Why is traceability so important?
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 6th November 2021
We are living in an age of unpredictability. The last 18 months, in particular, have been a time of great change and uncertainty for businesses and individuals alike and this has put a lot of pressure on people as they have constantly had to adapt to changing circumstances.
Of course, this uncertainty has heavily impacted the dental industry too. An ever-evolving situation and shifting regulations and guidelines have meant that predicting the next steps in practice has sometimes felt impossible to achieve.
However, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that infection control needs to be completely infallible and with no uncertainty in sight.
Why traceability matters
In an age where infection control is of vital importance, professionals need to be able to keep track of every aspect of their cleaning routines in practice. This way, if a patient should become infected, you can prove your compliance to government measures and regulations if the individual in question tries to attempt legal action.
As you are probably already aware, a claim against your practice is never good news, and even if your business does weather the storm of any allegations, you have to think about the implications this will have on how your patients perceive you and the stress this will cause you and your team. If patients lose confidence in your ability to be able to provide care in a safe, infection-free environment, there is every chance that they will move their custom to another practice.
Complaints resulting from breaches in infection control is very rare, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a chance of them occurring. As such, it’s always better to be safe rather than sorry, especially with the threat of diseases such as Covid-19.
Of course, traceability is also important as it can reveal if you do have any gaps in your current infection control processes and provide an opportunity to remedy this.
So how can you keep better tabs on your infection control?
An organised team effort
The best way to ensure traceability throughout all of your infection control procedures is to look at them individually and assess what measures you can put in place to help improve traceability. This is a team effort, and it’s a smart idea to speak to every member of the team about this so that everyone is on the same page.
One measure when it comes to cleaning and treating surfaces throughout the practice could be to put together a sign off sheet so that staff are fully aware of whose responsibility it is to perform these actions at any given time and can check off any actions as they complete them. This way you can easily track who has used the products last or if there are any gaps in their cleaning routines.
This also works with any adjuncts you may have introduced to ensure a better standard of infection control, such as air purifiers. Although these systems are usually designed to run constantly, you can make a sign off sheet for when filters need to be replaced or any other similar maintenance measures, making it clear who has last interacted with the system.
Invest in systems that promote traceability
As well as these measures, it also pays to invest in systems that include traceability features as standard. This is especially important when considering products that are at the core of your infection control processes such as autoclaves and washer-disinfectors.
The Lisa steriliser from W&H has a number of innovative features that ensure that traceability and compliance remain at the core of your infection control process. Its EliTrace function means that for the first time the sterilisation process can be traced and documented down to the individual instrument or instrument kit – all without the need for any additional software or computer.
This ensures that you can have absolute peace of mind and benefit from a system that not only makes traceability simple and stress free, but one which also is at the cutting-edge of modern infection control.
Guarantee a watertight approach to compliance
At the end of the day, infection control is one area of daily practice where uncertainty is unacceptable. By looking at ways to guarantee traceability as well as using systems and products that facilitate exceptional levels of protection against any threats, you can rest assured that you are protecting staff and patients from harm as well as ensuring your peace of mind.
To find out more visit www.wh.com/en_uk, call 01727 874990 or email office.uk@wh.com
