Episode #385: How I Stay on Task, with Dr. Marty Williams

Do you want to be more efficient, more productive, and a lot less stressed out? Then you need systems and checklists for your practice! And to help you build your ideal system, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Marty Williams to share his checklist that gives him predictability and peace of mind. A checklist is one of the easiest ways to get things done! To learn the best practices for staying on task, listen to Episode 385 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

• Checklists will give you high levels of predictability.
• Distractions are inevitable. But checklists will keep you on task.
• By using checklists, you can ensure that nothing gets left undone.
• Having checklists and systems will improve workflow.  
• Review your system and checklists often for improvements.

Quotes:

• “[Staying on task] is extremely important because there are certain things that we do and want to have done with each procedure, and with each system that we have, or the patient that we see. I want to follow certain steps so that I assess, diagnose, and treatment plan all the different areas of their mouths and make sure that I get all the documentation in at the end of the week.” (5:49—6:19)
• “I practice the Pankey/Dawson philosophy where we get [patients] in, I do a separate new patient exam. I spend at least a good hour with them. And then, all the data that we gather, at the end of the week, my team will give me a purple folder that will have all the information in there, and it'll have a copy of the checklist in there. So, I sit down, and I'll go through that step by step. I'll start by looking at all the notes that were taken that day. I have it right here, and it’s listed down here, the sequence of steps, and looking at the X-rays, looking at their periodontal information, looking at the information about the tooth, the aesthetics, the smile, function. And then, I take a set of clinical photographs for each new patient. I want to make sure I edit those and read those and put them into the Dentrix system. So, we take all their information. I put it right into their Dentrix chart.” (6:25—7:23)
• “Sometimes, when I'm going through this, there are distractions. I come in on a Friday and typically go through all my new patients from the week. And sometimes, there are emails; I would get distracted and look at it. Or my phone will go off and I'll look at that, or UPS comes and rings the doorbell, and I come and let them in, or I have my therapy dog here, he wants to go out to the bathroom, or I just want to take a power nap and then come back, and I've got everything here when I get done with all these distractions. And I think I have all my i’s dotted and t’s crossed. I go through the checklist at the very end, and I literally check everything off to make sure that I checked all the areas of that case that I wanted to, and I made a nice diagnosis and a thorough treatment plan for each patient.” (7:26—8:16)
• “You'd think that I'd have it down and I wouldn't need the checklist. You’d think, every time, my memory would have that checklist right in my head. But I'm amazed at the times I go through and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh! I didn't do that part,’ and I go back and open the chart back up, and I redo that step and check it off the checklist, and I know that I've got it done. And so, nothing gets left undone.” (9:55—10:21)
• “[Checklists] are the strategic things that I do when I need to get things done. There are so many other piles of things and emails that can be done, but I want to make sure I get the important stuff done. And then the rest of it, it'll be there when I get back on Monday.” (11:08—11:24)
• “[My current system] has been pretty standard and set for a number of years. But all of our systems and things we do in our team meetings, we try and periodically bring those back and review them to see if there are any changes we want to make. And as we learn new information, we definitely do make changes to those systems.” (11:59—12:19)
• “For me, [the sequence of the checklist is] one of the most important things I do when we bring our new patients in. We bring them into our consultation room to do our interview. I want to find out what their chief concern is and what their vision is, why the heck are they here, what do they want me to help them do with their mouth. Those are two main things that are really important to get into the computer system so that when they come back in for their recare visits, I can definitely go back to those and see what their vision was and help to implement treatment and help them accept treatment and say, ‘Well, remember we talked about you wanted to keep things clean and healthy. But you have this periodontal disease going on. Let's start here and get that under control, and then move on to the next step to get you healthy.’” (12:43—13:37)
• “A lot of times, we will try and set up their hygiene appointment right after the appointment with me because patients [are] coming in to get their teeth cleaned. And so, we try and set that up. Sometimes, it doesn't work because I find there's more perio than the patient realized that they had, which is a tough conversation to have that they never realized they had perio. And then, sometimes we don't start the scaling and root planing at that appointment. So, sometimes, that appointment is not used. But most of the time, it is. We can get started on things. But then, if they don't have that hygiene appointment set up right after they see me for the new patient exam, then we have a way to make sure that we do not lose them in the system, and we say, ‘Hey, do they have their hygiene appointment set up? If they don't, let's get a hold of them and try and get it set up.’” (17:56—18:47)
• “My assistant is so good. I leave the room, she does [the consult] right after I leave the room before they go to their hygiene visit or leave for the day. So, sometimes, that's where the consult happens. And sometimes, it’s a more involved treatment plan. We’ll get them back — we try to get them back — hopefully, within a matter of a couple weeks, at the most, so that they don't become disinterested, and to share what their treatment plan is for them. Sometimes, at the consult, we actually get them back to get more diagnostic information before we even set them up for a consult, depending on how complex the treatment plan and their case might be.”  (19:34—20:15)
• “[I] make sure, if they don't have an appointment and the treatment is not scheduled, if they haven't scheduled that appointment, is there a particular reason for that. And then, we set up a time where we can follow up with them.” (20:52—21:06)
• “We have a system where the assistants up front, when we have a new patient, we have a note that they write to them and they’ll say, ‘Thank you for becoming a patient. If you know anybody that would like to be in our practice, we offer a $25 gift card to Target for referring somebody to our practice.’ And they take that note, and that gets set back in our lunchroom, and they put out six pens, one for each of us. So, we each take a pen, we sign it, and we put that back into the pen holder so they know when they can send that out in the mail to that patient, because our entire team signs that thank-you note to that patient. And then, if somebody has referred them, I handwrite a personal thank-you to them thanking them for referring so-and-so to our practice. And then, that gets mailed out with the thank-you card.” (22:20—23:16)
• “If I don't check the box, sometimes, [team members] come back and ask me if I've done that. But I think sometimes, unfortunately, it’s one of those cases that gets slid under the rug and that patient may end up in dental limbo, and we might not see them for a while. So, yeah, sometimes the system doesn't work as well as it’s supposed to. That's when it’s time to review the system.” (28:47—29:13)
• “The system runs the business, and people run the systems.” (30:40—30:44)
• “One of the biggest benefits of using a system, if you're using a system, you're much more efficient, effective, productive, less stressed out, and happier.”  (31:20—31:29)
• “If you get yourself in the habit of using systems, and more importantly, using checklists, you're going to be so much more efficient, effective, productive, happy, kind to yourself, a lot less stressed out.” (31:51—32:05)

