Dental Sleep Medicine Insider January DSM Insider 2018 | Page 21

RENT VS. OWN
appy new year to all you
H
strange dentists out there
who live outside the nor-
mal curve. You are probably
treating sleep apnea patients
if you’re reading this, which
makes you “different”. In a
very positive way, of course!
Remember, it wasn’t all that
long ago that Dr. Ignaz Sem-
melweis was shunned by
his medical colleagues for
his radical idea that hand-
washing in between patients
would save hundreds of lives!
His peers were actually of-
fended at the idea that they
should wash their hands. I
must admit that there have
been times that physicians
have looked at me as if I had
come from a different planet.
All of you out there are the
reason that this is happening
less, and the reason that col-
lectively, and in conjunction
with PAP, we are reducing the
apnea load of the Universe!
I hope that 2018 is your best
year ever: personally, profes-
sionally, and spiritually.
What comes to mind when I
ask rent Vs own? Real estate?
Automobiles? Regardless,
that got me to thinking about
some of the issues that we
seem to encounter on a near-
ly daily basis in my practice.
The problem du jour. The
trouble, the complication,
the scrape, the headache, the
dispute, the issue. You pick
the flavor of the day, but it’s a
problem.
A patient canceled by leaving
a message on the machine,
and the progress note says
“Pt will call back to R/S” I
don’t know about you, but
patients don’t ever seem to
call me back. With no task, I
fear that Patient X has just
slipped through the crack.
Instead of visions of sugar-
plums in my sleep, I see a
patient a few years late r who
has a 6 mm posterior open
bite! Yikes!
Who is to blame? Who takes
responsibility? If everybody
owns it, then nobody owns it.
Responsibility.
Do you have multiple staff
members who will own a
problem, or do they just
rent it? Perhaps you have
RICHARD DRAKE, DDS
an employee who prefers a
two hour lease option? This
is what I want to hear: “I’ll
make sure that Patient X re-
schedules. I will task myself
to reschedule him, and if I
can’t get through to him after
3 tries (call, text, email), then
I will send him a letter and
mark him non compliant in
DS3.” Wow! Excellent.
Lead by example. Tomorrow,
get out of BED with an O.A.R.
in your hands. Blame, Excus-
es, Denial; replace them with
Ownership, Accountability,
and Responsibility (O.A.R.)
No more For Rent or For
Lease signs in your office.
Make sure someone owns it!
INTERESTED?
JOIN ME AT THE
NADSM SYMPOSIUM.
REGISTER NOW
RICHARD DRAKE, DDS
Dr. Richard Drake has been
exclusively treating snoring
and apnea for 15 years. He
Co-Founded Dental Sleep
Solutions and DS3 and has a
state of the art sleep practice
in San Antonio, TX.