FROM THE EDITOR:
How do you get competent, willing and professional staff?
I'm sure many of our readers are very familiar with the Solutions phone surveys. Our team of surveyors contacts doctors all over the country, 8 hours a day, five days a week. Given the busyness of your schedules, we definitely appreciate it when you take the time to speak with our team. The information you provide enables us to more closely concentrate on articles of interest to you and your staff.
With that in mind, we have found from our recent surveys that one of the most distressing areas for most doctors is the managing, hiring and controlling of staff....
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Your Responsibility to Your Staff
Active Leadership
It is very important for the owner of a practice to maintain excellent communication with his/her staff and to provide active and visible leadership. Following are some key points for the executive:
Communication of Goals: Determine what the purpose (Mission Statement) of your practice is and communicate it to your staff. Let them know what the goals for the office are and keep them informed of the projects you intend to implement to achieve those goals. The better informed your staff is and the greater understanding....
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Setting and Attaining Goals
The Targeting of Production
A very important aspect of group coordination and leadership is providing the staff with goals that are real to them and that they feel are attainable. In order to raise the production to the range you desire, the targets (both monthly and weekly) must be stated and "kept alive" with the staff.
Following is a suggested method of doing this....
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Getting Your Staff on the Same Page:
The Staff Meeting
One very important activity you as the owner should implement is a regular staff meeting with all of your personnel. This provides regular communication with all the staff and enables any questions to be addressed in a forum that allows coordination.
Highlighted below are basic policies for conducting a staff meeting and what the purpose of having a staff meeting is....
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How Valuable is that Employee?
Performance Evaluation in a Practice
The performance evaluation is viewed as a process to ensure a high quality of service to the patients and clients of the practice by fostering personal and professional growth of the staff. A performance evaluation does not necessarily mean that the employee will be receiving an increase in pay. That is not the purpose for the review and should be addressed as a separate issue at another time.
The employee performance evaluation is a broad process covering many aspects of performance. It attempts to provide a fair, equitable and valid approach for assessing the performance of professional employees....
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PROFILE: EZEKIAL THOMAS, DVM
PRACTICE: RIVER FOREST ANIMAL HOSPITAL
LOCATION: SARASOTA, FLORIDA
Handling National Chain Competition by Learning How to Run a Business.
Dr. Ezekial (Zeke) Thomas has been in practice for 46 years. He is a small animal vet and works with exotics such as reptiles and birds. His father was a general veterinarian and, in 1960, Dr. Thomas went to work with his father at the practice. The elder Dr. Thomas retired in 1964 and moved to a fishing village in northern Florida and Zeke has been running it since.....
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Project Could Help Pets Serve As Disease Watchdogs
A national surveillance network that uses the medical records of companion animals could help prepare for a wide variety of emerging disease threats to humans and animals, including avian influenza, according to veterinary scientists at Purdue University's School of Veterinary Medicine.
The National Companion Animal Surveillance Program was originally designed to alert people to potential anthrax or plague outbreaks. New findings on tests of the program are detailed in the current edition of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, a medical journal....
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US Prepares for Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu in Wild Birds
Avian Influenza (AI) -- the bird flu -- is a disease caused by a virus that infects domestic poultry and wild birds (geese and ducks and shorebirds). Each year, there is a bird flu season just as there is for humans and, as with people, some forms of the flu are worse than others.
The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in an increasing number of countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Currently, H5N1 avian influenza is not present in the United States. It is likely the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain will spread to this country, and the U.S. Government is taking steps to prepare for and minimize the potential impact of bird flu....
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PROFILE: CRAIG SLACK, DDS
PRACTICE: CLINTONVILLE DENTAL
LOCATION: CLINTONVILLE, OHIO
How One Dentist Went From a Struggling New Practice to a Successful, Happy Life.
"I spent seven months as an associate/slave and decided that was not how I was going to have a career in dentistry," said Dr. Craig Slack, a general dentist in Clintonville, Ohio....
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Saliva as a Diagnostic Tool for Periodontal Disease
A University of Kentucky research study could help change the diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease.
An article, "Salivary Biomarkers of Existing Periodontal Disease," discusses the importance of saliva and its potential to be a diagnostic tool.
The study was conducted by a team of UK researchers to determine if saliva could be tested for signs of periodontal disease, a chronic bacterial infection....
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Clinical Test for Saliva-based Oral Cancer Detection Ready
Oral cancer is the 6th most common cancer in men and the 14th most common cancer in women. In the US, oral cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 30,000 Americans this year and will cause more than 8,000 deaths. The disease kills approximately one person every hour. Oral cancer can spread quickly. The majority of oral cancers are diagnosed in late stages, which accounts for the high death rates. Only half of those diagnosed with the disease will survive more than five years. However....
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PROFILE: DIRK BEYER, OD
PRACTICE: BIG SKY EYE CARE
LOCATION: HAMILTON, MONTANA
How a Doctor Made his Wife Happy
Dr. Dirk Beyer, an optometrist based in Hamilton, Montana had no idea how much he didn't know when he came out of optometry school.
"I had no idea how to run a practice," said Dr. Beyer.
After graduating from the University of Houston College of Optometry in 1996, Dr. Beyer started his residency working for a government agency....
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Eye Fungus Reports Increase as Cases Emerge in United States
American Optometric Association Urges Americans to Take Proper Contact Lens Precautions to Protect Against 'Fusarium Keratitis'
Doctors of optometry from the American Optometric Association's (AOA) Contact Lens and Cornea Section urged contact lens wearers to take proper precautions amid reports of a potentially sight-threatening eye fungus appearing in the United States with increased frequency....
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Boom in Baby Boomer Eye Disease Anticipated
Optometrists Anticipate 'Boom' in Eye Diseases as Baby Boomers Turn 60 - Save Your Vision Month Promotes Regular Eye Exams
In a year where an estimated 2.8 million baby boomers will celebrate their 60th birthday, age-related eye diseases are becoming increasingly important health issues, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). The AOA is reminding Americans...
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Who Does What:
Confusion About Eye Care Providers, Training, M.D. Status
Survey Highlights Need for Education; Consumer Group Offers Tips, White Paper
A survey commissioned by the National Consumers League finds that when it comes to eye care, many consumers - in Oklahoma and across the United States -- are uncertain about the differences among various eye care providers, the services they perform, and the training and education they must complete. Despite the confusion about eye care
professionals, consumers have strong opinions on the need for a....
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