Turning a New Patient Screening into points

If you've seen the Matt Damon movie "Rounders" you've seen how reading people can be anything from science to an art. While I don't support gambling, the portrayed ability to quickly determine a person's objectives, concerns, and motivation is powerfully important.

1. Quickly determine if this person is committed to life-long oral health. If so you will likely be able to do a lot of work for this person. If not, you need to be sure both yours and your patient’s time. PTS: Do a limited Eval (2pts) and pulp vitality testing (1pt) if indicated. Solve the immediate problem and move on.

2. Scan for decay, broken teeth, and mobility. Look at the procedures that make points (fillings 2-6pts, crown 10pts, S/RP 1-2pts). Does this patient need any of those procedures? If not they would probably be better served in someone else’s chair.

3. Your chair is a special place. If someone is sitting there you should be making points. Set a goal, say 2pt / hour. Look at your schedule for the next week and figure out how you can make that happen. If you have a lot of new patient screenings keep them to 1 hour or less.

4. Consent, consent, consent. Create an initial list of treatments, FMX, comp-oral, cleaning, etc. at the screening have your primary and patient sign off. So, at 8am at their next visit you are in radiology not trying to get a signature until 8:20.

5. Know point-builder-procedures. Having a perio faculty evaluation, pulp vitality testing, polishing an amalgam that you've placed are all 1 added point. All these can be worked into the planning you do at a new patient screening appointment.

6. Make sure you get points for the work you do. If you've been handed a new patient from another student its a Rediagnosis (4pts) not just a new patient screening. Don't just change all the treatment codes from their name to yours. Throw in a R0153 and you just scored 4pts. Best of all it didn't cost the patient anything.

7. Make it a photo shoot. With a full set of photographs at the new patient screening you can fill in all the existing condition before the first comp-oral appointment. That makes it possible to do all the data collection in a 2 hour appointment.

8.Its a clinic not a social club. If the patient just wants to talk slowly set them back and put a mirror in their mouth. Its not very comfortable to lie back and talk looking at the ceiling, let alone with someones fingers in your mouth.

9. Create a focus list. Like the perfect perio soap, think of 5-6 questions to direct your quick data gathering conversation. Focus on: pain in the head and neck, mobile teeth, parafunctional habits (clinching / bruxing), bleeding, and any other health problems.