Research Reports from the Department of Operations
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
4-1-1973
Abstract
Efficient management of a dental practice involves many complex and interacting decisions. Primary decisions involve the size of the practice; that is, the number of operatories and the numbers of workers of various skills. A complicating factor in this regard is the introduction of the expanded duty auxiliary, or dental nurse, a new category of para or allied professional. Integration into practice of this new worker increases the number of available options. Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry is one of several dental schools pioneering the TEAM Concept. Dental students are being trained to use expanded duty auxiliaries, and dental nurses are being trained in four-handed dentistry. Many states have already passed legislation enabling the use of dental nurses, and others are in the process of doing so. Having determined the configuration of his practice, the dentist-manager must face the questions of scheduling.This means scheduling patients, workers (dentists, nurses, assistants, hygienists, etc.), and operatories. Each patient requires an ordered sequence of tasks, each of which has time and worker requirements, and these must be efficiently matched to the constraining resources: workers and operatories. Using any of several measures (e.g., maximization of procedures performed, or of worker utilization, or of profitability), the manager must decide how best to schedule his practice. Given the increasing complexity of his office and the sharp increase in demand that is generally anticipated, traditional methods may soon prove inadequate.This paper describes a methodology which addresses itself to the analysis of the economics of alternative practice configurations in terms of the number and mix of patients and the methods used for scheduling patients to operatories and workers to patients. The methodology, however, can focus on the problem of scheduling patients, workers and operatories as a problem unto itself.
Keywords
Operations research, Dental offices--Management, Dentistry--Practice--Management, Dentistry--Study and teaching, Dental assistants
Publication Title
Technical Memorandums from the Department of Operations, School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
Issue
Technical memorandum no. 293
Rights
This work is in the public domain and may be freely downloaded for personal or academic use
Recommended Citation
Reisman, Arnold; Emmons, Hamilton; Occhionero, Ronald; Green, Edward J.; Morito, Susumu; Mehta, Shailesh J.; and Nunnikhoven, Thomas S., "Expanded Dental Practice Management: Economics and Scheduling - Progress Report I" (1973). Research Reports from the Department of Operations. 196.
https://commons.case.edu/wsom-ops-reports/196