When patients walk into your office, you want your dental practice to operate as smoothly as possible. This performance isn’t effortless, though. Plenty of issues are going on behind the scenes, with employees smoothing out wrinkles in the process. If you and your practice have been struggling with the chaos affecting patient care, it might be time to take a look at your dental SOPs, which stands for standard operating procedures. 

Simplify dental staff training for old and new employees with the right SOPs. These create a uniform procedure that is easy for all employees to follow. By setting up SOPs and making them accessible, you’re setting your dental practice up for success.

What Are SOPs?

SOPs are standard operating procedures. These documented, accessible instructions describe how to complete specific office tasks. SOPs use step-by-step instructions to walk an employee through a process, such as registering a new patient or setting up the exam room to prepare for an appointment.

Why Are SOPs Important?

The importance of SOPs lies in simplicity and clarity. SOPs find the most direct way to perform a task and ensure that staff completes the task the same way every time. This keeps the employee from having to do any guesswork, making the office more efficient and consistent.

SOPs keep the training process simple and quick. They also eliminate repetitive questions, as employees will be able to find many of the answers to their questions in the SOP document. When communication in your dental practice improves, so does the safety, compliance, and productivity. 

How Do You Create Dental SOPs?

Some examples of SOPs you might write are:

• Morning meeting protocol
• New patient protocol
• Lab shipment protocol
• Sterilization protocol

You can create many SOPs — the more detailed, the better. If you don’t have any existing SOPs, consider writing a list of common tasks at your dental practice that you think would benefit from more explicit directions.

Each SOP document should include the name and purpose of the task and step-by-step instructions that explain the reasoning for each step. Find a balance between detail and easy-to-read for the sake of clarity.

Who should write these SOPs? Certainly, the office manager can write some of them. However, if certain employees are usually in charge of specific tasks, having them write the SOP would be more productive.

3 Tips for Writing a Dental SOP

Writing a dental SOP may seem time-consuming in the moment, but it will pay off in the future. To write an effective dental SOP, follow these tips. 

1. Be Clear and Specific 

The purpose of an SOP is to make tasks easier. Don’t make these instructions overcomplicated or difficult to understand. If they are easy to read, the task will be easy to complete.

Employees should be able to reference this document with a glance and know what to do. You don’t want them to use more time to understand your wording than actually completing the task. You can guarantee clarity by assessing it yourself and being open to feedback from employees. 

2. Make Them Accessible

SOPs are useless if employees can’t access them. While one person in the office may typically complete a certain task, what happens when they’re out of the office? What if they’re too busy to complete it one day and have to pass it on to someone else? 

Rather than having them explain to the other employee how to do this task, the employee can learn about the task by accessing the standard operating procedure. Ensure that all team members have access to these documents and know where to find them.

3. Implement and Improve

It’s likely that your SOP won’t be perfect the first time. It’s even more likely that it will need updates over time as technology and procedures evolve. 

Updating your SOPs is just as important as writing them in the first place. If they don’t have the most updated information, employees can become confused. If you notice a common mistake or question that employees have about a task, make sure to update the SOP document with answers to address that. 

Run Your Dental Practice Right

Part of becoming a great leader is making sure your dental team has the tools it needs to succeed. With the right dental SOP and tools for Team Chat, Morning Huddle, and automated patient reminders, your staff members can complete tasks more accurately and efficiently. 

To learn about how your dental practice can use digital tools to increase productivity in the workplace, schedule a demo with Dental Intelligence.