The management and organization of day-to-day management tools is often overlooked in both safety and efficiency in dental practice. It is easy to fall into the heal of treating patients, potentially ignoring safety issues that may cause harm. One area of concern is the transportation and processing of instruments during cleaning and disinfection. Also, it is easy to overlook the inefficiency of the organization, cleaning and sterilizing instruments.
The safety of instrument processing begins with minimizing the handling of sharp and contaminated dental supplies. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogen Criterion 1 states that contaminated sharp instruments should be transported in closed anti-puncture containers. Although moving the instrument from the treatment room to the instrument processing area of a typical dental device usually does not involve a long distance, accidents may occur if the handheld device or the device is carried on an open tray, which may result in injury to the team members. . In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends minimizing the disposal of contaminated equipment to prevent injuries to dental members, especially hand washing.
The dental team has many options for safely transporting contaminated instruments. If you are practicing using a plastic tray, you can place a snap-on lid on the tray to prevent it from overflowing when the team member walks with the tray. In addition, many cassette containers and cassettes can be used to close the instrument.
Although tray lids and boxes minimize safety issues and meet OSHA requirements, they do not need to address efficiency issues in instrument processing. For example, if a box is used, the instrument must be picked from the tray and placed in the box after processing. If the device is cleaned in the box, it may have to be removed from the box for flushing and inspection. In contrast, the instruments arranged in a box are arranged in one layer, making it possible to quickly and easily rinse and inspect the instrument for residual debris.
If the dental clinic wants to achieve maximum safety and efficiency, the instrument box is the best choice. Once the size and configuration of the box is determined, the instrument leaves the box only during processing (or sharpens if it is a sanitary instrument). The box serves as a delivery system within the treatment room. Once the surgery is completed, the box is closed for transport and then placed in an ultrasonic cleaner or instrument washer. After flushing and inspecting the instrument, pack the box in a sterilizer and store it until the next use. The instrument management system eliminates the processing and classification of contaminated instruments during cleaning and packaging, saving time and increasing safety.
When implementing a cassette system at a dental clinic, several factors need to be considered. The first is the standardization of the size and configuration of the cassette and the program settings. This is followed by the capacity of the ultrasonic cleaner or instrument washer to ensure that the cartridge size can be adapted. The same applies to sterilizers, ensuring that the cavity size fits the size of the box. This may require investing in new dental equipment and tapes. However, by increasing production time and reducing processing tool time, you can quickly recoup your investment. A tape manufacturer, Hu-Friedy, has online resources to assist with dental practice in configuring their instrument management systems, and to determine the size and type of ultrasound and sterilizer needed for cartridges, simplifying the implementation through more efficient instrument management systems. Company representatives can push this process for the dental team at any time.
Instrument management may be a messy and labor-intensive issue, or it may be efficient, safe, and economical for dental clinics. The key difference is the good planning and use of instrument boxes.
