Decontamination
Best practice for infection control
Christine Bowness from Prestige Medical explains how you can improve efficiency and make cost savings by embracing best practice
I
t is encouraging to see that the number of practices choosing to move to “best practice” in decontamination standards is on the rise again. More and more dentists are realising that
there are significant business benefits to be gained, in addition to providing patients and staff with the highest infection control standards and reassurance that their safety and comfort is a top priority.
Instrument cleaning is the first step For a number of years, it has been generally accepted that the best method of cleaning and preparing instruments for sterilisation has been the use of a washer disinfector. While some practices had, perhaps understandably, held back from making such a big investment, the increased risk of cross-infection – from HIV, Hepatitis C, Herpes and even from those diseases we thought we had eradicated such as TB and Polio – together with an increasing resistance to antibiotics, will continue to drive cross-infection control standards ever higher. In addition, evidence exists to show that sharps injuries to staff are significantly lower or completely eliminated in those practices using a washer disinfector to replace the manual processes involved in either scrubbing
or using an ultrasonic bath. A wide choice of machines means
that there are now sizes and capacities available to suit the needs of most practices, while advances in technology have enabled the process to be completed much faster – in the past, one of the main reasons given for delaying purchase.
Save time and money The starting salary for a dental nurse will be around €ıı/£8.50 per hour. Once qualified, this will rise to between €ı2/£9.75 and €ı4.29/£ıı.50. These costs don’t, of course, take into account insurance and pension contributions etc.
Manually scrubbing Pic 1
Most dentists now recognise that a washer disinfector can provide valuable time and throughput efficiencies in the practice and many have already made room to accommodate them but still there are those who remain to be convinced! Let us consider how cost-effective
a washer disinfector could be in your decontamination process.
Manually scrubbing The protocol is arduous to say the least. It includes constant monitoring of water temperature using a non-mercury thermometer, monitoring of detergent concentration, scrubbing of each instrument below the water level for two minutes, and full inspection of each instrument under a magnified illuminated source. To prevent inhalation of, or contamination from, an aerosol spray of contaminated water, full personal protective equipment (PPE) should be worn. Even if all of these protocols are observed, which often they are not, the risk of sharps injury is high, especially if such procedures are performed regularly over a long period of time during a nurse’s career. Taking the starting salary as the minimum
cost then, a dental nurse will take at least two minutes to clean an instrument.
Continued » Ireland’s Dental magazine 39
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