454: The Most Important 4 Minutes of Any Appointment - Tom Viola, R.Ph., C.C.P. - a podcast by ACT Dental

The Most Important 4 Minutes of Any Appointment

Episode #454 with Tom Viola, R.Ph., C.C.P.

A medical history can change lives, and four minutes is all you need! It’s the most important part of any dental appointment, and Kirk Behrendt brings back Tom Viola, “Mr. Pharmacology” and founder of Pharmacology Declassified, to help make the documenting process easier, more efficient, and as accurate as possible. You can't know everything, but you can ask the right questions and learn to read between the medical history lines. For everything you need to know about the four critical minutes, listen to Episode 454 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Patients today are more medically complex than ever.

Always make time to review medical histories.

Learn the three questions to always ask.

Document everything you possibly can.

Listen to your patients.

Quotes:

“Your patients have never been more medically complex than they are today. People take more drugs today, more medications today, more substances today, so they're evermore complex. And that means you've got to be an expert in pharmacology. Even if it wasn't your favorite subject, or even if it’s not top priority on your list of everyday things, it has to be because you've got to maintain the patient’s oral health, but also their systemic health at the same time.” (5:46—6:12)

“The greatest blessing ever bestowed upon dentistry was that you could take the patient’s medical history directly from the patient. They're sitting right in your chair, they're right there in front of you. But the greatest curse ever inflicted upon dentistry was that you could take the patient’s medical history directly from the patient themselves, because they're not their own best reporter of their own medical history. And if they don't know, you won't know. If they don't want you to know, you're not going to know.” (7:03—7:26)

“It’s so important to be a sleuth, to be able to read a medical history and read between the lines and know what questions you need to ask the patient to get all of the information, not just necessarily the information they know or want you to know.” (7:34—7:48)

“The most important four minutes of any dental appointment are the four minutes you take to look at that medical history.” (9:02—9:09)

“Some things are important. Some things aren’t. This is important. This is going to make or break your day. It’s going to make or break your patients’ trust in you. It’s going to make or break your career, perhaps. You've got to be able to make the time to take a look at that medical history. Now, if you don't have the time and you can't make it yourself, then delegate. You've got a valuable resource in your hygienist.” (10:15—10:36)

“Especially for patients who take medications that can cause suicidal ideation, a lot of times, if they’ve gotten thoughts of suicide, they may not tell their clergyperson. They might not tell their medical doctor, their nurse practitioner. But they might tell somebody who’s easy to talk to, who listens to them, and who’s actually generally concerned about them. And that's usually their dental professional.” (11:54—12:16)

“I made my way through college being a bartender. And I could tell you, one thing you learn as a bartender is you learn how to listen, and you learn how to speak. That's what I offer up to you guys: listen. Listen to your patients. Listen to what they say.” (12:28—12:40)

“The first thing I'd like to recommend is that you have a medical history form the patient can fill out in advance. A lot of offices do. They have them online now. Get a lot of that done in advance and out of the way so that doesn't waste any of our four minutes.” (13:51—14:02)

“If you can't do [medical histories] online, then maybe work your workflow so that you can delegate that to...

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