By: Dr. Eric Recker
Don’t take me back too far! I need that neck pillow. That’s too far. I can’t breathe. Are you going to dump me back off the chair?
All said as the patient is reclined to 65 degrees. This is going to be a heck of a procedure.
I am going to need some breaks so you will have to sit me up and let me take a break when I need it.
Absolutely Mrs. Mergatroid. You know we will. Of course we will. We have done it every other time. That’s how we have gotten to where we are.
Where are we?
- 75% of us report back pain (I wonder if the other 30% are lying or not actually seeing patients)
- 25% of us report emotional exhaustion
- 13% report burnout
All of this is happening as we try to be everything to everyone.
I would argue we do it out of fear.
We try to be everything to our team out of fear they will leave for another office that is paying 25 cents more per hour.
We try to be everything for our patients out of fear they will run to the DSO down the street if we don’t cater to their every whim.
We do it because we are nice people, but we are scared nice people. We are paying the price.
When do we put our foot down and say enough is enough?
We can have a back that doesn’t hurt -OR- we can contort ourselves to every patient’s positioning desire.
We can’t have both.
We can have our mental health -OR- we can try to be everything to everyone.
We can’t have them both.
You get to decide where to draw the line.
You get to decide if the positioning requirements for the patient are worth the wear and tear on your back. You have to decide if catering to everyone all the time is worth it for your mental health.
What is the cost today?
More importantly- what is the accumulated cost over a career?
One of my favorite lines to use with my team and with patients is this – What you are asking me is unreasonable.
I encourage you to use it when appropriate.
- It is unreasonable for me to attempt to place an MODBLSHIT composite that is going to fail on your broken wisdom tooth. I will not attempt that procedure just because you don’t want it out. That is unreasonable.
- You want 75 minutes for all of your prophies even though you are rarely still working on a patient 45 minutes into the appointment? That is unreasonable.
- You have a crushing toothache but can only come after 4:45 or before 7:00? That is unreasonable.
Will we lose a person or a few? Quite possibly. Let me ask you this- what is the cost of continuing to cater to everyone? Are you willing to pay that cost?
You can have this, but you can’t have that. It works in dentistry. It works at home with our teams. It works as we are having conversations and advising our friends. The world says we can have it all. We know the truth.
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