THE REALITIES OF STAFFING IN THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT
So, let’s get real about the dental workforce in 2024. What can organized dentistry do for itself and for me? Furthermore, what can I do to help myself?
The difficulty finding excellent committed dental staff is not a COVID issue. For the past 10 to 15 years we have had challenges hiring the kind of staff we all desire to have as a part of our teams. This shortage was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic but was not caused by it on its own. It is an easy blame to point a finger at the pandemic as the cause. But think carefully, how long have we all been searching for top notch hygienists, EFDAs and dental assistants? What COVID did do is create an out for those employees that were not at the top of their game and perhaps were not providing for your patients the exceptional level of service that patients and you expected from your practice.
OK … Enough of that … What can be done to rebuild our staff and teams?
There are many ways that we can all affect our shared issues. Let’s look first at organized dentistry’s part in solving the issues. Here it is a numbers game. We simply need to attract more young women and men to our profession. The ODA staff together with our Work Force Task Force working within our Dental Education and Licensure Committee has internally begun to modify our staffing outreach. We have embarked on a social media campaign seeking new employees to join our profession. The ongoing ODA/ONN radio campaign has been enhanced to feature recruitment messages to our target audiences, 16- to 22-year-olds. The ODA website has been modified to allow easier access for young individuals to find information on careers in dentistry. The availability of training programs is much more visible. What dentistry can offer to new assistants and hygienists is now more prominent than ever before.
The ODA has reached out to several outstanding national experts to educate all of us on what it takes, in today’s environment, to maintain our current staff members. You will find their articles in the “ODA Today” monthly. We all know how difficult it is to train a staff member. This series of articles will discuss how to stop the loss of those exceptional team members that have helped us all build our practices. What does it take to create a practice that you are proud of and they are happy and proud to be growing within? Remember, today it is not good enough to be just a highly skilled technician. We must be leaders of a highly skilled and motivated team. All your staff can and will contribute to total success if you treat them properly and allow them to show you what they together are capable of providing as an exceptional team for your patients.
What about training new assistants and hygienists?
Easier said than done! The hygiene training programs are full of highly motivated individuals that will soon join our practices. Unfortunately, the numbers retiring over the next 10 years are not slowing. The programs have maximized their numbers due to a lack of space, money and a lack of training operatories. Those that had more space a few years ago are now bursting at the seams. One of the big hang-ups for increasing student numbers is lack of doctor preceptors. CODA has fixed limits of the ratio of docs to students and they barely have enough to currently go around. Similar issues exist with dental assistants. The existing training programs are fairly full and those that are not are having issues with obtaining adequate numbers of preceptors. Even the high school training programs have shortages of faculty. What about considering becoming a volunteer preceptor at a hygienist or assistant training program in your area?
The one area that has an unlimited source of assistants is your own practice. The ODA is looking at various sources of training information that we can all use to train our own “HOME GROWN” assistants. We are a highly respected profession. What about using the skills we all possess to educate the next generation of dental assistants? The ODA task force is seeking to organize a comprehensive training program for you to use in your office to train-up the next best and brightest. Yes, this will require your personal efforts and time. But isn’t this the best way to find the exact personnel that you want? Hire a great personality and then teach them to be a great assistant. What a terrific way to enhance your team.
We have had a long pause in the certification process for assistants and radiographers in Ohio but finally all three testing sources are back up and running so with a little time and persistence you can hire, train and then certify new staff. At the same time train-up your existing staff and help them with their personal certification process. Show them you appreciate them, and you care about them. The end result, your practice grows and benefits by building up your current stars.
The ODA Workforce Task Force is not through there. There are several additional projects being worked on to enhance our exceptional staffs that are currently too early to discuss.
The unfortunate reality is that our workforce shortages are not new and they are going to take time and everyone’s efforts to obviate. We all know what the best solution is for our own practices. It is time for us to address the issues individually and together. Give it a bit of thought and find the best personality. Organize a training program that includes the best of your existing staff. Consider volunteering at a hygiene or assistant training center.
Don’t wait. Be part of our total solution.
