Assessment of Graduate School Registered Practice Management Course Effectiveness on Financial Success of Orthodontists

Abstract

Following completion of residency, orthodontists become businessmen. In such venture, their degree of financial success is defined by the level of income production. It also affects the degree of satisfaction with their career. This study explores the influencers of income production in orthodontic practices. Specifically, it explores if matriculating in a Graduate School-listed practice management course in residency, affected their financial success. We posit, conceptual understanding of elements of success in the course yields increased earning potential in the life of an orthodontist. The objective of this study was to explore if structured business management course that includes a syllabus and multiple lectures during residency would allow orthodontists to achieve financial success quicker than those who received only anecdotal advice. Our findings might be expected to influence the orthodontic curricula. A survey instrument of 19 questions, consisting of multiple-choice questions and visual analog scales, was designed and entered into SurveyMonkey. American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) Partners in Research Program administered the data collection to assess how comfortable and competent orthodontists were in managing their business in the first 3-years of practice. AAO Partners in Research identified 704 orthodontists who fit the inclusion criteria. They were contacted by email with the designed survey instrument. After initial distribution, another reminder email was sent to increase the response rate. For statistical analysis, Mann-Whitney analysis, Kruskal-Wallis Test followed by Post Hoc pairwise comparison, and multiple regression analyses were performed to identify any differences between those who received structured business management course and those who did not in their financial success following residency. Out of 704 orthodontists who received the survey, 142 responded (20% response rate). The results suggest that there is no significant difference in the amount of income production in the 3rd year after graduation regardless of whether one had the practice management course in his or her residency or not (p=0.979; sig. p<0.05). In addition, the length of time it takes for the orthodontists to feel satisfied with their income since graduation and access to business education during residency had an asymptotic significance value of 0.170, which suggests that the differences were statistically insignificant. However, there is a significant correlation between receiving help and income production as those who had assistance, specifically from family members, earned more at their 3rd year of practice than those who did not (p=0.009; sig. p<0.05). Moreover, although taking practice management course during residency did not make significant differences in their income production at their 3rd year of practice, those who had taken the course felt much more comfortable with practice management topics than those who did not (p=0.000-0.004; sig. p<0.05). With these results, graduate school registered practice management course is not a necessity during residency in helping graduating orthodontists to achieve financial success more quickly. Nonetheless, knowledge from the course and support from their family members certainly aid the newly graduates to feel more confident towards managing their offices in the early years of their practice.