recently, uh, she has dipped her toes into the position of treatment coordinator, which helps nurture her need for to keep moving forward and growing and learning new things. Bailey strives to continue to bring this excitement and passion to the orthodontic field.

(00:01:45) So welcome Carina and Bailey. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having us. This is my first time having two guests, uh, on practice talk. So, uh, we'll, we'll get through the bumps of, um, trying not to talk over each other. So everybody (00:02:00) just be patient with us as we, uh, figure this out together. Um, also as a reminder to our listeners, don't worry about taking any notes today.

(00:02:07) We will put together a printable that you will be able to download for free from our website filled with the details of today's discussion. So ladies, I'm excited to dig into what you feel your office does really well and what struggles you may have bumped against, um, in, in your practice as you've set things up.

(00:02:24) So Karina. As the director of operations, how do you go about intentionally creating and maintaining a positive culture in your practice? 

(00:02:34) Karina.: You know, creating and maintaining positive culture starts, um, with being intentional every single day. I lead by example, whether it is waking up each mor each morning and saying, I'm gonna make it a good day, and just, uh, bringing a positive attitude, uh, to the office.

(00:02:52) Um, everybody kind of rides that same wave, so, um, you know, we are. Very open communication within our (00:03:00) office. Uh, we wanna make sure that every team member feels seen and feels heard. Um, so we just, we really want to create that culture within our office. Um, every month every staff member will get a questionnaire from the doctor where she asks us, how do you feel this week?

(00:03:18) How did you feel? Um. Throughout the month, what do you think we should work more on? Um, and what we are doing really well. So every uh, member of the team, uh, is encouraged to answer these questions for the practice, and the doctor will review all of these. Um, they are, um, privately answered so no one knows what everybody said, but we do talk about it as a entire team and come up with solutions, um, and tackle all of those challenges.

(00:03:49) Lacie Ellis: That's a really, um, a really fun and unique way. I haven't heard of offices doing it quite that way. I really, really like that suggestion of having like a little reflection on how the (00:04:00) week went and like really being able to be. Thoughtful in how did I really feel this week? And just being able to be honest about that.

(00:04:08) Um, that is a great, that's a really, really great, I wish we would've done that in the practice I worked in the longest. We did, we tried to do, so we had our morning huddle every day and we tried to do a, like, rate how you're feeling today. Mm-hmm. And it got to the point where, um, everybody was scared to say anything other than like a nine or a 10.

(00:04:27) 'cause they're like, I don't wanna be the weak link today. And I'm like, but. The point was if you're having, like we're just all humans, right? So if you're having a just day, we want to know so that we can all jump in and support you. Um, so that kind of backfired on us. So I like this way a little bit better to like do a week maybe like recap and talk about how things went and how you're feeling.

(00:04:48) That's really, that's brilliant. I love it. 

(00:04:50) Karina.: Yes. Yeah. And the nice thing is that, like I said, it is more, um, it's like a private answer. So people are encouraged and, and they are, they feel like they (00:05:00) can bring some issues up that maybe they're not, they're not sure they can and feel heard and we proactively talk about and we say, okay, this is what we're not doing so great.

(00:05:09) Um, or somebody feel is feeling like this can improve and we can all kind of brainstorm ideas to make it happen for them. 

(00:05:18) Lacie Ellis: I love that. Um, I also feel like culture building, um, being in enough offices and visiting a lot of different practices, I feel like culture is one of those things where if you don't hire people who care about that and mm-hmm.

(00:05:34) Like if you hire people who they're only focus is, I'm gonna come in, do my job and get my paycheck, it's never going to feel like that culture. You will have to hire the people that want that same thing that you want. 

(00:05:48) Karina.: For sure. Agreed 100%. And there are gonna be those people still in the office. But at the same time, it's like picking like, okay, who is that person And how we can kind (00:06:00) of change that and, and kind of incorporate them into our, our practice and our culture and change that really.

