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Amy's avatar
Amy
Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
6 years ago

The State of Collaboration in Dentistry

You might have already seen that over the last year, Dropbox has teamed up with research house, Vanson Bourne, to learn how organisations collaborate around the world, to understand the challenges they face and the improvements they require to drive the business forward. We asked some of our Super Users to take a look at the research in the fields they know best, and this time we spoke to Ernst.
 
Dentistry is traditionally a ‘hands on’ industry, however, there are still chances for collaborative work that can improve the ways of working for dentists, patients and dental staff. We spoke ernstMreicher58 who works in dentistry, to understand more about how a traditionally physical industry can benefit from online collaboration. We took a look at the research across retail and manufacturing, to understand how different industries are looking at collaboration. 
 
“As most things in dentistry are “individual manual work”, digital work comes in a little bit but only in certain places. Right now,  basic things like fillings, extractions and hygiene work is not happening, but in the areas of bridge crown work, implants and orthodontics there is lot of digital work that is still possible. There is still some hands on work to get scans done, with CAM/CAD-programs but there is an opportunity for work to happen, before the actual physical dental work takes place.”
 
“The dentistry profession can be a little resistant to technology, with some dentists fearing data breaches or misuse of health information, even accidentally so keep it analog just in case. There is a chance for digital collaboration in education and training courses and some parts of communication it would be interesting.”
 
Many industries feel that they need to reinvent their ways of working for success
Ernst mentioned that one of the major places that could be improved is how patient data is managed in dental offices. People are nervous about security and systems that are considered safe for health data, so they often shy away rather than research solutions. This means that a lot of information in managed locally, but even this can’t always be improved between the local teams. 
 
“Communication with social insurance is still preferred on paper by snail mail or fax or data on CDs as encryption is ugly and plain email is forbidden - some do it but many are afraid because “it is illegal!” Even something as simple as appointment management doesn’t really happen online in a way that makes sense, and some of that is because the workflow in a dental office is very individual: this treatment takes a long time, while this other one is shorter. This patient always takes a little longer to get a cleaning due to nerves. This appointment is for a certain time sensitive procedure and so on. Our practice has some of that down to a process where a patient will be seen while a parent might sort out all the admin in the meantime, but sometimes it depends on a specific person being in the office.”
 
Ernst isn’t alone in this, almost 30% of people in retail have problems accessing and working collaboratively on content.

Almost 30% of people in retail have problems accessing and managing and locating content

There are some industries where it is very easy to solve collaboration issues, for example, a company that operates online and is comfortable with using different software tools can make a move to a team workspace relatively easily. There are however industries that can be resistant to online work, such as dentistry, that still have an opportunity to streamline a lot of processes, and overall make more of their time - for patients, dentists and staff.

 

4/5 respondents in manufacturing believe a connected workspace will improve business results

The Dropbox team has created a survey to find out how your group works collaboratively. Based on your group, you’ll receive a quick summary of what your result means, but also a report tailored to your organisation filled with insights, best practice and practical solutions. It will also show you how you compare to others in your industry and provide recommendations to help you achieve the next level of collaboration. 
 
You can also read about collaboration in more detail, and take a look at the other industries studied here. 
 
Is your industry embracing collaborative tools? Do you find yourself spending a lot of time looking for resources? 

1 Reply

  • Graham's avatar
    Graham
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    3 years ago

    Hi davyjhones,

     

    Thank you for your response and for visiting the Dropbox Community forum! How industries embrace technology and and use it to better what they are doing really is fascinating, especially around communications and collaboration. I find this particularly interesting in dentistry, which when looking from the outside, has always seemed like such a hands on and personal industry to me.

     

    I'd love to hear more about how you are using technology in Cincinnati Dental Services, and in particular any areas where you may have used Dropbox, to help push the clinic forward and keep it at the forefront of advancements within the industry.

     

    Thanks again, and have a great day!

    Graham

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