How can I build a realistic schedule?

Dr. Wano · Recorded October 15, 2026. This transcript follows the edited video captions.

Most schedules are built for the day that you hope to have, not the day your team can actually deliver. How do you build a schedule your team can deliver? Use real procedure times, not just templates pulled from the internet, another practice, or inherited from that practice.

Pull data from a few months of your actual clinical schedule. What actually happened? If you don’t have that data, set up a system to build and track it, then work backwards.

What is our production goal? What are our goals? Start blocking the schedule based on the times and goals you have.

When is the clinician sharpest? Block the more intensive procedures when the doctor is sharpest. Keep the hygiene schedule steady too.

And leave room for emergencies. If you don’t have some slack built into the system each day, a new emergency can set you back and put you on a delay by 10 a.m. Make sure you are building a little slack into the system.

We can talk later about filling that slack if it isn’t being used. Build a schedule with real data that your team is actually able to meet, using data from your specific practice.