Change or not?

The New York Times recently published an article about "virtual medicine", patients and medical professionals interacting through the internet via video chat technology. In the article, Rashid Bashshur, director of telemedicine at the University of Michigan Health System is quoted, in part, as saying: "There are two constants in medicine: change and resistance to change".

The same can be said for the dental business professional. Continuing with our discussion here of "end of year" planning and analysis, this is a good time to review the systems, practices and policies of your office and business. If the analysis begins and ends with "that's how we've always done it", whatever "it" is, the analysis is lazy and flawed.

You may have a routine way of accomplishing something that was, when created, fundamentally sound and an effective way to accomplish a particular goal. The proper analysis should include asking a series of questions about that existing method. Has the goal changed? If so, is this method still the best way to meet the altered goal? Has the legal "landscape" changed in any way that affects the method or the goal? Have my practice or personnel changed so that there is a more efficient and productive way to achieve the goal? Is achieving the goal still important?

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" can be good advice, but only if the analysis to determine if "it" is "broke" isn't hampered by the resistance to change.