Can you identify with these problems? A look back at the most popular Troubleshooters

It’s no secret that dental team members have their share of problems, and Thursday Troubleshooter provides weekly proof of that. Experts have been answering team members’ and dentists’ questions for well over a year, and the problems continue to come in, helping dental professionals learn from each other’s dilemmas.

What were the most popular Thursday Troubleshooters of the last 18 months? Let’s take a minute to revisit them.

9. Linda Miles, Dianne Watterson, RDH, and Kay Valentine, FAADOM, guided this team member whose office manager plays favorites with the team. You guessed it. This person is not among the chosen ones. Read their recommendations for the not-favored team member.

8. Are alternative work schedules really working in the dental offices that have adopted them? This practice is considering going to an alternative work schedule and wants to know the advantages and disadvantages. HR specialist Tim Twigg and Andy Codding, RDH, share their opinions and experiences.

6. There are two HIPAA questions in the Top 10 hit parade of Thursday Troubleshooters. This one asks, is it a violation for a dental lab to have the patient’s name on a label outside of the box being shipped via the usual channels? Three consultants – Mary Govoni, Olivia Wann and Linda Cannon – address this concerned dentist.

5. This 25-year professional has a coworker who plays mind games with her and generally makes her life miserable. The annoying coworker steals her mail, interrupts her when she’s with patients, and brings her personal problems to work to the point this dental hygienist dreads coming to the office. Consultants Lois Banta and Judy Kay Mausolf guide this woman to some sanity.

4. It’s a dilemma that dental office managers face every single day. Who should get their attention when the front desk is swamped – the person on the phone or the person standing at the desk? Teresa Duncan, FAADOM, Diane Wtterson, RDH, and consultant Linda Miles share their ideas.

3. What is a dental professional to do when a patient refuses to fill out a medical history form? This particular person documented the refusal in the patient’s chart. Anything else she should do? Here’s what consultant Jan Keller had to say about the matter.

Coming in at nearly twice the number of views as other popular Thursday Troubleshooters are two questions –

1. This dentist gets a lot of requests from specialists and other general dentists to email patients’ radiographs. When he tells them that his office cannot send them because they are not encrypted, those making the requests are not happy and have told him his office is taking things too far. What’s the right thing to do? See what consultants Michelle Kratt, Linda Harvey, and Linda Cannon have to say about this important matterfacing dental professionals today.

Meg Kaiser welcomes questions for Thursday Troubleshooter at [email protected]. She also helps coordinate the e-newsletters Dental Assisting Digest, The Dentist-Lab Connection. and DE's Tips and Tricks, and welcomes articles for the Practice Management, Dental Assisting, and Laboratory sections of DentistryIQ.com. Follow her on Twitter @mlkaiser.