(00:06:08) Lacie Ellis: And I've always said, if you have that one bad apple in the bunch, it doesn't matter how great of an assistant they are, a treatment coordinator, a front desk person, if they don't want to participate in that feeling of culture, it's just you're gonna fight that all the time. It's just not worth it. So definitely hiring, cultivating, and then making sure people stay happy.

(00:06:32) It's a, the director of operations is no joke job, so 

(00:06:36) Karina.: yes. Bailey and I, uh, we work a lot together in some things. She is our clinical lead, so it's, she, you know, there's a lot of things that are, that are brought up and, and we do work together a lot. But yeah, she knows it's, it's a struggle sometimes, but it's, it's refreshing to be able to help, um, bring everybody together at times too.

(00:06:57) Lacie Ellis: Absolutely. So Bailey, (00:07:00) uh, speaking of what, uh, your role is in the practice, how is your chair side flow structured? Um, I'm always just super curious about this, you know, do you follow columns? Do you work in a team pool or have you guys found a different magical method that works for your practice as far as clinical coordination goes?

(00:07:18) Baleigh: So, um, we have four offices, um, under the same umbrella, if you will. Um, there are two each where there's like a group of girls that go to two, and then a group of girls that go to another two. Mainly. Some people flip around, so one of the two has always been on assigned chairs. Um, and then the other two, actually when I first started, which the other two is where I mainly am, I should say.

(00:07:47) Um, when I first started there, we just went by a flow, so everyone was scheduled in a normal chair situation, but everyone kind of, um, free (00:08:00) for all it if you will. So we would just grab whoever was next. Like when I'm done with Susie, I'll grab Joanne 'cause she's next and whatnot. Yep. Um. That can work for some people, but for us, when I became clinical lead, that was one of the main things that I wanted to change because I feel like if you structure it where each person is assigned a chair, it just makes it a lot more smooth.

(00:08:20) Obviously, if there's a situation where like say one of our assistants, Ashlyn's running behind on a. Bond. Um, and she has a check retainer that's there. Someone else who maybe has like a little gap, they'll grab them. Like we still help each other. You can deviate from the chairs, but we do assign chairs and I typically will assign them at the start of the week or the day before, just kind of depending on what the schedule's looking like.

(00:08:42) But it works out that way for us. Um, we like to operate that way. Yeah, that and that way too, if one person's assigning the chairs, you can make sure it's not biased. Like if people are just picking their chairs. 

(00:08:52) Lacie Ellis: Yeah, that's, um, I have worked in both situations as well and so I completely understand what you're saying.

(00:08:59) (00:09:00) We always thought like, it just makes sense. Take the next available person when you get done with this one, which in theory works great. The hard part about that is you can't really determine which. Team members are struggling with certain procedures or might need a little bit more training with something, um, if you don't have columns and know, like, this person consistently gets behind on a dand, okay, can we offer more training so that DB bands aren't stressful for them?

(00:09:26) Mm-hmm. Like, it's really hard to pinpoint some of those things when it's just a free for all and we're grabbing the next person. Um, but I have also worked in offices where we had structured columns and. Man, I worked with a team at one point that was rough. And it was like I stick to my column and I don't deviate from that.

(00:09:46) So if you're behind, that's your problem, not mine. And it was, it was really, really hard. So I think it's that perfect marriage of like culture again. We've gotta have a good culture. We have to have each other's backs. And yes, we (00:10:00) want this structure of like. Being, um, in a column and knowing who we're gonna deal with.

(00:10:06) But let's all be real. This is called an orthodontic practice, and we're seeing, you know, 80 people a day. The, the chances of something going wrong at one of those appointments is pretty high. So as long as everybody can be flexible and be like, we're all still a team regardless of these columns, I think that really is the best case scenario.

(00:10:27) So. Yeah, I was 

(00:10:29) Baleigh: gonna say we do have great like communication about it too. Mm-hmm. Because while I'm assigning the chairs, like I'll get messages like, Hey, this person prefers this assistant. Or like, I got a message from Corina this week. This person fell really behind on this appointment. So we need to make sure that like we're scheduling them only that appointment when there's someone that can help them and make sure whatever's going wrong doesn't happen again.

