david g. dunning

Staff meetings in general dental practices represent what is believed to be a key management strategy to build teams and to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. However, very little research has been done regarding staff meetings in dental offices. This study examined staff meetings from the viewpoint of dental hygienists who grow in unique careers in that they work largely independently of the dentist and yet typically within a dental practice while providing patient care and education. One-hundred-six dental hygienists completed a survey about staff meetings in dental offices. Key findings include: only approximately 43% of dental offices conduct morning huddles to get the day off to a smooth and organized start, 72% of dental practices conduct longer staff meetings with largely positive outcomes, including increasing practice efficiency and productivity, few practices (12%) hold specific meetings only for the hygiene-department (and probably thereby miss some opportunities for practice improvement), the most important variable by far to hygienist's job satisfaction is respect from the owner-dentist, and there exists an important and synergistic relationship among job satisfaction, relationships with other staff and relationship with the owner-dentist.