HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY ANGELES CITY

DR. BECKETTS DENTAL OFFICE (Case Study 1)

Group 2 Arceo, Alexsandra L. Jacinto, Charito H. Maniago, Kim Russel B. Quiazon, Lady Lin T.

YFRESMAR/TTH 4:30-6:00 PM Ms. Cristina Naguit

Introduction

Dr. Barbro Beckett is a dentist who always seek to differentiate her practice on the basis of Quality and keep on redesigning everything (such as facilities and equipments, place, procedures, etc.) to deliver higher quality for her patients and improve productivity through increase efficiency. She took her study in a dental school where she thought her a lot of the technical side of dentistry and nothing about the business side. She received no formal training in the mechanics of running a business / understanding customer needs. That had not been a problem to Dr. Beckett since as she started to do her profession and did not have the hard time to earn. So she did not mind it rather she just focus on resigning everything just to make her services differ from others even of there were a lot of instances.

The biggest challenge of Dr. Beckett is demonstrating the high level of quality to patients. This task was especially difficult since most people disliked going to the dentist or felt that it was an inconvenience and come up with a negative attitude. Dr. Beckett tried to reinforce the idea that Quality dental core depended on a positive long term relationship between patients and the dental team.

There was one time when the United States pursues a movement on reducing health care costs to insurance companies, employees and patients by offering managed health care through health maintenance organizations (HMOS). The HMOS set the prices for various services by putting an upper limit on the amount that their doctors and dentist could charge for various procedures. With this case, Dr. Beckett would not able to offer certain services that might provide better quality care so she decided not to become an HMO provider because she was bothered that she might not provide high Quality care to patients. She wanted to offer the highest level of dental care rather than being a low cost provider.

She even look for a new place, new designs, facilities, and equipments just to make sure that her patients to better will feel comfortable and convenient. She used educational films to help their patients to better understand the different dental procedures. She has seven staffs who helped and assets her in doing their business. Some had specialized training for their job but did not required them to have a college degree. They even helped in decision making process and Dr. Beckett even makes sure that she has a friendly relationship with them.

In terms of the procedure in doing her service, her main goal was to standardize some of the routine procedures to reduce error and let all the patients receive the same level of care. There were also a lot of customers who avail the service just by positive word of mouth of her current patients, thats why for her she did not need to sell herself and advertise her offered service. She did not have any problem with her customer who waits for 3 4 months for a routine cleaning and exam they did not seem to mind.

Dr. Beckett thought that her only problem was on how to demonstrate a high level of Quality since most of the people dislike going to the dentist or felt that it was inconvenient and come up with negative attitude (such as, I really hate going to the dentist its not you, but I just dont want to be here!), but she never thought theres still a much harder problem than that, a major problem that she never expected to happen. This problem covers up the management system of her business that tends to fail from the time she established her business.

Background of the Problem Dr. Becketts major problem focuses mainly on the system of management that her business did not focus onto. As she established her business, she never mind the importance of the business side rather she focused much on the technical side of dentistry. The problem starts when she never gave importance on the implication of management but rather run only her business in a way she wanted it to be.

She did not care of running a business without a background on handling and managing a business. She always asks for a consultants help and that is not enough to just rely on them because Dr. Beckett never try to understand and learn of what would be the consequences. An instance came, when doctors and dentist need to imply HMOs policy, but she never implied on it rather she rely to a consultant and do instead what she wanted to do, she did not even look at what problem she may encounter in being in favor to this movement.

Dr. Beckett decides to redesign the service delivery system. In terms of facilities she wanted the work environment to reflect her own personality and values as well as providing a pleasant place for her staff to work. She provided employees with many opportunities to update their skills by attending classes and workshops. She also rewarded their hard work by giving monthly bonuses if business had been good.

She realized that productivity gains were necessary; she doesnt want to compromise the quality of service her patients received. Since higher quality care was more costly, Dr. Beckett patients sometimes had to pay fees for cost that were not covered by their insurance policies.

These patients might decide to switch to HMO dentist (Health Maintenance Organization). The HMOs set the prices for various services by putting an upper

limitation on the amount that their doctors and dentists could change for various procedures.

The advantage to patients was that their health insurance covered virtually all costs. But the price limitations meant that HMO doctors and dentists would not be able to offer certain services that might provide better quality care but were too expensive.

Sometimes, staff members would substitute for each other when necessary to help with tasks that were not specifically in their job descriptions in order to make things even more smoothly. This instance is not a good practice since the service to be offered may not satisfied the customers especially in the cases when these staffs really dont know what to do. Still, management cover the service offered or Beckett doesnt know that in management, they should give priority to the specific field that the staffs should focus and work to. Since she never gives importance to it, consequences may surely happen.