(00:10:50) Lacie Ellis: Yeah. 

(00:10:51) Baleigh: Yes. Yeah. 

(00:10:52) Lacie Ellis: I'm gonna make myself sound real old here when I say, um, I started Chairside, uh, when we were fitting bands. (00:11:00) That's how long ago. 

(00:11:03) Karina.: Know some places still have a little band here and there 

(00:11:06) Lacie Ellis: I am. I was so bad at it though, like 

(00:11:09) Karina.: terrible. 

(00:11:11) Lacie Ellis: And so the doctor was like, good news. You get every band fitting for the next like month and you're gonna figure it out.

(00:11:17) And I finally. Could rock it. And I was so mad in the moment of like, you're just gonna make me do this thing I hate over and over and over. But then by the end of it, I was like, I'm so good at this now. And I'm so grateful that it's like not something that I have to fight against because I could fit a band like nobody's business by the end of that couple of weeks of like being forced to do it.

(00:11:38) So you did it? I did it. I jumped in and figured it out. Nobody died. I had a 

(00:11:44) Baleigh: similar situation where I had, when I first started my. One of my biggest struggles was bonding sevens, which in our office, we do them ourself, and then the doctor just comes check and checks them. 

(00:11:54) Karina.: Mm-hmm. 

(00:11:55) Baleigh: Um, and I had one day where I had four bond sevens all in one day.

(00:11:59) I had two before (00:12:00) lunch and two after, and the two before lunch went. Okay. And I just, I had to figure out how to isolate for them, and by the end of that day, I felt so much better about it because mm-hmm. That's a struggle at first. 

(00:12:12) Lacie Ellis: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you have to do that thing you don't love, uh, sometimes until you embrace it, you know?

(00:12:19) Definitely. Yes. Um, all right, so we like to get questions or comments from our listeners and our people and practice clients about our topic. So let's listen to our first question. Mm-hmm. Do you have any team incentives tied to same day starts or Google reviews or other practice growth goals? Our doctor believes that we pay our team members well, and this should be part of your job and not an added incentive, but we hear more and more from other offices that they get bonuses and incentives for things like this.

(00:12:49) So any advice is appreciated. 

(00:12:53) Baleigh: I just have to say, I love this question because we do, we do have like. (00:13:00) Kind for same day starts and I have heard of other offices not doing them. Um, in fact, a girl that used to work for us started working for another office that didn't do anything for it, and she tried to get them to do what we did because it was so fun.

(00:13:15) Um. Yeah, so we, if we get a same day start, it doesn't matter if there's just one or multiple, there's just one situation for this. Um, we have a black little bag that actually has a dollar sign on it, and it's, she, she's got anything from ones to hundreds. Um, obviously there's gonna be more ones than hundreds, but um, we all get to take a turn drawing from the bag essentially.

(00:13:40) Um, so it really could range too. I mean, today we had a same day start, so everyone drew fives and one person drew a 20. There could be a bunch of ones one day, or we had one day where we were making up for the day before and that day and four of us drew hundreds. In fact, I drew (00:14:00) two of the hundreds. Not to toot my horn pretty good.

(00:14:04) But yeah, it's really fun and I don't feel like. While it is like an incentive, it's not like, it's not the main motivation to get a same day start like we all want the practice to do. Well, we don't just call it quits once we get one same day. We're very fortunate enough to a lot of the time, have multiple same days in one day, so we don't just stop there.

(00:14:23) We still keep trying to get the patients in our chair and make them happy. 

(00:14:28) Karina.: Yeah. As a matter of fact, we're like, we had this many same days today and we're all like really 

(00:14:33) Baleigh: excited. 

(00:14:35) Karina.: So great. Yeah, there 

(00:14:35) Baleigh: actually has been times where, um, if we had, there's been a couple times where one of the doctors let us, um, when we had like two same days in one day, he let us draw two bills and keep whichever one you wanted, which obviously we're gonna keep the bigger one.

(00:14:48) But that was kind of like a fun little spinoff. Mm-hmm. That's great. 

