Skill in Dental Software Necessary in Successful Practices

Eaglesoft, Dentrix, Softdent, PracticeWorks, Denticon, Practice Web, QSI, Perioexec, Curve and the list includes another 130 plus different dental software programs on the market today.   It is a virtual minefield of dental software programs for the dentist to pick his/her way through.  Once the decision has been made and the program is running the daily schedule and all other tasks associated with management of data from posting payments to tracking treatment acceptance it becomes highly important that the staff know the software to the extent applicable to their job description and position requirements.

Many dentists do not know how to navigate through the software program that is managing the important data in their practice yet require the business staff to be proficient.  This puts them at a disadvantage because they have no way to measure the employee skill. It also puts them at a disadvantage in hiring the best staff for their practice because they will not consider a qualified applicant unless they have this particular software skill. Research shows that there are misconceptions about how long it should take to learn a software program so many dentists don’t want to take the time for a new hire to learn the program but want someone already trained to step right in and take over.  Studying trends in job posts on major sites it is noted in post after post “must have Dentrix G6 training” or “don’t apply unless you are proficient at Eaglesoft 17”  Suppose the great person you are looking for has been in a practice for six years and used Practiceworks proficiently.  From the job post it appears that his/her resume will be deleted for lack of necessary skills.

It is unquestionable that today having the skills necessary in the right dental software will put you way ahead of the pack of job applicants.  On the down side it can limit the number of positions the applicant can be considered for.  Dentists surveyed are leery of paying for software training on new hires because if it doesn’t work out they leave with a new skill and the dentist has to start the search over again.

Feedback from personnel that work in dental practice management say that once you are proficient in one system it is easy to learn another.  The main challenge is matching the icons to the window you need to open and the keystrokes to get to the information you are looking for.  This will take usually about a week to learn the basics such as scheduling and posting and another week or less to learn the more advanced such as sending electronic claims with attachments, merge letters and insurance check posting.