Snippets:

• 0:00 Introduction.
• 3:04 Dr. Williams’s background.
• 5:27 Why this is an important topic.
• 8:17 The Checklist Manifesto.
• 9:07 Nothing is left undone.
• 10:22 Checklists give peace of mind.
• 11:26 Revisit checklists and systems.
• 12:20 The sequence is important.
• 13:41 FISH notes for better relationships.
• 15:16 System for diagnostic opinion.
• 16:18 System for perio notes.
• 17:08 System for hygiene appointments.
• 19:12 System for consults and appointments.
• 20:16 Unique items on the systems checklist.
• 21:52 System for thank-you notes to patients.
• 23:53 System for understanding who you’re serving.
• 28:21 Last thoughts on the system.
• 29:50 Other checklists Dr. Williams uses.  
• 31:35 Other last thoughts on systems development and checklists.

Reach Out to Dr. Williams:

Dr. Williams’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sierradentalgb

Dr. Williams’s social media: @sierradentalgb

Resources:

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande: http://atulgawande.com/book/the-checklist-manifesto/

Dr. Marty Williams Bio:

Dr. Marty Williams has been practicing dentistry since 1985. He earned his dental degree at Marquette University School of Dentistry. Dr. Williams is a member of the Brown-Door Kewaunee Dental Society, Wisconsin Dental Association, American Dental Association, Seattle Study Club, Greater Green Bay Study Club, Bayside Dental Study Club, and American Equilibration Society.

Dr. Williams was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father was a dentist, whom he was able to practice with for two short years before his death with his two brothers. They died in a plane crash in a plane with the call sign, “Sierra”. For that reason, Dr. Williams named his practice "Sierra Dental”, in their memory.

Dr. Williams has been inspired by many consulting teams over the years that have helped him along his journey in dentistry. They include L.D. Pankey Institute, Dawson Center, and most recently, The Levin Consulting Group.