(00:14:53) Lacie Ellis: Um, Karina, are there any other incentives you guys have in place other than same day start? 

(00:14:58) Karina.: Um, yeah, so we do actually, (00:15:00) uh, have monthly bonuses as well. So, um, production goals and new patient goals. And, um, we have a goal where if everybody, um, you know, doesn't, so lab slips, I'm sure that's a problem across all the offices where Miss.

(00:15:16) Slap slip happens. So, um, if we don't have any missed lab slips, um, and so we all have a, a bonus structure. Um, if all the offices meet a co a collective goal, then we have, um, extras added onto our paycheck. So that's also a nice little incentive as well. 

(00:15:35) Lacie Ellis: I, I feel like I understand, you know, I've owned a small business before.

(00:15:40) Um, I understand the doctor's thought process that like, I pay my team really, really well. And like, these are just things that are like part of your job. So I, I do from a doctor perspective and an owner perspective, I do get that, um. I feel like the practice that I worked in that really nailed this, the best, um, we (00:16:00) did it very short term, so it wasn't an always thing.

(00:16:03) So it wasn't always that there was a bonus for same day starts or what have you. It was like, okay, this month our goal is to get more Google reviews. So if your name gets. Mentioned in the Google Review, like if your specific name is mentioned, 20 bucks instantly, that's cool's. Cool. And we did that for like a month and then the next month it would be a new challenge and a new objective and that really helped keep things fresh so it wasn't like want won, like, you know.

(00:16:29) Yeah. That's really cool. That's 

(00:16:31) Karina.: actually really fun. Yeah, it was really fun 

(00:16:34) Lacie Ellis: and I think it helped. I think the bonus stacking, again from a doctor's perspective can get, like, if I'm paying my team X amount of dollars an hour, like everything is more expensive now than it's ever been. Yes. For a practice. Um, so in, in light of keeping an overhead where it needs to be to keep the practice running, but also keep.

(00:16:55) A really good team hired. Like there are all these things that go into play, (00:17:00) and so as a team member, it's easy to be like, well, obviously I shine in this moment this week, so there should be a bonus for that. Yeah, for sure. Um, it, it's a tough balance, I think, but I think, um, you know, it sounds like you guys have a really good structure in place.

(00:17:14) Um, I just wanted to share like that. Office in particular, we kind of rotated through what we were getting bonused for. And that was Yeah, 

(00:17:22) Karina.: that is, that is a good idea. And that's, it's like, oh, this month we're gonna focus on this. Or what, what is our practice not doing so well? Well, we, we haven't had any reviews, so that's, that's a really cool idea.

(00:17:32) Um, yeah, to kinda keep. Keep things fresh. Um, but yeah, I agree with you. It's as a business owner, that's, they have a business run at the end of the day, so they're thinking, well, I'm paying somebody to be here already. Why should I give them more for doing amazing job at their job, which they should be doing anyway?

(00:17:50) Um, but as a, as a team, uh, member, it feels so good to feel appreciated. I can tell you, our doctors go above and beyond for our girls, and it feels so (00:18:00) good. I mean. SH gifts for Valentine's Day, uh, appreciation week. Um, of course your monthly bonuses, but just hearing it too, um, it doesn't even have to be a lot of money.

(00:18:13) They could just say, Hey, let's, you know, everybody did great. Let's order some Starbucks this, um, tomorrow morning. And just because everybody did amazing, it doesn't have to be a ton of money. Um, a little Starbucks for me would make my entire day for sure. Absolutely. Yes. 

(00:18:28) Lacie Ellis: Little little things go a long way.

(00:18:29) I always say I, I don't need constant like praise. Mm-hmm. It's just that like out of the blue pat on the back every once in a while that it's just like, oh, oh I am as, I'm as good as I thought. 

(00:18:42) Karina.: So. 

(00:18:44) Lacie Ellis: Alright, so let's listen to our next question. Um, how does your practice involve the team in marketing efforts, especially when it comes to social media or patient referrals?

(00:18:55) I. 