Dr. Beckett just only rely on the word or mouth done by her current patients in order to have new customers to avail the service offered, she even thought that she doesnt need to sell herself because her current customers had already been told their family and friends about her service, plus she doesnt need to advertise, since her current customers are a big help. One more thing, since advertising is not implemented, Dr. Beckett have a hard time in demonstrating the high level of quality that she wish to let her patients know, and how to help them have a positive and favorable attitude towards the service. She did not even mind about the customer needs. As a whole, the problem or Dr. Beckett covered the system of management in her business and how to improve mush the service she offered with the help of establishing the right way on managing a business.

Statement of the Problem

How will Dr. Beckett and her staffs improve the management system of the company? How do Dr. Beckett and her staffs educate patients about the service they are receiving? What else could they do?

Analysis of the Problem Since Dr. Becketts major problem focuses on the management system of her business, then it affects much of her services offered. The problem basically cause the service itself in terms of how Dr. Beckett and her staffs do their tasks or on how they provide the service to their customers which resulted to a dissatisfaction and poor service. Dr. Beckett wanted to offer the highest level of dental care rather than being lowcost provider with the help of a consultant. She decided that her top priority was differentiating the practice on the basis of quality. Since higher quality care was more costly, Dr. Becketts patients sometimes have to pay fees for costs that were not covered by their insurance policies. If the quality differences werent substantial, these patients might decide to switch to an HMO dentist or another lower-cost provider.

Sine Dr. Beckett does not even mind her customer needs and just focus and give prior to the job shes working to her patients tend not to live on going to the dentist and tend to have a negative attitude toward that service.

Alternative courses of Action

Dr. Beckett must implement a better management system in the company in order to deliver a better service and satisfy their customers that her service is with high quality.

Dr. Beckett must promote and educate the service she offers to her customers in order for them to know the benefits they might get and even though the price of her services is high, the qualities of the services are worth it.

Make the customers feel that the service they rendered is with high quality though they have to pay for higher cost but the service they receive can satisfy their needs.

Fear of needles and injections is huge for some people. It is one of the Adult phobias and children are even more fearful. Instead of using Anesthetic options just not to feel pain, the management could use a comfortable dental device to ensure patients are as comfortable as possible. These devices can help make that dreaded injection much more comfortable. It involves the use of electronic devices to assist with local anesthetic delivery. The device doesnt look nearly so intimidating and the injection can be done so gently that most people barely notice. Even children find it an ouchless experience.

Anxiety is that sense of dread and general apprehension before and during a session with the dentist. Some people cant sleep properly the before their appointment. They hate the feeling so anxious but they cant shake it. Sedation Dentistry is a great option to reduce anxiety. It is the use of pharmacological agents to calm and relax a patient prior to and during a dental session.

There are a lot of technological developments that are use nowadays to assist with local anesthetic delivery. These devices can help make that dreaded injection much more comfortable. First is the Comfortable Dental Anesthetic delivery that helps ensure the patients visits are always easy and comfortable. Second, is the Dental Laser for gums that is effective for disinfection, faster healing, quick and easy to use, less need for anesthesia, minimal discomfort afterward and better results. And third, is the Dental Air Abrasion, which is a

relatively new tooth preparation technique that can be use in place of traditional dental drill. It allows the dentist to do many repairs to the teeth without the noise and vibration of the drill.

Recommendation Dr. Beckett must choose all of the alternative courses of action mentioned above in order to gain more customers and keep the existing ones by giving Thank you cards to patients who referred other patients; follow up calls to patients after major procedures; a goodie box for patients including toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, and floss; buckwheat pillows and blanket for patient comfort during long procedures; coffee and tea in the waiting area, and a photo album in the waiting area with pictures of staff and their families.

Learning

Before taking up any action we should make sure that it is for good and for the better so that we dont have any regret and before putting up a business we must have enough information, knowledge and understanding on how to handle a business so that our business will stay longer in industry.

Before redesigning the service system we must evaluate and compute the cost of it because quality services always connect with higher cost so that other customers could avail the services intended to offer.

A service provider must accept the feedback of their customer because there are some customers that are not happy with quality and value of the service they receive from the company.

As a consumer, we must choose services that are high quality in order to satisfy us even if it is in a high price.

We should not only focus on what we want to pursue, but rather give importance to the needs of others. Unlike with the situation of Dr. Beckett, let us prioritize the aspects that may affect the reactions and feelings of the customers, and if the service provided is good enough for them to be satisfied. If all of these have given much attention then these goals could contribute to our success.