Dental Practice Form, Function & Flow
Form, function, and flow are the cornerstones of the design of any dental practice environment. Strike a perfect balance and you will have a dental practice that operates with effortless efficiency from day one.
Dental Practice Form
The appearance of your dental clinic is key to attracting – and retaining – patients. The way your practice looks needs to reflect the quality of your customer service and the dental care you provide.
However, deciding on an interior design style isn’t always easy. When choosing a design style, you should consider the clinic’s location, your potential patient-base and their personal taste, and the type of personality you’d like your practice to reflect.
It’s also important that your dental clinic doesn’t look (or feel) too clinical. Adding colour, texture and personality into your design can all help to create a warm and welcoming environment for your patients.
Dental Practice Function
While getting the aesthetics of your clinic spot-on is a key priority, it’s crucial not to overlook functionality. If your practice doesn’t function efficiently or effectively, this will impact your patients’ experience, and your business will inevitably suffer.
Each room within your clinic should be carefully designed to be the right size so that your patients feel comfortable, while also being a workable space for your staff. For example, if you have a larger percentage of families as patients, this may mean allowing for a larger waiting area so parents can wait with their children, or so you can incorporate a dedicated play area. However, if your practice is on the smaller side, you want to make sure you don’t waste valuable space by over-sizing your waiting area and ending up with cramped and impractical surgery rooms.
Other factors such as equipment placement, ergonomics, lighting, and accessibility are also important when it comes to maximising the functionality of your dental practice. Get these elements right – as well as making the best use of your space – and you will be well on your way to an optimal dental clinic environment.
Dental Practice Flow
The final piece of the dental design puzzle is workflow. Achieve good flow of patients and staff throughout your clinic and you will benefit from maximum efficiency and productivity.
So how can you ensure a good workflow? It all starts with your layout design.
When a healthcare fitout specialist like Elite works on a layout design for a dental clinic, your staff and patients are always top of mind. It’s not a matter of simply placing your surgery rooms, reception, and ancillary areas where they fit best with the shape of your premises.
At Elite, we consider the “traffic flow” that will occur in your clinic when designing your floor plan. This includes the path your patients may take when they visit your practice, from the moment they walk through the door, see their dentist, and then return to reception for payment. We also look at the movement of your staff throughout their working day, with their many trips between reception, surgery rooms, steri areas, and X-ray rooms.
By understanding the journeys your staff and patients will take throughout your clinic, we can design a layout that will allow people to move almost intuitively from one space to the next, helping to maximise the efficiency of your practice.
Contact Us
The Elite team are your trusted advisors to plan, design and facilitate your next dream dental fitout. We understand what it means to be a healthcare professional and how to bring form, function and flow to your practice.
If you would like to learn more about the dental practice featured in this blog, visit the GC Dental Solutions project here.
Contact the Elite team to discuss your dental clinic plans or take a look at some of our recent dental fitouts.
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