Due to the Covid-19 virus, and the many regulations dentists now need to follow in their practices, it has become difficult for me to visit practices in person. For the foreseeable future, I have decided to change my business model and do my consulting through the Zoom platform. I have already begun to do this with excellent results.
There are many advantages for the doctor in this new remote business model. First, the doctor would save the costs of air travel, rental car, hotel and meals, usually amounting to over $1000 per in-office consultation. There would not be the concern about a consultant coming from another state with a possible contagion, or traveling on a plane filled with passengers in close proximity to one another possibly infecting the office, when dentists are struggling to keep the office safe for the staff and patients every day as it is. Another huge advantage is that we would not need to squeeze the process into three days, spending many intense tiring hours together, often late into the evenings. The consultation could be spread over several weeks or months. I would do all my discussions with doctors and staff members over Facebook or Zoom. These meetings could be private with just one staff member or doctor, or in groups of two, three or more. A full staff meeting could be held with everyone on line at the same time, with any number of participants in the office or at home. Reports that I usually run while I am in the office could be run by staff members, or the doctor, and submitted to me by fax or attached to an email. By screen sharing on Zoom, I could discuss these reports with those involved.
Who could ever have imagined that our amazing technology would have allowed us to do work remotely and so effectively?
I have found that clients are greatly in need of my advice at this uncertain time. There are staff conflicts, staff members leaving the field of dentistry, and other staff who would need to be hired. PPEs would need to be worn constantly in the office to protect staff members from being infected by patients or by other staff members. New equipment would need to be purchased to increase patient and staff comfort, and new procedures adopted to make them feel protected. There may be purchases of practices of older dentists who may choose not to return to the dental field. On top of this come all the regular issues of managing a dental practice, just like we’ve had all along.