    
Delivering Quality Care to Informed Patients
When Michael Varallo, DMD, started practicing 29 years ago, he made a pledge to deliver quality care to informed patients in a comfortable and convenient setting. The CAESY family of products, provided by Patterson Dental, makes it easy to deliver on that promise. Just ask any one of the 5,000 plus patients who have come through the door of HoHoKus Dental Associates in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey over the years for confirmation. No long stay in the waiting room for them. Immediately after being greeted by a friendly face at the front desk, each of Dr. Varallo’s patients is escorted to a treatment room by a dental advocate, then asked to sit back, get comfortable and watch a CAESY video that will educate them on the procedure they are about to undergo. CAESY, which stands for Clinically Advanced Education SYstems, has been dentistry’s No. 1 patient education software system since its founding in 1993. The system, which contains more than 280 multimedia presentations covering 21 topics, was developed by former dentist Bob Rondeau and his school-teacher wife, Liz, as a resource that would allow dentists to explain conditions, treatment options and procedures in a concise, easy-to-understand manner through engaging self-guided 3D animation, full-motion video with narration and sound, and colorful images. Dr. Varallo has been using CAESY since its introduction to the marketplace 16 years ago and says he doesn’t know what he’d do without it. “It’s a wonderful tool. Not only does it help build a relationship between the staff and patient, it provides third-party validation for the advice I offer, and it’s a real time saver too. I used to have to do long consults that patients would have a hard time understanding. Now we can show patients exactly what we’re going to do and boy are they impressed.” According to Dr. Varallo, adult patients are most engaged by the videos that show what will be done during a particular procedure, and inform them of the pros and cons so they can make an informed decision. Some of the most popular presentations among young adults include those about the dangers associated with periodontal disease and what to expect when getting braces. For young children who need reassuring that everything will be okay, the videos featuring Kirby the chimpanzee showing them how to brush, and loveable terriers Buddy and Andy, work wonders. Notes are made in each patient’s chart to indicate which videos they’ve seen and when they were shown in case questions pop up later on. In addition to the multimedia video presentations, CAESY also provides the database his staff relies on for detailed information about procedures and follow-up care. Information sheets that prominently display the dentist’s name are printed out on demand and sent home with the patients. “If patients ask questions about cosmetic dentistry, tooth whitening or any other procedure I have recommended during their appointment, it’s also easy to create a disc with a video presentation to send home with them,” says Dr. Varallo. Discs can be burned with up to 10 presentations, the patient’s treatment plan and digital images. Dr. Varallo says that many times the discs sent home with patients end up in the hands of their friends or family members, thus becoming marketing pieces that work much better than a postcard or other mailing would. Discs created in CAESY may also be handed out during community events or mailed to new residents. Each disc created has a custom label showing the practice’s name. “Making sure patients are both comfortable and well informed about their procedures has been paramount to my practice’s success over the years,” said Dr. Varallo. “It helps build loyalty, not to mention growth. Those patients who continuously come back to my office consistently refer new patients.” For more information about CAESY, visit www.caesy.com |
|
|
|
© 2024 Patterson Dental. All rights reserved.