Tips on Training for OpenDental

[identist]

Hi!

I think I'm an experienced Open Dental user, but when it comes to train others how to use the program, especially new employees who have never used dental practice management software, I'm stumped! The tutorials section of OpenDental.com is great by the way.

Please post your tips about training new employees, especially a receptionist/front-back office person who needs to learn the software quickly.
I was also thinking of creating a website with screencasts (something like lynda.com).

Your tips, advice and help will be much appreciated. Looking for someone in a similar situation as mine....
What to start off in training? Do you create training materials? How do you test that the new employee does things right:?:


-identist

[Rickliftig]

Tough Question! Every employee is so different. If you have employees under the age of 40, they will catch on very quickly. If your employees have used a pm program before, they should catch on quickly.

When we converted in 2008, I had the staff work with a duplicate database.Then they could work with names and appointments that they were familiar with. The training started out with duplicating the actions that were done in our paper appointment book on paper.

Our old pm program was a "front desk only" program. I installed computers in each op so that the treatment and following appointment times would be entered in by the clinical staff. This worked well not only for workflow, but it gave the staff the idea that they would eventually have less work.

One of the biggest hurdles was getting the staff to understand the flow of the screen. ie) you start at the upper left and end at the lower right. Once I got that through their heads, I was off to a good start. Then appointment book; entering family information; looking up and working with account information and lastly insurance.

In all cases, the training was easier when the staff had a real-life patient to work with and they duplicated the actions that they would have normally carried out in the office.

Shannon (at Open Dental) was very helpful during our training - we had several one hour sessions with her.

And ultimately, if you are the IT guy/trainer, you will have to check their work! So overall, my suggestions is to train by using real-life days, but a dummy database.

Good Luck!

PS - I almost forgot - keep your back door unlocked so that you can go out and scream your frustrations out!

[identist]

Thank you for your reply. I really like the parts quoted below:

One of the biggest hurdles was getting the staff to understand the flow of the screen. ie) you start at the upper left and end at the lower right. Once I got that through their heads, I was off to a good start. Then appointment book; entering family information; looking up and working with account information and lastly insurance.

And ultimately, if you are the IT guy/trainer, you will have to check their work! So overall, my suggestions is to train by using real-life days, but a dummy database.

You are totally correct about checking work. Its one of those things that HAS to be done internally for all employees. Ultimately, it's the doctor's responsibility as to what happens in the practice, and with strict privacy laws, this is especially true for me since I'm in California.

Follow up question: When a new patient calls to book an appointment, do you have your front desk input their name right into OpenDental, or do you write down the name and transfer it into Open Dental later (to speed up the call)?

[jordansparks]

Once you get your clicking routine down, it's just as fast to do it on the computer. I estimate it takes scheduling about 30 patients before you get that fast. That's not very long for someone who does it all day long. The first few will be sloooooow, but you have to stick with it.

[Rickliftig]

I agree with Jordan's answer, but just a note that in my office, where the front desk personnel are all over the age of 50 (So am I) it is *********ing hard to get them away from their paper!