The One Question You Should Ask All Your Patients

Welcome to Episode 33 of the re-launched Dental Boss Lady Leadership Academy Podcast with Dr. Terri Pukanich. In today's episode we are gonna be talking about the importance of working on your patient communication skills. We will discuss the soft skills you need in order to have great patient communication, and the question you should ask all your patients to get them to engage in their treatment. We will also talk about how to get to know your patients on a personal level, and why you should make sure your patient understands there is a problem before presenting the solution to them. Finally, we will talk about the four most common barriers patients have and how to work through them. All this and much more, up next.

Bullet points

(00:35) Why I started this podcast

(02:43) A recommendation: Dr Joe Dispenza's books

(05:30) The soft skills you need for patient communication

(06:20) Getting patients to engage in their treatment

(06:53) My two mentors and their lessons

(09:45) Why you should work on your patient communication skills

(10:20) The one question you should ask all your patients

(14:23) Being a neutral observer

(15:30) Understand first, then be understood

(16:54) It becomes easier with time

(17:30) Setting yourself apart

(18:10) The four most common answers

(19:15) Converting emergency patients into recurring patients

(21:08) The key phrase you can use to make your patients part of the process

(23:08) Getting to know your patients on a human level: The two-minute rule, knee to knee, eye to eye

(24:26) Elevating your practice and getting your patients to ask you a question

(27:08) Making sure your patients understand there is a problem

(31:23) Getting your patients engaged in the solution and understanding them on a personal level

(33:02) Why your goal in case presentation should be to raise your patient's awareness

(34:23) Having your patient's voice in your clinical notes

(34:50) Understanding your patient's barriers: The four most common barriers and how to work through them

(38:22) Adjusting patient's expectations

(40:49) Becoming the dentist you want to be