Optimizing Your Schedule for Continuing Education 

The life of a dentist, while incredibly rewarding, is not without its challenges. You must manage your patients’ expectations while offering high-quality treatment. At the same time, you must also pay attention to your budget and handle team conflicts. Many of these topics were likely discussed during your time in dental school, but one area that doesn’t get enough attention is the challenge of time management needs that comes while balancing running a practice with continuing education. 

Technology gives you access to online courses that you can complete at your own pace, which is remarkably convenient. However, a remote learning environment might not be the best if you decide to grow your practice by taking orthodontic courses.

Fitting orthodontic training courses into your busy schedule requires calculated use of your time-management skills. It is vital to have practical strategies to help you stay organized, maximize productivity, and get the most from continuing education. 

To that end, the following approaches may work best for you should you choose to pursue continuing education opportunities:

Prioritize and schedule study time.

With a jam-packed daily schedule, you might have trouble figuring out when to study for your orthodontic courses. Setting aside some dedicated time for coursework can help alleviate some of that stress. 

It’s important to maneuver around your practice schedule, of course, but prioritizing your study time will ensure you keep your commitment to developing your new skills. Try waking up early and studying before heading to the office, or choose to stay at the office after hours for a study session if you do better in the evening. 

In other words, you want to find what works for you and stick with it. Create a weekly study plan to help you stay organized, and use a calendar or planner to note the time you devote to your studies. Many digital calendars have features that allow you to set reminders, helping prevent any time from slipping through the cracks.

Use downtime wisely.

Throughout your workday, you may have short breaks or downtime thanks to a same-day cancellation. Take advantage of those times and use them to review your notes or listen to portions of a prerecorded lecture.

Those small study sessions will add up over time; in fact, some consider them to be more effective than long, uninterrupted periods because you can retain the information better. The brain can lose focus after approximately 30 minutes, so smaller bursts of studying may help you grasp concepts better.

Identify and limit distractions.

Saying that there’s a lot to accomplish in a day at the dental office is an understatement, and it’s often easy to get distracted from your studies during your downtime. Pay attention to what distracts you from your orthodontic education. Maybe your cell phone keeps buzzing with notifications, or perhaps you’re spending more time than usual in conversations with patients.

Regardless of what takes time away from your studies, set a goal to avoid those things during your dedicated breaks. Your limited free time is precious, after all, and you need to stay focused and accomplish the section you set out to complete.

Delegate office tasks.

As a professional enrolled in orthodontic courses for dentists, you can’t do everything yourself and expect to have time left to study. Delegating nonessential tasks to your team is a key strategy to freeing up more study time. 

Some tasks you might consider delegating are:

• Administrative work
• Documentation
• Scheduling
• Billing

You can also outsource some tasks outside of your practice. Most communities have businesses that can prepare meals for you or clean your house. These are important chores that must be done, but outsourcing them removes noncritical tasks from your to-do list and frees up precious time. 

Remember to take breaks.

Focusing on your orthodontic courses is necessary to expand your service offerings and boost revenue. Still, if you are not taking any time for yourself, you may begin feeling overwhelmed and burned out. Giving yourself some time to step away from both your studies and your practice will help renew your energy and focus so you can continue being productive.

Reflect on your progress.

At the end of the workweek, reflect on how well you managed your time and schedule; determine what went well and whether you picked up any new strategies you can implement. Taking a few moments to review what worked and what didn’t will help streamline your next week’s schedule, freeing up more time to devote to studying for your orthodontic courses. 

Minimize stress with strategic time management planning while growing your practice.

Effectively managing your time allows you to balance what you love with a new skill you’re trying to learn. By prioritizing tasks and creating a schedule, you’ll have what it takes to deliver the high-quality patient care you’re known for without feeling overwhelmed by your orthodontic education requirements.

Explore the American Orthodontic Society’s orthodontic courses.

If you’re a general dentist interested in expanding your skill set, consider taking an orthodontic continuing education course from the American Orthodontic Society. We offer a variety of sessions, so call us today to learn more and sign up!