ArticleAugust 11, 2023

4 areas you can focus your spring cleaning efforts

Ready to spring into action? Keep your practice clean and up to date for your patients and your peace of mind.

Ahh. Can you smell it? The morning dew of the trees after that early morning April shower? The sweet aroma of the lilacs, hyacinths, and daffodils coming into bloom? Spring is here! And there’s no better time to dust off those areas that fell under your radar during the winter months.

Here are four areas you should focus your spring cleaning efforts to keep your well-earned practice in tip-top shape.

Your common areas

It goes without saying that germs and dirt can spread in common areas, such as exam rooms, waiting rooms, treatment rooms, and staff areas. Veterinary waiting rooms can get especially hairy: It’s important to keep your common areas clean to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, protecting your practice, patients, and customers. Infection protection and biosecurity are essential for not only disease transmission between animals but also between your four-legged patients and the professionals who care for them. Make sure you’re washing your hands and sanitizing between every set of paws or hands you touch, stay home when you are sick, disinfect all areas every night before you leave, and cover up any cuts or wounds you may have.

For dental practices, sterilization protocols have evolved over the past few years, and there’s been an increase in record-keeping. Applying the correct safety protocols and cleaning and disinfecting systems can keep everyone in your practice safe. Disinfection is vital to preventing the spread of infectious diseases, and it’s important to know the difference between disinfecting and cleaning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines dental equipment disinfection as “The physical action of scrubbing with detergents and surfactants and rinsing with water” and defines disinfecting as “destroying most pathogenic and other microorganisms (excluding bacterial spores), by physical or chemical means (usually liquid chemicals).” When cleaning your practice, be sure to remove all debris that may interfere with your disinfection chemicals so they can thoroughly clean surfaces.

Your patient management system

Keeping all your important files stored in the most easily accessible place on your computer can be great when you’re trying to find something quickly. Beyond your desktop and old spreadsheets, there are many dental and veterinary practice management software programs out there. We gathered a list of the better programs available that can help you organize and secure your patient information.

For dentists:

Curve Dental — Cloud-based practice management software used for scheduling, invoicing, manage recall, manage insurance, charting, and more
tab32 — All-in-one cloud platform used for tracking appointments, patients, radiology X-rays, patient engagements, and annual revenues
Identalsoft — 100% paperless practice management software that offers integrated charting, billing, treatment planning, schedule, and imaging features

For veterinarians:

IDEXX Cornerstone Veterinary Software — Includes a health network, data backup and recovery, a payment portal, automatic reminders, and client communication
ezyVet — Cloud-based practice that handles boarding, billing, calendars, financial statements, lab results, inventory, marketing, and treatment information
AVImark — Offers electronic medical records, appointment and boarding calendars, patient reminders, dental charts, estimates and invoicing, financial reporting, and more paperless practices

Your technology and equipment

Have you considered updating your practice with the latest and greatest technology and equipment? Technology is constantly advancing, and you want to make sure that each year you’re keeping yours up to date. Be sure to do some research while also keeping your priorities in mind (don’t get distracted by new, shiny objects). What you invest in now will do your future self a favor.

A few questions to ask yourself:

Veterinarians

Has my patient base shifted?
Do I have the equipment needed to treat each specific type of animal?
Am I seeing more of the same condition, and how can I make the treatment easier for the patient, my staff, and me?

Dentists:

Is there new equipment that can make my patients more comfortable, such as intraoral cameras?
Are there tools that can help predict patient outcomes like artificial intelligence?

Your goals

As an owner, it’s important to make sure your goals align with where your practice is today. Whether you have plans to open a new location or dream of expanding your current practice, now is the time to reflect on those goals, compare where you were before to where you are now, and see what goals can be marked as “complete” or “still in progress.” Don’t feel discouraged if you haven’t yet achieved your goals. Instead, make realistic advances and push the needle forward just a little bit every day, if you can.

You’ve already built the practice of your dreams, now it’s time to keep the path to your future success as clear as possible.

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This content is for informational purposes and does not constitute the rendering of legal, accounting, tax, or investment advice, or other professional services by neither Provide, its affiliates, nor Fifth Third Bank, and it is being provided without any warranty whatsoever. Please consult with appropriate professionals related to your individual circumstances.