Any team is only as good as the training and support they receive. In the dental practice, both of these elements are crucial for the safe and smooth daily running of the business. They are also integral to ensuring an excellent patient experience, as happy, competent and confident dental professionals are best placed to guide patients through a positive treatment journey.
There are many aspects to consider when it comes to updating or advancing the team’s skills through training. Clinical areas are often the first port of call, refreshing knowledge and enabling individuals to learn new techniques or evidence-based concepts. As important as this is, training must also be delivered in non-clinical topics to optimise efficiency and safety around the practice. In particular, it is crucial that every member of the professional team understands their role within the practice’s infection control and prevention protocols. Training must, therefore, be delivered for all new team members, as well as periodically throughout the years to keep everyone’s knowledge fresh and up-to-date with the latest research and regulations in the field.
Optimise team training
Like all other processes within the busy modern dental practice, it is necessary to streamline team decontamination training to maximise on time and return on investment. Here are our top tips:
Allocate specific time
Time in the dental practice can get away from you very quickly. By dedicating a morning every six to 12 months to decontamination training for the whole team, you can make sure that everyone receives the refresher they need. Consider blocking out the time in the diary and encouraging everyone to write down a question or query prior to the training to ensure everyone fully utilises the time.
Maintain consistency
Whether your practice meets best practice guidelines or you are working towards them, it is vital to remain consistent with all your decontamination protocols. New staff should be shown the ropes as part of their induction to ensure that processes don’t change and safety standards remain high. Everyone should follow the same steps and use the same equipment in the same way.
Keep communication open
Colleagues shouldn’t wait until your annual team training to raise a concern or clarify a query when it comes to their patients’ or their own safety. Make sure everyone knows who your decontamination lead is so they can contact them whenever they need to. This person will be well-positioned to support colleagues with their infection control processes on a daily basis.
Provide additional resources
To further ensure the quality, consistency and efficacy of decontamination processes throughout the practice, it is beneficial to give team members resources they can access at any time to serve as reminders. Options include online-based educational tools or presentations and guidance posters placed at appropriate points around the practice.
Two birds, one stone
Encouraging team engagement, why not also make your decontamination training Enhanced CPD (ECPD) accredited? This way, individuals can refresh their knowledge and record the training as part of their mandatory ECPD requirements.
A supplier you can trust
When it comes to your decontamination equipment, processes or team training, it is important to work with a supplier you trust to reflect the same high-quality standards you strive for. They should be experts in the field, with adequate knowledge, understanding and experience in dental infection control to advise you on every aspect of your own protocols for elevated safety and workflow efficiency.
That’s why Eschmann remains a leading expert in decontamination for dental practices across the UK. Eschmann provides reliable, efficient and robust infection control equipment, also offering ECPD user training as standard for your team.
A confident team is a safe team
The dental team has a crucial role to play in keeping patients and colleagues safe from harm when visiting the practice. To fulfil this responsibility, you and all your team must be competent and confident in your decontamination protocols. Regular training and ongoing support make this possible.
For more information visit www.eschmann.co.uk