Thursday, January 10, 2013
Resistance to change is a primary issue that effects the implementation of new technology in dentistry. It is not that people don’t know what to do. They just don’t want to do it.
The commonly accepted wisdom is that people fear change. But is it really fear? A.J. Schuler, Psy.D. Identified ten reasons people resist change, all of which play a role in dental offices.
Top Ten Reasons People Resist Change:
- The risk of change is seen as greater than the risk of standing still
- People feel connected to other people who are identified with the old way
- People have no role models for the new activity
- People fear they lack the competence to change
- People feel overloaded and overwhelmed
- People have a healthy skepticism and want to be sure new ideas are sound
- People fear hidden agendas among would-be reformers
- People feel the proposed change threatens their notions of themselves
- People anticipate a loss of status or quality of life
- People genuinely believe that the proposed change is a bad idea
Reasons numbers eight and nine can be very powerful, and yet they are often overlooked. For example a dental office manager may have developed a complex system to manage the paper charts in the office. Everything from typing labels to file management has been refined and perfected. She takes pride in the system and takes even more pride in having a handle on everything that happens in the office. She feels a genuine connection with the patients through their paper charts.
For this person paperless charts are not an exciting time saving new technology, but instead are a threat to her systems and her perceived value to the dentist and the patients. The inner thought may be if the office goes paperless they won’t need me, or I won’t be important any more.
She probably doesn’t consciously acknowledge these issues but she does feel threatened and will find all kinds of logical reasons that paperless charts won’t work in her office.
The dentist is also susceptible to reasons eight and nine but may be even more affected by reasons two and three. The vast majority of dentists work alone with no daily interaction with other professionals. On the other hand our work demands that we follow proven techniques. It is totally inappropriate for us to experiment with unproven new ideas on random patients. Dentists precisely follow the techniques they learned in school then look to a respected Institute or expert to learn new procedures.
New technology almost by definition does not have many users or a proven track record. Dentists by their very nature don’t like that. If the people they respect are not using it and there is no respected role model to show the way, then it seems smarter to just stay put.
Understanding why people are resistant to change can help you get beyond the issues for both the dentist and the dental team members. Help people see that they can have even more value when they understand and use technology well, then seek out role models you can follow.
Being resistant to change will not keep change from happening. The future is coming and it will be amazing!