CLINICAL EXCELLENCE - Improving Our Batting Average
Feb 24, 2020
In baseball, batters fail more often than they succeed. In basketball, 3- point shooters do as well. The best hitters get on base only 4 out of 10 times; the best 3-point shooters make only 4 out of 10 attempts.
That means that the best hitters in the history of baseball failed to get on base 58% of the time. And Steve Kerr, who has the best 3-point season shooting percentage in the NBA, failed on 56% of his 3-point attempts.
So, why do we feel that we’ve failed when every patient doesn’t finish as a board case?
These athletes shouldn’t be considered “failures”, and neither should we when the final occlusion doesn't turn out perfectly every time. It’s not easy to hit a round ball traveling at 90 miles an hour with a round bat. Or shoot a large orange ball thru a small hole more than 23 feet away. And it’s equally not easy to move a mouth full of teeth into an ideal relationship with its opposing arch on a teenager who may not fully cooperate.
Our “failures” are not evidence of our mediocrity, but rather bear testimony to the fact that achieving perfection every time isn’t easy.
But being perfect isn’t the goal.
Pursuing excellence is!
Pursuing Excellence
Years of school have indoctrinated us into believing that we always have to finish the case perfectly. But when we leave residency, there’s always a gap between our initial clinical skills and the ideal occlusal “standards”. At that point, we’re good enough to know what’s excellent, but not good enough yet to be excellent at achieving it.
The challenge during those early years and every year is to keep improving our “batting average”.
We have to abandon the dental school mentality of seeking perfection and adopt the healthier attitude of pursuing excellence. If we judge ourselves on unattainable perfection, we will never feel that we’re good enough.
But that doesn’t mean we should lower our standards while we’re developing those skills, but rather accept the responsibility to continually improve. Doing the best that we can every time and learning to do even better next time. Committing to the process, putting in the work, closing the gap.
Closing the Gap
There are three ways we can constantly pursue excellence, closing the gap between excellent standards and our knowledge and skill:
1. Stay curious, keep asking why
Be the person you were in residency, wanting to understand how and why, realizing that your knowledge and skill are not complete.
- Why didn’t that work out the way I expected?
- Why did it take so long for that tooth to erupt, or that space to close or the Curve of Spee to level?
- Why didn’t the patient cooperate and what could I have done better to encourage him?
2. Seek learning, not excuses
A “failure” to meet the standard is always a lesson to learn, not a reason to assign blame. Learning from our “mistakes” is part of the process, not evidence of our incompetence. Take personal responsibility to always find a better way in the future.
- What could I do next time to get a better result?
- Is there another way that would have been more successful?
- How can I speed up treatment or reduce chair time?
- What should I do differently with the next uncooperative patient?
3. Develop new skills, don’t simply rely on the old
As we develop competency, we have to avoid complacency, feeling our skills are good enough now and that we don’t need to add any new ones.
- What new technique can I incorporate this year?
- Which skills of mine & my staff can I improve?
- How can I get better at the New Patient exam? At treating openbites?
- What courses do I need to take? What speakers do I need to hear?
If seeking perfection leads to feelings of inadequacy, thinking we've achieved it becomes arrogance & self-delusion. The road to excellence is through healthy self-doubt, believing that we don't know everything yet and there are still ways we can improve.
So, be kind to yourself. Judge yourself on your pursuit of excellence not on being perfect.
Seek constant and never-ending improvement. That’s how you should measure your success.
Every year just keep improving your “batting average”. That's how you move from the minor league to the majors, from being a “rookie” clinician to mastering your craft.
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Author
Dr Rick Steedle
Dr. Richard Steedle has written numerous articles and lectured internationally on the management of a well-run private practice. In addition to more than 25 years of private practice experience, he is also Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he developed a three-year curriculum on Practice Management.
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