Basic training on using your Practice Management System is not enough. You need to have Going Paperless Training. The leading Practice Management Systems (Dentrix, EagleSoft) do things differently so you need specific training from a certified trainer on your system.
However do not allow the trainer to set the agenda. If you want to go paperless you need to ask the trainer to teach the dentist and staff how to do the following:
- Set up CDT Codes with fees etc.
- Create extra codes for things like crown delivery or suture removal.
- Create and set up progress notes.
- Enter everything on the digital chart you used to enter on the paper chart.
- Existing restorations, conditions such as decay or fracture, treatment to be done, perio conditions and all the rest
- Set up and create prescriptions.
- Set up and create lab slips.
- Scan papers and store them in the record.
- Import data from another application.
- Export data from the chart.
- Merge data from the chart to a document.
- Bridge to other data or applications such as photos or radiographs.
Note: This training must include the dentist. The dentist does not need to be a mouse master and know every click and cranny of the system but the dentist does need to know the basics. If the dentist does not know how to use the system, if the dentist does not know what is possible, the dentist will not be able to provide leadership and the leap to paperless will be much harder for everyone concerned.
You will find that as you progress through the process of going paperless there will be tasks that you do not know how to do, or you can do them but the process is awkward. Create a list of the things that are holding you back and have a follow up training session a few weeks or months after the initial going paperless training.
Once you understand the system take some dedicated time to set up your practice management system properly. Taking time to do it right now will save hours of wasted time and frustration later on.
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