(00:18:56) Karina.: Yeah, for sure. So. (00:19:00) Marketing it, it is the most effective when it's, um, authentic and genuine. So our entire team will really pitch in and it's a big team effort to make sure that we are, um, you know, telling our patients, Hey, I. We appreciate you. Thank you for sending your friends and family and the people you love to us.

(00:19:19) Um, as far as, uh, your doctor, you know, doing deliveries for doctors and, and telling them, Hey, thank you so much. Um, everybody just kind of comes up with ideas and, and we all talk about it as a whole at our, um, monthly staff meeting. And, um, during that time we also all kind of create the, um. Execution portion of it.

(00:19:41) So when we go out to our referring doctors, um, everyone on the team, for the most part, everybody goes out and hits different offices. Um, we have events where the doctors are invited to our office, um, for a doctor appreciation event. Um, so we all really just pitch in. (00:20:00) Um, just this week actually, we have a fun, uh, thing.

(00:20:03) Our local community where we have a, um, concert series that goes on all, all, all summer really. So we all, um, go to this event and we create, um, you know, we bring a tent and we, we create a fun time for our, um, community. And, um, Bailey actually was in charge of this event and, um. She put together a really, really cute, fun price basket, um, for each of our concerts.

(00:20:29) And so really everyone plays a role in this, um, as well as, you know, the review portion and answering to all of our, um, reviews online. And, and it makes everybody feel good saying, Hey, I had that idea and we're executing it, and it went really well. And we take pictures and post it on our social media so everybody can know what's going on.

(00:20:50) Lacie Ellis: So you don't have like one lead who's overseeing the marketing. Do you run by like committees as far as like this committee's in charge of doctor deliveries or is it just (00:21:00) we talk about it in the monthly meeting and assign everybody their role for that month? 

(00:21:04) Karina.: Yeah, a little bit of both, I would say. So, um, we have a girl at our, um, main, two main offices, two girls that are for the most part in charge of, you know, um, getting the list together and, and getting the orders placed.

(00:21:17) But, um. The idea is to have the entire team pitch in an idea and say, do we think that's a good idea? Should we do this? Should we not do this? And everybody just kind of states their opinion and then, um, the two people in charge are like, okay, here's the execution of it. The orders are placed, be here at this time, and this is where you're going.

(00:21:38) Perfect. 

(00:21:39) Lacie Ellis: Um, so Bailey, I know Chairside when I worked Chairside marketing would come in and be like, okay, this week we're gonna work really hard on this thing. And I'm like, dude, do you know what my checklist looks like for an appointment? You do. It's a lot. Um, but once we kind of all bought into it and we were like all involved, (00:22:00) it sounds like you do have the whole team involved, but it was always like the hardest to get chairside to like.

(00:22:05) Dig into marketing and do it. So how have you guys, is it just like everybody on your team is really up for it, or how does that work for you guys in the back? 

(00:22:14) Baleigh: I would say in the, in the past few years, honestly, we're all kind of up for it. I mean. We all like to pitch in and go see the other offices. And then these events that we do outside of the office are always really fun.

(00:22:27) Like the concert, honestly, we have a list, we have four concerts total this summer and we have like a list of who's going to all of them. And the list is like almost and list we wanna going. So like if someone, me, hey, something came up with my husband, I got a message, Hey, something came up with my husband.

(00:22:42) I can't um, go to the event tonight anymore. Is that okay? I was like, girl, we got 500 people going. You're totally. Yeah. But yeah, especially the summer concert is always a really awesome one. 'cause we give away those prizes and a lot of our patients go to it. So we get to see them and we give out (00:23:00) popsicles and we have games and the prizes are always really fun.

(00:23:04) We had a lot of kids over at our table watching us draw the winner because we were so excited and they wanted it. 

(00:23:11) Lacie Ellis: So this makes me think of two things. One, great job hiring, because it's really hard to find teams that show up. Mm-hmm. I would say I, I hadn't really framed it this way before in my head, but like, find events that your team actually wants to be at too.

