Organizing your workspace and implementing well-established processes will help your dental clinic succeed and profit, while reducing costs and expenses. With the right plan, you'll hire the right people, retain your top staff, work with the right supply companies, organize your practices to be more efficient, satisfy your patients and satisfy your service. This article will highlight the organization and efficiency of sterilization areas and treatment rooms.
Disinfection area
Open cabinets and drawers. Assess the level of the organization. After consulting the product's safety data sheet, discard unwanted and outdated products for proper disposal instructions to comply with state and federal laws.
Wipe clean interior drawers and shelves. Store dental supplies and packaged instruments and tapes in a closed or covered cabinet. 1 Do not store dental supplies and equipment in a sink or in any place where it may get wet.
After disinfection, the assistant removes the dry wrapped instrument box from the dryer and places it in sterile storage for later use.
Ensure that the flow in the disinfection area prevents cross-contamination of "dirty" to "clean" task streams. Sharps containers and trash cans must be on the "dirty" side of contaminated equipment. Next, there should be an area for cleaning the unit with an ultrasonic unit or instrument cleaner. Make room for packing. In addition to the instrument case package, bags of various sizes are also saved to suit your setup. After sterilization, store the aseptic bag and the box in a closed cupboard or drawer.
Save valuable space in the sterilization area for the program to be executed. This is not where personal items such as wallets, cell phones, food or drinks are stored.
While observing the workflow, I found the most safest and most effective dental clinic to use the instrument case. The instruments needed for each procedure are stored in boxes so the dentist does not need to touch loose, contaminated instruments. Then lock the box in place, clean, package, disinfect, and store. The time saved from sorting and organizing instrument settings can translate into savings and valuable time available to serve patients. In addition, safety is significantly improved due to less instrument handling.
While observing the workflow, I found the most safest and most effective dental clinic to use the instrument case.
Treatment room
To prevent cross-contamination, minimize items on the counter. Some of the most organized and profitable dental clinics I use as a consultant bath storage. Instead of storing many tiny consumable products in each treatment room (eventually expired), the material is sorted during the procedure. Follow the procedure for color coding your bathtub: endodontics, restoration, crown and bridge. In essence, think of a bathtub as a portable surgical drawer.
The challenge for most dental assistants and hygienists is time. Using the instrument case saves precious time during the patient's procedure. For example, it may be frustrating for clinical team members to discontinue patient care to retrieve missing instruments or patient care items. The instrument case allows the team to set procedures according to practitioners' preferences. Always install the required instruments in the cassette to allow the worker to work at the optimum efficiency level. Efficiency translates to higher productivity.
Time research helps to improve our processes. Start with the patient's time until the room is ready for the next patient's time. Based on your average, create an appointment template that fully reflects treatment room usage and determines the type of dental equipment you need to minimize wasteful time. The challenge we face is balancing the quality of patient care, time constraints, and the goal of never compromising. This led us to discuss practical gloves. As a consultant, this is a common violation of my dental clinic safety program.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), punctured and chemically wearable heavy utility gloves3 should be used for instrument cleaning and decontamination procedures. 2
In dental work across the country, there is often a problem of when helpers or hygienists should wear practical gloves. Safety, Sterility and Prevention Organization (OSAP) provides valuable guidance when practical patient care is replaced by practical gloves. Detach and remove the instrument .3 Rinse the water line .3 Remove and dispose of the obstruction and remove the waste .3 Transport the contaminated instrument to a puncture-resistant, labeled and leak-proof container. 3 Although it is not provided that the container must have a lid or lid, it is more secure if the lid is provided. Contaminated instruments and cassettes are ready for automatic cleaning.
After placing them in an ultrasonic cleaner or instrument cleaner, clean the practical gloves to clean them and prevent cross-contamination. 3 Now you are ready to clean and disinfect the treatment room. After cleaning and disinfecting, remove the practical gloves, wash your hands, and wear the patient's examination gloves. 3 is so simple!
Sometimes it feels like we run a marathon as we juggle in the dental office around patient care, infection control and prevention, job safety and trying to make that a profitable business. However, if you get your tag, cassette, and organize, you will successfully pass the finish line!
