As dental practices continue to examine infection control guidelines to meet the demands of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it’s important to consider how patients will feel as they walk into your office. Is your practice offering a curbside check-in process? Are you doing temperature checks before allowing patients into the building? Have you installed Plexiglas barriers at the reception desk? These examples are simple ways to not only improve the safety of your office, but also to visually show that you’re keeping the health of your staff and patients at the forefront.
The same can be said of the sterilization center. Typically tucked away in a backroom—and out of sight of the patient—the sterilization center can now be used to showcase your strict adherence to sterilization protocol. Many patients are even requesting a tour as they visit prospective offices. While they may not be experts in infection control, savvy patients can tell the difference between a well-organized, hygienic process and one that may expose them to unwanted hazards. A-dec has many solutions to help including their sterilization centers, workflow organization and sanitization stations for patient use.
Organization and cleanliness go hand in hand, a clear visual demonstration of this goes a long way in boosting your patient’s confidence. Consider the following from A-dec as you organize your sterilization area and entire office:
- Keep the sterilization area well organized. Patients don’t want to see you going through drawers or opening cupboards trying to find what you need. A-dec sterilization centers are organized into functional workspaces, with specified areas for receiving, cleaning, preparation, packaging, sterilization and storage. A-dec’s furniture design follows protocols recommended from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), further assuring a safe sterilization area.
- Review your workflows. Add a visual process to help your staff keep designated areas clean while also showing your patients you are taking the sterilization process seriously. For example, A-dec sterilization centers include simple visual cues such as a red infill to indicate contamination and blue to indicate clean. These visual cues help reduce the likelihood of cross contamination or accidental exposure to microorganisms and contaminants.
- Engage patients upon entry. A-dec’s Protect and Sanitize Station is an easy hands-free way to ensure each patient can sanitize before heading back to the operatory, highlighting your commitment to cleanliness and safety right from the start.
Going beyond processes and protocols, it’s important to show patients the extra effort your office is undertaking to keep staff, patients and the community safe. By outfitting your office with a CDC-approved sterilization center, establishing a sterilization workflow and process, and presenting patients with a sanitization station as they walk into your office, you’ll not only be improving infection control in your office, but will be helping patients feel safe and confident.
View A-dec’s full line of infection control products from the Inspire Sterilization Center for the operatory to the Protect and Sanitize Station for the reception area. Now through August 31, 2020, enjoy six months no interest, no payments followed by 5.95% interest for up to 60 months on select A-dec equipment from Patterson Financing.
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