(00:23:27) Mm-hmm. Because those are the things that your patients and their parents are gonna want to go to. You know, like a health fair is fun and all, but like how many people are like, I can't wait to go to this health fair. You know what I'm saying? So. Um, so I think that's really brilliant that you guys have found something that not only, um, does your team wanna be there, but then you know that your patients are gonna wanna be there and potential patients are gonna be there.

(00:23:49) And you can really connect with people because everybody wants to be there. You're not dragging anybody, uh, with you by their. By their hair to get there. 

(00:23:58) Karina.: And it's never (00:24:00) mandatory any after, you know, after work. Events are never mandatory. People are paid to be there, but, um, but like you said, you, you enjoy these events so much that you're like, I can't wait for this.

(00:24:11) We do, um, have another event like during holiday and it's, um, they call it the HA on the Prairie and. Everyone loves to be there. There's girls that are on vacation that week and she said, I am back on Thursday. I'm going to the H. So it's, it's really, it's so funny to watch, but people love it. 

(00:24:30) Lacie Ellis: That is awesome.

(00:24:31) Well, well done you guys. 'cause uh, this story is not what I hear from most practices. Oh yeah. Oh my, my job. Um, thank you. So another question that seems to come up really frequently is that issue of dress codes. Um, you know. What should the front wear? What should the back wear? What should everybody be wearing?

(00:24:49) Um, so I'm really interested to hear what your team wears and how that was determined and how often you kind of change that up. All of the good stuff there. 

(00:24:58) Baleigh: So when it comes to (00:25:00) our uniforms, our doctors generally like it to be very uniform. Um, so when we start, we all get a set of black scrubs from figs.

(00:25:10) So we generally wear figs, black scrubs. You can send carina orders them for us. So we will send her links to the specific pants. And tops that we like. Um, so generally we wear black scrubs and then we have black scrub jackets with our office name on the side, and we also have name tags. So usually Monday through Thursday we'll wear that.

(00:25:31) And then on Fridays we wear black scrub pants and like an office t-shirt. Um, it can deviate sometimes though, like obviously on Halloween you have to wear a Halloween costume. Um, and we do typically coordinate that as well. Um, and any other holidays we have, um. One of our coworkers, um, kind of has like a side hustle making t-shirts, so she'll make us fun.

(00:25:54) Like Chris Valentine's Day, t-shirts and stuff like that. Or like, if there's anything locally (00:26:00) going on, like, we live in Indiana, so the Pacers are at the finals. Go Pacers. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Um, so last Friday they were playing, so we all wore Pacers t-shirts and stuff. 

(00:26:12) Lacie Ellis: I love it. How about the front? Um, what are TCS wearing?

(00:26:15) What's your, uh. Front desk wearing 

(00:26:18) Baleigh: tcs and front desk are still the same. Yeah, it's all Okay, so everybody's 

(00:26:21) Lacie Ellis: in scrubs. Yeah. 

(00:26:23) Baleigh: Okay. Interesting. The front desk kind of has like a little bit more leniency. Sometimes they'll wear t-shirts a little bit more, or like if it's cold, they, they get cold up there.

(00:26:32) They're spinning around the heaters, like rotisserie chickens. And in every dental office. 

(00:26:40) Lacie Ellis: Yes. What about shoes? Then go with it. Do shoes matter, wear whatever shoes you want? Or do you guys all wear Nikes or. 

(00:26:47) Baleigh: No. Yeah, we just wear whatever shoes. I feel like a lot of us on clouds or Nikes. Yeah. 

(00:26:54) Lacie Ellis: Awesome. Um, I haven't worked in an office where front desk and TCS wore the scrubs too, and they (00:27:00) were always, it was like, it felt like it was one of those contentious things where they're like, you get to basically wear your pajamas every day.

(00:27:05) It's not fair. So I think that actually is brilliant to be like, everybody's just wearing the same thing. Um, yeah. And you don't have to worry about it then. Like, I, I think that works. 

(00:27:15) Karina.: Yeah. And I will say for people that don't, it's, we are our office. Like we keep tooting our own horn because we truly have such an awesome team.

