Create your very best tag team

Create your very best tag team

4th September 2024

[Source: The Probe • August 2023]

This is a conversation starter around teamwork in its purest sense. We all understand the benefits of working together and building connections with the people we work with but, for me, one of the most pivotal aspects of dental teamwork is the dentist-nurse relationship.

Working with your nurse day in, day out, under pressure, in a small space, with dental health and positive outcomes at the forefront of your mind, could create issues if you’re not perfectly in sync. The work you do together should be a well-choreographed routine and if you get it right, it’s a thing of beauty. 

Having someone to assist you, knowing how you do your endo (or whatever dental area you practice – for me it’s endo) anticipating your next move, with your next instrument at the ready, has a whole heap of benefits. It means the work you are doing is streamlined and efficient. The patient, possibly without realising, will pick up on the air of calm and order which will be helpful to them, especially the more anxious patients. It helps your thought processes and allows for a really energising flow whilst you are working. We all know the frustration of interruptions and distractions when we’re in the zone. 

But this doesn’t just happen overnight. It would be nigh on impossible to achieve the level of synchronicity needed without a Kaizen style of incremental development over a period of time. By explaining, training, taking time and including your nurse in the process you’ll be building a sense of agency that nurtures responsibility and ambition. The bonds you develop will serve you, the patient, the nurse and your practice. To ignore this important part of the dental team make-up is short-sighted and really quite careless.

Away from the chair, it’s a good idea to spend time with your team. Build in social events, rewards and team-building days. And I don’t mean the boring sort with raft-building and executive puzzles to solve. We have evening socials, we go into London, and we do silly stuff like mini golf.  The main thing is to have fun. 

Alongside the laughs, also take the time to find out what your nurse is working towards. The world is made up of all kinds of working ideals – if your nurse is perfectly happy in their role and sees that as the one they want long-term, that’s great. If they want more and are interested in developing their skills, support them with that. Getting to know how your nurse ticks is as important as them knowing your ways, foibles, preferences and irritating habits (we all have them!). 

Once you have reached the point of having people around you that fit together and work seamlessly and positively, we need to wary of becoming complacent. Think about training of course but also the work environment itself. We need to lift our heads from the clinical work in front of us to assess our practices themselves, the level of flexibility we offer and the job satisfaction being experienced. Ask for feedback from your team, it’s really valuable.

And just as we were about to start a national day in appreciation of our dental nurses we found out that ‘National Dental Nurse Day’ is already in existence – put 22^nd November in your diary and maybe that’s the day for thank you cakes or a round (or two) of drinks?