HCD Headlines 2-2025

Clint Henrie, DMD
Feb 19
3 min read

February is National Gum Disease Awareness Month. I know... I'm super excited, too! Let's see what memes you have for oral health

March Schedule

We are up and running on QuickBooks Time for our schedule moving forward. Thank you all for your patience as I worked to get my head wrapped around it. Moving forward, please submit all requests for leave - even those that are an hour or so - through Workforce. This will allow us ALL to see time off and everyone's schedule.

We will still use the Appointment Book Note to show team members that will be out. Please check Workforce or the AB Note before requesting time off. We will review this as a team tomorrow. For now, here is our schedule by week. This will also be the last time we have this kind of schedule in our headlines.

Following Schedule Templates

When you look back at where we were, you can tell we've improved SO much on using templates for scheduling. This comes from everyone believing that they work and understanding how they benefit every party involved - patient, team, and self!

As a reminder for hygiene, ALWAYS use the correct template for your patient. Do not schedule at 8:30 AM instead of 8 AM. If the patient can only do 8:30 AM, let's find a day when they can come at 8 AM.

When we don't follow the templates, especially in hygiene, we create random chunks of time that cannot be used for patient care which prevents us from taking care of more patients. It leaves team members twiddling their thumbs waiting for the next one to come which will lead to frustration.

Remember:

You can move every template except the black ones. If your 8 AM needs 90 minutes, but the template is only for 60 minutes, switch them around so it meets your needs.
The templates are bypassed ONLY 48 hours before the day. At that time, almost anything goes... almost... :)

Department Goals

Please be prepared to review your department goals with everyone tomorrow at the team meeting. We will go through them as a team to help with accountability and to see how we can support everyone's department goals. Please send to me beforehand in Doc format so we can have them on the big screen for everyone. Thank you!

No Scents

As a reminder OR moving forward, please do not wear any perfumes, scented lotions, or heavily scented soaps. The only lotion allowed in the practice is the Aveeno. This does not have any scent and we have the SDS form on file for it.

Did you know we must have an SDS for every kind of material used in the office including lotion? Let's keep it simple and only have Aveeno here. If you need a different one for sensitivity issues, please let me know and we'll make it happen.

We do not have scents at HCD due to sensitivities and allergies that our team members and patients have. We've had bad experiences in the past where patients have become physically ill or gotten angry and left because of scents from lotion, essential oils, or perfumes. Let's avoid those situations and not have anything here.

The sprays in the employee bathroom are safe for our team members. The lavender used on the hot towels is also okay, but remember to read the patients' health history before applying it to be safe.

Hygiene Timing

When it comes to scheduling there are 3 standard options:

90 minutes
- Xrays, cleaning, exam
- RPHYG
- NPHYG
60 minutes
- Cleaning, exam
- Cleaning
30 minutes
- LBR/LAPT
- Happy Visit
- Post op

When a patient is returning after 2 years, they will always fall under the RPHYG (90 minute) mark. Even if they have been seen at another office, we still follow this protocol. There have been too many instances where the shortened time has led to upset by either the patient or the hygienist.

The timing above is our standard of care. There may be exceptions, but those will be few and far between. Let's always do our best to have the patient work with our standards, and if it can not be achieved, we can be creative as a team to meet their needs.

Social Committee is Hiring

We are looking for new team members to help us on the Social Committee (SC). The SC helps with recognition of birthdays and anniversaries. They help coordinate potlucks, social outings, and our 2 big HCD events in the summer and for Christmas. If you'd like to be involved on any level, please let me know!

Remember to account for your time if you're reading this outside of work hours. Log it in Workforce. And to show your team you read through the headlines, please send them the last meme you saved in your phone. Thank you all!!