Futurists have been eagerly talking about the paperless office for more than 20 years. Finally, the technology is available to turn the paperless office from a future dream into a present reality. Here’s a look at the strategies needed to go paperless.

The goal: a digital dental record

The term “paperless office “is a bit misleading. There are still many effective uses and needs for paper in the dental office. However, what’s now possible and highly desirable is to create a paperless or digital dental record. A digital record means that there is no paper folder with patient information. All the charting, diagnostics, correspondence, financial records, scheduling and so on is recorded and saved on a computer.

Going paperless is a process, not an event. Adding any new high-tech system to the office is a major change that invariably results in lost productivity and frustration. However, you can reduce problems and improve your chances for early success by following the Boy Scout’s motto: Be prepared.

There are two critical areas that need to be properly studied before your dental office will be ready to successfully implement paperless records: people and technology. Here’s the plan for each.

People

Since going paperless is based on computer technology, it’s natural to focus on computers when planning to go paperless. However, technology is only half of the equation. If the people in the office aren’t prepared and enthusiastic, technology alone will never work. Some dentists are actually proud of the fact that they don’t know the first thing about office computers. That is just foolish. The dentist doesn’t have to be a mouse master to go paperless. However, the dentist must know the basics or else the whole system will never make sense.

The dentist cannot do this alone. The office must also have strong team members who are willing to learn.

One of the frustrations that dentists and team members encounter is cookbook failure. This happens when someone just knows one way (like step-by-step cookbook directions) to use software, but does not understand what is being done and why. When that happens, just one slightly different or neglected step, and the cookbook process fails. The user is lost and has no idea how to find his or her way back.

To avoid a cookbook failure, users need to have a general understanding of Microsoft Windows. You need to know how to do the following: turn on your computer system; use a mouse to click and drag; open, close and change the size of the windows on your computer screen; and use the Windows file system.

If the doctor or staff doesn’t have a good general understanding of Windows, get some training.

Also, if you can’t find a patient’s record in your computer system and make simple entries, you need some basic training on practice management software before you move on to digital records.

However, basic training on using your practice management system is not enough. See “Going paperless training”, click here.

Technology

In addition to training your staff, you need to establish a technology infrastructure. One of the most common mistakes dentists make is to jump ahead when trying to go paperless without first establishing an infrastructure. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to use paperless records without a technology infrastructure to support them. It would be similar to trying to use paper records without a pen, filing cabinets, alphabetized tabs or a film processor.

Even when they have computers already installed, some dentists are frustrated because the computers are too old or lack the power to run the management system efficiently. Ideally, your computers should be less than three years old. Also, check to be sure they have the minimum requirements specified by the vendor. Usually, that means a newer, fast processor and lots of RAM memory (1 GB or more).

The treatment room monitor will be serving the same function as your paper charts did in the past. For that reason, the dentist needs to be able to easily view the monitor from chairside in an operating position.

The key components of a technology infrastructure are software, hardware and diagnostics. The following are the minimum requirements that must be in place for each of these components before the office can go paperless.

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