Through the month of September we rejoice many particular events such because the Nationwide Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15), Suicide Prevention Week (Sept. 4-10) and Worldwide Chocolate Day (Sept 13). We additionally rejoice Dental An infection Management Consciousness Month all through September.
This 12 months’s #DICAM22 theme is “Staying within the Know Collectively”. Due to this fact, I’m sharing the data and opinions of Dr. Teresa J. Irizarry and Dr. Ana López Fuentes, members of a committee that oversees an infection management protocol on the College of Puerto Rico Medical Science Campus’ dental clinic. I interviewed them due to their rigorous coaching and expertise in Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention, an affiliation for oral well being care professionals that focuses on dental an infection prevention and affected person and supplier security.
What are widespread an infection management errors dentists and dental college students make?
Dr. López: Carrying their protecting private gear (PPE) incorrectly, forgetting to present the sufferers protecting eyewear and strolling with their disposable robes from a contaminated to a non-contaminated space are among the commonest errors we see dental college students and dentists make.
Dr. Irizarry: I’ve seen college students neglect to present protecting glasses to their sufferers. Whereas this isn’t particularly a part of the coed’s an infection management protocol, it’s a part of the protocol accountable for affected person safety. Secondly, many college students neglect the correct use of PPE, particularly using their gloves. Upon getting your gloves on and are engaged on a affected person, you aren’t supposed to the touch different surfaces aside from the devices used within the process and barrier-protected surfaces. Nevertheless, many college students neglect this and contact and contaminate objects resembling their face protect, glasses, coat, drawers, keyboard and pc mouse. This is without doubt one of the commonest errors I see within the dental clinic and in personal practices.
What would you want so as to add or change within the present an infection protocol used in school?
Dr. López: I need to change the mindset for compliance in well being and security for all. It’s my dream to create and add an emergency preparedness course to the dental program. I would like our college students to take the vaccination modules and be ready to vaccinate just like the nursing and medical college students. I want to embrace emergency fundamentals resembling the right way to put a bone again in place, place a tourniquet, the right way to deal with burns, dehydration, panic assault, bronchial asthma assault, and intoxication amongst others.
I would like college students to have the elemental data to know the right way to react in a medical emergency. This might be a chance to incorporate interprofessional schooling and collaboration from totally different well being skilled college students and workers resembling nurses, EMTs, respiratory therapists, and so forth. A few of these modules exist already within the CDC, U.S. Division of Public Well being, and different establishments. We should always arrange these modules and put together observe and certification for dental college students.
Each well being skilled, together with oral well being professionals, is an important well being practitioner. COVID-19 might not be the one pandemic nor Hurricane Maria the final pure disaster we might face. Each oral well being skilled is usually a first-line-of-defense supplier throughout these conditions.
It’s additionally crucial we replace and prepare in an infection management yearly. As we’ve all witnessed with COVID-19, an infection management can change by the minute. We should speak about an infection prevention moderately than an infection management. It’s a matter of well being and security.
Dr. Irizarry: I’m not a fan of utilizing overgloves [gloves worn over other gloves]. It offers the coed a false sense of safety. It’s higher to easily take away the gloves, clear your arms, get what you want and put on a brand new set of gloves. Nevertheless, I do perceive the college’s want to save lots of on gear. I additionally consider if college students successfully arrange the devices they want for the process beforehand, it might lower the necessity to placed on and take off their gloves. Additionally, within the clinic we should not have particular person X-ray machines for every dental chair. As a substitute, the identical clinic’s X-ray machines are shared by all workers and college students of the clinic. Due to this fact, we should all be extra vigilant about following right prevention and an infection protocol when taking radiographs.
Dental college students are taught to deal with everybody as infectious. What are different guidelines relating to infectious management?
Dr. López: They need to observe normal precautions when working on the clinic and after the sufferers go away, treating each affected person and each dental instrument as doubtlessly infectious. I all the time educate college students that they have to clear first earlier than disinfecting or sterilizing. All the pieces that goes within the affected person’s mouth should be both sterile or disposable.
Dr. Irizarry: College students ought to deal with everybody the identical and visualize how the right use of an infection management protects not solely you and your affected person but in addition your workers, family and friends. This may encourage everybody to take precautions and create environment friendly security habits.
Keep tuned for half two of this subject subsequent week!
~Ana P. López Santa, Puerto Rico ‘25