We are so proud of our Chief Visionary Officer and founder, Lisa Philp, for her recent feature in Oral Health! In her article, she talks about the Return to Dentistry after COVID-19 and how Transitions Group remained open as an essential service to support dentistry throughout the current pandemic.
Reflect
Reflection is an important part of the successful Return to Dentistry. Reflecting on what we have endured and accomplished, along with what new focuses are, will help to fuel the motivation to re-build dental practices back to its pre-COVID performance.
We are proud of all the proactive dental professionals who spent countless hours on Zoom meetings, virtual training webinars and town halls. They remained dedicated to their search for all the proper PPE as well as modifying their facilities with all required health and safety measures in place. Throughout the shutdown, they also built their own or utilized the Transitions Group Practice COVID-19 playbook for liability, team safety and training tool. These dental professionals did everything they could for a successful return and make their practice Pandemic Proof.
Relearn
The COVID-19 pandemic left the dental profession having to learn and relearn specific practices in order to reopen. This includes:
- Team training. The dental profession as a whole had to relearn the importance of repurposing N95 masks, the donning and doffing processes, air exchange and operative management for AGP Aerosol Generated procedures.
- COVID-19 signs and symbols. There are new required signs for hygiene visuals, donning and doffing posters for team reinforcement and social distancing reminders.
- Patient communication. Dental practices had to be open and honest with their patients about the virus and dentistry’s management of it through various different communication tools.
- How NOT to be complacent. We learned how critical it is to adhere to the existing Infection Control (IPAC) standards.These standards include sterilizer temperature and time tracking, logging of every bag or cassette in and out of sterilization, logging of indicators and clean-to-dirty reprocessing.
- COVID-19 virus screening. Practices had to comply with new screening processes for the team, patients and visitors.
- Scheduling. Scheduling had to be modified for social distancing, AGP procedures, operatories and providers.
- The Contactless Patient Experience. The cycle of care for the contactless patient experience must be taught and learned by all members in the practice.
Re-Build
When we are able to successfully navigate each day throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and everyone is educated on the new normal of dentistry, practices can start to re-build. If your dental practice is in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa – or anywhere in Canada – TGNA Practice Management can help you with best-in-class dental consulting, coaching, workshops, training, and practice management. Make sure your practice stays pandemic proof and contact us today!
-The TGNA Team
