Improving baseline serological investigations for dental workers at specialized dental center

Article Sidebar

Full Text (PDF)
Published: Jan 9, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36472/msd.v9i1.651
Keywords:
Dental Health services Occupational quality improvement

Main Article Content

Ahmad Alzahrani
Saudi Board of Preventive Medicine, Public Health Department, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Hanady Idreis
Occupational health clinic, King Fahad Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Haifa Abdulghaffar
Dental specialty center, King Fahd Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Layali Alakkad
Infection control, dental specialty center, King Fahad Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: Serological tests for dental workers have been suggested by different international agencies to ensure the safety of dental practitioners and, subsequently, their patients. In our organization, the percentage of dental workers who underwent serological tests was low (26%).


Material and Methods: An intervention was designed using three sequential PDSA cycles to test changes proposed by team members. The percentage of dental workers who underwent these tests was used as the measure.


Results: During the project period, the percentage of dental workers who underwent serological tests within nine months increased from 24% to 87%. Amongst the three interventions, the final one exhibited the most prominent change leading to major improvement. 


Conclusion: Serological tests are essential investigational data used to ensure the safety of dental workers, which subsequently also enhances patient safety. Further interventions are highly recommended to maximize the number of dental workers who undergo serological investigation.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Alzahrani, A., Idreis, H., Abdulghaffar, H. ., & Alakkad, L. . (2022). Improving baseline serological investigations for dental workers at specialized dental center. Medical Science and Discovery, 9(1), 7–11. https://doi.org/10.36472/msd.v9i1.651
Issue
Vol. 9 No. 1 (2022): Medical Science and Discovery
Section
Research Article
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Received 2021-12-21
Accepted 2022-01-03
Published 2022-01-09

References

Andrew Webb, Simon Finfer, Luciano Gattinoni, Mervyn Singer. Oxford Textbook of Critical Care [Internet]. Webb A, Angus D, Finfer S, Gattinoni L, Singer M, editors. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press; 2016. Available from: http://oxfordmedicine.com/view/10.1093/med/9780199600830.001.0001/med-9780199600830 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199600830.001.0001

Paiva P, Machado L, Valença A, Moraes R. Uma Proposta de Serious Game para o Ensino de Biossegurança em Odontologia. Pesquisa Brasileira em Odontopediatria e Clínica Integrada. 2013 Jul; 13:135–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4034/PBOCI.2013.132.00

Vargas SC, de Oliveira CF, Renner JDP, Krug SBF, Possuelo L. Prevalence of occupational infectious diseases among primary oral health care teams and prevention measures. Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho. 2020;18(2):149–57. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47626/1679-4435-2020-546

Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council. Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council. Australian national guidelines for the management of healthcare workers living with blood borne viruses and Healthcare workers who perform exposure prone procedures at risk of exposures to blood borne viruses [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2021 Oct 23]. Available from: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/cda-cdna-bloodborne.htm

Dental Infection Control Audit. Infection Control Audit Tool [Internet]. Riyadh; 2021 [cited 2021 Oct 23]. Available from: https://www.moh.gov.sa/Ministry/MediaCenter/Publications/Documents/MOH-Guidelines-for-re-opening-June-.pdf