Unlocking Case Acceptance Gold

A year into Brady Group coaching, I was feeling super confident with patient communication.  I had it figured out! (or so I thought)   But as I observed my fellow team members and our doctor, I often cringed at what I heard.  I thought to myself, ‘If they would just get their act together and do as well as I’m doing, we would be amazing!’ 

One day my arrogance got the better of me in a team meeting.  I verbalized my thoughts about everyone else’s progress.  What ensued next was an entire  hour of finger-pointing and blaming.  It was really bad… I blamed the hygienist for not selling the planning appointment.  The hygienist blamed the doctor for repeating some of the questions she had already asked.  The assistant blamed me for not scheduling patients that ‘seemed ready to go’ in the back.  We ALL blamed the doctor for talking too much.  

Our personal coach had recommended several times that we record our patient interaction, but we blew her off.  We came up with several reasons NOT to record - 

• We were sure it had to be illegal.
• The technology was too complicated.
• It would take too much time
• Besides…how could it make a difference?

Bottom line, we were scared to death but didn’t want to admit it.  When we finally got over ourselves and agreed to give it a shot, it was a game changer. 

Here’s  what we learned…

• We began to focus on ourselves and not eachother. Each of us immediately stopped worrying about what others were doing, because we were horrified at what we saw when viewing our own interaction!
• Just because we KNOW something doesn’t mean we’re doing it…   I thought I had open-ended questions down pat..  I didn’t ask a single open-ended question in the first video I viewed of a new patient interview!
• Patient communication isn’t just about what we say…we were able to identify other issues - ie: awkward positioning in the operatory, distractions in the background, body language, eye contact, etc.   Our doctor accidentally recorded a video without audio.  It was amazing how much we learned, even without hearing the conversation. 

We’ve seen it dozens of times. We can TALK about changing our communication all day long. But transferring knowledge into actionable behaviors is tough! I mean, do Olympic athletes simply watch a YouTube video, then head to the podium?  Of course not.

Unconsciously Incompetent

Watching patient interaction and Role play is NOT intended to embarrass or shame, quite the opposite, it’s to reinforce. When we listen to new information, or not-so-new information that we have yet to integrate, we are ‘unconsciously incompetent’, meaning we follow along for the most part and think we are ‘getting it’. 

Consciously Incompetent

When we first watch our footage we quickly become consciously incompetent… we realize we don’t get it much at all.  And if we’re going to get to the next phase, it will take more than a roleplay or two at MISSION:POSSIBLE to get there. We realize that we’re not as good as we thought we were, and that more practice and repetition is required.  At this point our attention span goes into over-drive… We want to know more about how we can improve. We’re engaged. Mission accomplished.

Consciously Competent

It’s not without ongoing practice and reinforcement that we ultimately become consciously competent – and that doesn’t happen with roleplaying alone. It’s not until we can be a fly on the wall to hear and see ourselves the way others do before it begins to sink in - then REAL, lasting change begins to occur. 

HOW  do we record patient interaction?

• Most will use a smart phone for the convenience and ease 
• Here’s a simple magnetic tripod with a remote that others have found helpful
• Don’t over-complicate it! 

If we want feedback, how can we get our recording to our personal coach?

We are happy to view your video and share some feedback.  Our only requirement is that you watch the video BEFORE sending it to us, and submit a completed self-evaluation form along with the video.

Most video files will be too large to text or email - if that’s the case, try using one of the following…

• Google drive
• Dropbox
• Youtube - set up an unlisted channel - when you post a video, be sure the setting is ‘unlisted’ vs. public
• What’s App

Watching Video footage - Guidelines

• The first couple of times, watch your footage by yourself.  Print a copy of our self-evaluation form  to make notes.  
• After 1-2 rounds of viewing your footage in private, begin bringing your footage to share with the team during your vision session.  The doctor goes first!
• Prior to sharing your video, be sure you’ve viewed it so that you can share with the team what you did well, and what you plan to focus on based on your footage. 
• If you’re an observer, your job is to encourage! We are our own worst critic.  It’s not necessary for the peanut gallery to offer suggestions - unless asked!