How practices can help dental assistants avoid burnout
Staffing shortages continue to affect the dental industry, as many practices continue to struggle with finding qualified dental assistants. A leading cause of the shortage is burnout, which has led some dental assistants to leave their jobs or the profession altogether. Burnout can be caused by many different factors, such as feeling overworked or undervalued, and it’s an issue that dental practices should take seriously.
As DANB’s Financial Impact of Dental Assistants on the Dental Practice report shows, this turnover can be costly for practices in terms of lost productivity and hiring expenses. The research found offering dental assistants a 15% raise can improve retention and save practices money on turnover and hiring expenses. But in addition to pay increases, there are other ways practices can support dental assistants and help them avoid burnout.
Support a healthy work-life balance
Research has found that employees who strike a balance between their professional and personal lives are more productive, engaged, and satisfied with their work. Some dental assistants have struggled to find this balance in recent years, as staffing shortages have resulted in larger workloads, longer hours, and fewer breaks. Practices can help facilitate work-life balance for their dental assistants by offering sick leave and paid time off (and encouraging employees to use it), as well as ensuring the daily schedule leaves room for lunch and bathroom breaks. Implementing policies that support family life, such as parental leave or childcare assistance, can also help dental assistants achieve better work-life balance.
Additionally, adequate staffing ensures dental assistants have a manageable workload. When practices are short-staffed, it places more responsibility on dental assistants and can eventually lead to increased stress and burnout. Some dental offices are turning to temporary workers, while others are focusing on retention efforts such as offering raises.
Give recognition
Dental assistants give their all to help their practices run efficiently, managing numerous tasks and working with everyone in the office to ensure patients receive optimal care. When that effort is acknowledged and celebrated by practice leaders, it essentially counteracts burnout. It boosts dental assistants’ morale, motivates them to keep up the good work, and empowers them to keep improving their skills, knowledge, and efficiency. When dental assistants feel appreciated, it can also increase their loyalty to the practice.
It’s important that dental assistants are recognized for both small and large successes. Hearing “thank you” or “good job” after a successful procedure can lift their confidence and reinforce strong habits, while celebrating achievements such as work anniversaries shows that they’re valued employees whose contributions help fuel the practice’s success.
Create open lines of communication
From informal chats between appointments to regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings, creating an open line of communication between dental assistants and practice leaders is highly effective in preventing burnout. Ideally, dental assistants should feel comfortable raising their hand if their workload feels overwhelming, there’s an interpersonal conflict on the team, they need help in a certain aspect of their job, or they’re interested in new responsibilities. And dental assistants should trust that their dentist or office manager will listen and offer viable solutions. Open communication can create trust between dental assistants and practice leaders that helps them work together better, as well as alleviate sources of stress that can eventually cause burnout.