(00:27:26) We have such an awesome set of doctors and just like beautiful office and we. Have several roles within the practice. So sometimes say, um, Bailey is TC today, and there was an adjustment that just really needed to be seen, and she had a gap in her TC chair, um, as of yesterday, and somebody got put in there.

(00:27:49) So it's easy for her to walk out of that room, go to the clinic, see this patient and then jump back in. They're like, nothing ever happened. Everybody is cross-trained for the most part, and it's just so easy to (00:28:00) do that. And. It's uniformed and everybody looks crisp and professional too in scrubs. 

(00:28:05) Lacie Ellis: Um. I hadn't thought of it that way.

(00:28:08) So again, thank you for the reframe because when I was TC, I also was the, I did the records for the, you know, for the, all of the exams. And again, I'm gonna make myself sound so old when I say this, but we were taking impressions at the time. I was 

(00:28:23) Karina.: too, it's fine. 

(00:28:24) Lacie Ellis: I'm an excellent algin mixer and that skill has no value anymore at all.

(00:28:29) But, um, but you know, it gets all over you. And then, you know, I'm in my nice. TC clothes and trying to do these things that are probably more sterile and need to have a more sterile environment. Yeah. So it just makes, it actually makes perfect sense to me to do it that way. So yeah, I think that's great advice.

(00:28:48) I like it. Um, do you have any challenges that you've come up against with the practice that you've found a great solution to? Or do you have a challenge that you're searching for a great solution to that we (00:29:00) could put out there? 

(00:29:01) Karina.: I think both this has a good solution and it's still a challenge, but we're still actively looking.

(00:29:08) So, um, one of, and I kind of touched a little bit about it earlier, but our, I would say our biggest challenge right now is getting those lab slips, submissions completed. We have an in-house lab. We send items out to, uh, have like 3D printed brackets. We have of course our aligner system, so there are different turning.

(00:29:31) You know, there's a lot of different turning, um, parts to this. And so, um, we do use a system called Easy Rx. And so if somebody hasn't heard of this, it is, um, it is like an RX form. It's, you can go directly from our patient, um, portal, link it, it'll you create that, um, prescription form and then you can select.

(00:29:53) And the in-house lab that we have or an outside lab if, if we have that. And so, um, (00:30:00) for that, um, they get submitted for the most part. But we're running around, we're busy, we have our next patients already here and we just need to just go on. And so it's so difficult to have that, okay, how do I go back to make sure that this lab sips not getting missed?

(00:30:16) And so we, um, it adds on a lot of good, um, value the easy R eggs because. You can see, okay, this has been submitted. Mm-hmm. Um, but how do you work if it didn't get submitted? So we do have a girl that is in charge of, um, going down the scans and making sure that the, um, the things are submitted. So we're still have some that are missed.

(00:30:42) So we're like, what do we need to do? Do we need an incentive? We have an incentive. We, it's a bonus, um, point, but, um, we've only hit it one time in the past and so ever we have really, really good communication. The front desk, um, is like, Hey, this, (00:31:00) um, patient that's in 3D printed brackets is now going to one of the other locations.

(00:31:04) Make sure the trays are sent. We don't have issues with internal, um, communication. Everybody does such a good job. Hey, this patient's coming in, it's packed. It's, it's traveled, it's here, checked in, whatever. Um, but you know, we have those missed lab slips, so we're still working on a solution. Doctor. Uh, one of our doctors actually has offered.

(00:31:22) To let us pie him in the face. If we have, what is it, two, three consecutive months? I think. Three months of no 

(00:31:28) Baleigh: miss. Oh my God. And he, he just has crisp, sculptured hair and I would love to get a little whipped cream in it. You know, I just wanna rough him up. Yeah. He cannot 

(00:31:38) Karina.: touch his hair. Don't look at his hair.

(00:31:41) Baleigh: Not bump that light 

(00:31:42) Lacie Ellis: in his hair. No. So, I'm curious, I haven't used this platform before. So is it all digitally sent the lab slips? Yes. Yes. So I wonder, we Mouse lab a, again, this is me just really showing my age, uh, spots here, but, um, (00:32:00) basically we, you know, ours were all just paper lab slips. Mm-hmm. And, um, we filled those out and sometimes it meant like it was real quick and dirty, and then we'd go back and make 'em pretty so the lab could actually read them later.

