2.4. Staffing Options
Volunteers
Using volunteers can help clinics minimize expenses by providing
services that would otherwise have to be paid for. Volunteers may
be skilled clinical staff (e.g., dentists, dental hygienists, dental
assistants, Expanded Function Dental Auxiliaries) or support staff
(e.g., file clerks, receptionists, appointment coordinators).
Volunteers can also enhance clinic services by taking referrals into
their private practices, donating supplies, participating in patient-education
programs, fundraising, providing continuing-education courses, or writing
proposals.
The extent to which clinics use volunteers varies. High-volume clinics
that emphasize productivity usually rely on paid staff, supplemented
with volunteers. On the other hand, clinics that are open only part-time
might use volunteers exclusively.
Issues to Consider When Using Volunteers
- Will volunteers provide
most services, or will they supplement full-time staff?
- The number of volunteers
needed depends on the clinic’s days and hours of operation,
scope of services, number of operatories, patient load, number
of paid clinical staff, and other factors.
- Each volunteer must be oriented
to clinic policies and procedures.
- If volunteer dentists use
their own dental hygienists and assistants, the dental hygienists
and assistants must be shown what instruments and supplies the
clinic has available and where they are stored.
- The clinic needs a staff
member capable of organizing and coordinating the schedules of
all volunteers and finding coverage for the clinic when a scheduled
volunteer is unable to work.
- Recruitment of volunteers
will likely require frequent meetings with local dental societies,
attendance at regional and local dental meetings, and other activities
of this type.
- Retired dentists or dental
hygienists who maintain active licenses may be a volunteer resource
for clinical care.
- Volunteers usually find
it helpful to have paid staff available to provide continuity
with policies and procedures.
- To maintain continuity of
care, it may be preferable to use paid staff, rather than volunteers,
to undertake complicated procedures that require multiple visits.
- In some states, volunteers
may be covered for malpractice by the state’s sovereign
immunity laws; in others, volunteers will need to provide proof
of their own malpractice insurance. Check with your clinic’s
professional liability carrier about any other implications that
the use of volunteers will have on your clinic’s coverage.
- The credentialing and privileging
of a large number of volunteers can be time-consuming.
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