As the dentistry field becomes saturated with choice, patients can take their pick of the best
The day-to-day demands of a dental practice can leave collecting adequate feedback an afterthought
Automated surveys are the best way to deliver the data you need to improve your practice and respond to specific poor experiences
Dentistry is a challenging career. Years of training, headache-inducing exams and a mountain of debt are all part of the dental starter package. Yet many so many select it as their path that the field is headed for saturation.
Here in Canada, the National Post reported on findings by R.K. House and Associates, consultants to the Ontario Dental Association, which point to an oversaturation of dentists in larger cities across the country. And the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute conducted their own analysis of dentist growth per capita, which they say “[suggests] that, at the aggregate level, the United States could be entering a period of expanding supply of dentists and flattening demand for dental care.”
As if your job needed to get harder.
With such an overabundance of dentists to choose from, patients have their pick of the litter. It’s a buyer’s market, which means standing out from the crowd is essential to both gaining and retaining patients. Because make no mistake, retention rates are also becoming a concern for the majority of dental practices.
Writing for DentistryIQ, Theodore Schumann says statistics indicate “the average practice may lose as much as 10 per cent of its patient base through normal attrition”—a terrifying number to contemplate, and one most mainstream businesses would run screaming from. So how do you combat the conjoined problems of market saturation and patient attrition?
One way? Relentlessly measure your performance to improve your weaknesses. Dental practice patient satisfaction questionnaires may be your answer.
Even when performing at your very best, though, care recipients might disagree: as an article in the Australian Dental Journal notes, “reconciliation between possibly different perceptions of a clinical encounter between patient and practitioner” are one of the challenges patient satisfaction surveys hopes to counter.
By assessing the correlation between patient satisfaction scores and outcomes of treatment plans, practices can have measurable continuous improvement, and try to offset the impact of patient attrition. Indeed, feedback surveys have been used as part of national schemes in both Australia and the UK to improve overall standards of care within the industry and for accreditation purposes, demonstrating their usefulness to maintaining care standards over time.
Patient satisfaction surveys also assist with rapid, effective response to negative experiences, reducing the likelihood of provider switching and helping the patient feel understood. This may also increase the likelihood of attending recalls in a timely manner; more than one in ten US patients report they haven’t seen their dentist in over five years, increasing to nearly one in five for diabetic patients.
Whether you’re fresh out of school or an established veteran, patient loyalty is crucial to your success. By using surveys to measure patient perception of your practice, it is possible to improve both outcomes and retention. We’ve built an automatic post-treatment survey feature into our for hassle-free general automated reminder solution. You might be surprised at how much such a system can improve your dental practice!