(00:32:11) Mm-hmm. Um, I wonder if there is a quick like. Easy way to get those notes down as a chairside person and then like just check 'em off and make sure they're all submitted by the end of the day. Like something, I know everybody wants to be digital, but I wonder if there's something manually that they, they could like have printed and ready to go.

(00:32:31) Baleigh: Once, so we assistance. Um, actually she typically keeps, like post, she's one of our, one of our ones that can tend to miss them. Every once in a while. She keeps post-it notes at her unit. So she tries to read the patient's name if she like, knows that she does not have a second to submit it right then.

(00:32:48) Yeah, and I'll say like for myself, I, I have not ever been the best about getting, oh, no. Did I cut out? (00:33:00) No, it just dinged. You're fine. My computer was asking me if I wanted to make changes to my device. Oh.

(00:33:10) So for myself, I used to not be the best. I'll say I'm going on three months of not missing any. And what really helped me, um, and I've tried to preach this to everyone else, is submitting the lab slip while my patient is still in the chair right there. If I know that we are scanning for retainers, I will pull up easier RX before I'm even scanning the patient so it's ready to go.

(00:33:31) Things like that. Yeah, I feel like you just have to be so on top of it. 'cause we're all running around like. Crazy all the time. 

(00:33:36) Lacie Ellis: That's what I was saying, the checklist, I mean, for all of the positions in the office, the checklists are huge, but that in particular chairside is just, there's so many things and you miss one and you could set treatment back or something, you know, so it, it's important.

(00:33:52) They're all important, but like it's really important that you get all those steps in. I like the idea of having it pulled up and just doing it before they even just doing it. (00:34:00) Yeah. Yeah. 

(00:34:02) Karina.: There was one where I was like, I feel like I missed one. And then I was like, everybody come help me. And it was at the end of the day and I was like, I feel like there's one that I didn't get.

(00:34:12) We all looked and we were like, oh no, it looks like you got a mom. And then I realized I took a patient for some, the next day I get a message, Hey, you've missed this one. And I was like, oh, here are the two people that helped me look, I promise we were looking. Um, and it was somebody that I took for another person in a different chair.

(00:34:30) So my brain was not looking across everybody's chair. I just helped somebody and burn myself. 

(00:34:36) Lacie Ellis: Well, like I said, we are humans. Yes. So we're gonna make human mistakes and none of them, most of the time it seems like none of it is intentional, right? Like we're all just trying to do the best we can.

(00:34:48) Especially if you have a great team, which it really sounds like you guys do. Um. So I, you know, I really hope that you enjoyed our conversation today as much as I did. Thank you so much (00:35:00) for your time and for sharing your valuable insights, Karina and Bailey. This was really fun. Really fun. 

(00:35:05) Karina.: Awesome. Thanks for having us.

(00:35:06) Oh my gosh, yes. We loved it. It was so much fun. We'd be happy to come back any day. Great. Yes, uh, let's do 

(00:35:13) Lacie Ellis: that for sure. Um, and so our goal for this podcast is to give you truly tangible items that you can use in your day-to-day life at the office. To elevate the voices of people that actually work in an office and sit in the same chair that you sit in every day.

(00:35:28) We would love to hear from you, uh, with topic or guest recommendations, as well as questions or comments about the things that you are dealing with in your practice. Send us your questions and or stories to practice talk.com. Please subscribe and share this episode with your friends and family that might find these conversations helpful and interesting.

(00:35:47) And don't forget to listen to our original podcast called The Golden Age of Orthodontics. Hosted by the founders of People in Practice, Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein. Until next time, thank you for joining us on Practice Talk where your (00:36:00) voice has value. Thank you for listening to The Practice Talk podcast.

(00:36:06) Head over to practice talk.com to ask us questions or tell us your stories. Until next time.