Dental Assisting Internal Cleaning Policy

Question: Describe about the Dental Assisting for Internal Cleaning Policy. Answer: Policy development The Policy name is Internal cleaning policy that ensures that staff performs the overall domestic cleaning in the workplace to ensure an infection free environment for service users, healthcare personnel and visitors of the workplace. The policy development includes determination of: - Developing cleaning plan and procedure Professional training sessions for staff Risk assessment Audit procedures Policy review Policy review involves the evaluation of developed policy by the authorities. Manager and executive director of the organisation will review this policy. Procedures The internal cleaning procedures will involve: - Clean overall workplace environment Odour control Cleaning medical equipments, user wash bowls, ceilings, mirrors, radiators, doors, grilles, ventilators, floor, chairs and other equipments daily Cleaning of lockers, beds, wheels, frames, freezer, boiler and sinks daily Reporting any cleanliness issue of patient or visitor directly to supervisor Maintaining the standards of cleanliness up to the mark Procedure information sessions The procedure information session will be held for 1 hour for 2 days Supervised practice and training All the staff members will be trained about their cleaning responsibilities, informed about high standards and reporting system by the supervisor of policy management Assessment of practice The cleaning stakeholders and supervisor will assess to practice by determining that all the cleaning service standards are up to mark. Independent practice All the staff will be allowed to manage their own responsibility regarding cleanliness and workplace management Monitoring of practice The management will monitor service quality using robust monitoring system (Darby Walsh, 2014). In a workplace, the management including heads, supervisors, laboratory managers, staff including workers is responsible for the management of infection control. The heads are responsible for ensuring implementation of infection control processes followed by the supervisor to ensure implementation of similar in their work zone. Further, the staffs hold the responsibility to ensure the completion of infection control processes. In this manner, all of them are responsible for infection control in the workplace (Schaefer et al. 2010). 2. This group receives information about infection control from the rest of organisation through electronic records, inbuilt dashboard, report builder and complaint systems. 3. Electronic records The medical electronic records are the computer based softwares that transfer information from one person to another in the hospital including the patient, work and schedule details. Inbuilt dashboard These inbuilt dashboards are clinical intelligence and reporting systems that help to help to transfer information related to cost, quality and service analysis of infection control within the organisation. Report builder The report builder is used to create, set and maintain any information or data in the hospital that can be accessed by professionals. Complaint systems This complaint system provided information about the patient complain that can further help for quality service improvements (Darby Walsh, 2014). The coaching strategies are: - Providing regular training to the staff as per risk assessment and quality improvement suggestions Evaluate and implement the required standards and additional precautions Understanding and explaining the infection chain of transmission to the workers (Miller Palenik, 2014). Management of blood and bodily fluid spills The workplace duties for managing this infection control practice involve cleaning the spot by confirming the removal of organic, liquid and other spills using paper towels and cleaning agents. Further, it is also required to eliminate small spills like blood droplets with cleaning agents. It is needed to remove broken glasses or sharp material with forceps. The discharge of syringes, used dressing, cotton etc. as contaminated materials is performed followed by their immediate discard. Lastly, performing hand hygiene before and after cleaning is a must to control infection (Scully, 2010). Needle stick injuries To manage needle stick injuries in the workplace, the professional needs to firstly clean the site of injury with soap and water followed by reporting the incidence to authorities along with filling exposure report sheet. Further, the exposure is examined as per fluid type, needle type and blood on the needle. The exposure source should be evaluated for HIV, HCV and HBV patient status. Personal protective clothing For managing the personal protective clothing in healthcare profession it is strictly required to follow the instruction provided in training about PPE protocols. Further, do not perform any misuse or damage to clothing and regularly sterile the PPE. Further, practice the PPE policy properly in the workplace to avoid any risk of contamination (Puttaiah et al. 2010). The consultation and resolution process of infection control issues starts with getting the feedback of patient and team followed by reporting the issue to concerned professional or personnel. Further, the accurate record of the issue is reported and maintained by authorities following issue analysis by management committee to determine a possible solution. 2. The professionals involved in consultation and resolution process are Manager/Supervisor Infection control coordinator Infection control committee Quality improvement executive Health and Safety Committee (Miller Palenik, 2014). The following procedure based on disposal of contaminated waste regulation involves three steps: - Step -1 Collection The healthcare staff should collect waste as per recommended colour coding for healthcare waste followed by tightly sealing the waste bags. They need to follow a routine program for the collection of waste (daily). Further, these bags should be replaced immediately by new once. Step -2 Storage The collected waste is needed to be stored in healthcare storage facility or research facility. Further, storage containers should be disposed within designated time of 72 hours in winter and 48 hours in summer. Step -3 Transport The waste to be transported is labelled as per their quality and transported using specialised vehicles to the off-site zone designated for disposal of contaminated waste (Puttaiah et al. 2010). 2. The staff, supervisor and managers looking after the waste management in organisation hold the responsibility to follow the process. Infection Risks Wound infection Urinary tract infection Bacterial infection Blood stream infection Signs of nutritional deficiency Fever or weakness Injury Chemical exposure Reporting of infection risks The occupational injury or infection risk should be reported to designated authority in situations of misses, injuries and incidents detecting an emergency. The reporting should be performed at the reporting centre in the hospital (Miller Palenik, 2014). References Darby, M. L., Walsh, M. (2014).Dental hygiene: theory and practice. Elsevier Health Sciences. Miller, C. H., Palenik, C. J. (2014).Infection Control and Management of Hazardous Materials for the Dental Team5: Infection Control and Management of Hazardous Materials for the Dental Team. Elsevier Health Sciences. Puttaiah, R., Shetty, S., Bedi, R., Verma, M. (2010). Dental infection control in India at the turn of the century.World Journal of Dentistry,1(1), 1-6. Schaefer, M. K., Jhung, M., Dahl, M., Schillie, S., Simpson, C., Llata, E., ... Sehulster, L. (2010). Infection control assessment of ambulatory surgical centers.Jama,303(22), 2273-2279. Scully, C. (2010).Medical problems in dentistry. Elsevier Health Sciences.