Why a Simulated Dental Office Environment Is Essential to Dental Office Administration Training
July 12, 2019
Dental administration requires multi-tasking and tolerance for a busy environment. In your career, you will be required to use dental software, interact with clients and coworkers and use your best judgement when facing challenges like technical difficulties or last-minute scheduling issues. Working in a simulated dental office allows you to build on these skills without the risk of errors impacting your first day at work.
Everyone is excited and eager to start their careers after training, and this allows you to keep that enthusiasm without too many nerves over how it will feel to physically be in the working environment. Read on for some ways that a simulated environment helps you become a better dental office administrator!
Play out Scenarios in Dental Administration School with Little Consequence
There are no direct consequences on your career for needing to stop and ask a question within a simulated environment. Employers can’t see you, the situation is non-judgemental, and the focus is helping you learn, not testing you out for a job. In fact, it’s quite the opposite—simulated environments are great places to make mistakes. Research suggests that making errors and having an instructor help you correct them is beneficial to learning. Because these simulations in dental office administration training allow for time outs, clarification, elaboration, and redirection, they give you a time-stopping advantage that doesn’t exist elsewhere.
This type of training will boost your confidence and give you some experience points to stack up in preparation for a fulfilling and challenging career.
You can approach your career with confidence after experience in a mock environment
Active Learning in Dental Office Administration Training Increases Retention
Practicing by physically doing tasks in a simulated environment is one of the best ways to retain what you’ve learned in your courses. The Cone of Experience, sometimes referred to as the Learning Pyramid, was developed by Edgar Dale in the 1940s. It’s a theoretical model that has since been widely applied to learning and training methods. It posits, among other things, that we remember much more of what we do and practice than what we read or simply hear.
In simulations, you are forced to respond quickly as opposed to simply listening to someone else explain concepts. This gives you the benefit of experience in the real world without having to venture out into it just yet. The program is engineered for your learning so you experience what is most beneficial to you, compared to real-life offices where you can’t control or curate which experiences will come to you and when.
Emotion Is Involved to Prepare You Past a Dental Administration Program
Connecting your classroom learning to real-life situations is a way to see how you feel when you’re physically sitting in the “driver’s seat” and can process what you feel when you are there. A positive attitude is just as key in your career as it is in your training program, so having some experience dealing with tasks and problem-solving gives you a chance to see what you can do to maintain your energy and positive temperament. You may encounter some scenarios that you find are a little stressful at first, but since the dental administration program will offer a nonthreatening environment, you can work through how to deal with that stress, surrounded by support and resources.
Simulations prepare you to keep a smile on your face in your career by letting you process emotions
Are you interested in dental administration school?
Contact Medix for more information.
