What is a Team Day?
Craniofacial care teams use the term “team day” to refer to the days in which all providers on the team are present, and several patients are seen. This typically means patients prepare for a 3 to 4-hour appointment depending on how many providers they may need to see that day. Team day usually occurs once a week for teams but once every 3, 6, 9, or 12 months for a patient depending on where they are in their care. On these days, patients can range from a few months old to about 18 years old. For the younger patients it is important to evaluate where they are in their surgery journey as well as their development with both feeding and speech. For the older children, the orthodontist and pediatric dentist typically work together to determine at what time orthodontic treatment should be initiated. Throughout the childhood years, speech pathologists are very important in monitoring speech development and intervening as necessary. Everyone plays a very important role in helping ensure the child develops properly and hits all the necessary milestones. For one particular clinic, team day is everyone’s favorite day. Providers arrive before 8am in order to prepare for the day. This includes exchanging notes with each other and being prepared for each patient that is coming in that day. The first patients arrive at 9am. From 9am to about 1 or 2pm, providers are rotating in and out of several rooms evaluating their patients and giving parents feedback. Between patients, providers must quickly jot down notes and review the chart of the next patient. Once the well-organized, busy schedule has finished for the day, all the providers gather for a meeting. In this meeting, they discuss every patient one-by-one. This allows each provider to update where they are in their treatment. The secretary takes notes and from here compiles a packet of information from the day that is sent [...]