Essay Example on Dental Radiography: Ensuring Safety and Understanding Risks

Introduction

Licensed dental radiographers play a significant role in ensuring that patients and staff are not exposed to radiation. They also perform various radiographic examinations regularly with the application of advanced imaging modalities (Harte, 2010). Dental radiographic policies and procedures require physicians who operate dental x-ray equipment to be familiar with the inherent health risks of radiation (School of Dentistry, 2009). These individuals must also understand the basic safety rules of radiation, as explained in this piece. According to Nyirenda, Williams, & ten Ham-Baloyi (2019), licensed dentists need to follow the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines for prescribing dental radiographs (Harte, 2010). Dental radiographers can assist the dental practitioner in analyzing and diagnosing various oral diseases and conditions. To do so, the dentist must measure the importance of taking dental radiographs against the risks of exposing a patient to x-rays (School of Dentistry, 2009). As such, radiation safety policies serve to reduce radiation exposures to operators and patients, to promote appropriate infection control during radiographic procedures, and to promote comprehensive health practices associated with dental radiology.

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Project 1

Current Policy and Procedures

The general policy states that the responsibility for radiation safety and infection control lies with every person involved with diagnostic radiology (Harte, 2010). Such individuals include clinical staff, students, and other individuals responsible for the use and maintenance of radiation equipment. The primary goal of this policy is to function under the concept of As Low As is Reasonably Achieved (ALARA) based on radiation exposure (School of Dentistry, 2009). The infection control principles, as applied to dental radiology and illustrated in this policy, should be utilized in all dental clinics where dental radiology services are provided. This policy and procedures should also comply with the Federal state regulations of radiation protection and adopt the FDA/ADA guidelines for dental radiographic examinations (Harte, 2010).

The strengths of this policy and procedures include the following. First, it allows the dentists involved in diagnostic radiology to observe the recognized protocols for the safe operation of radiologic tools for the safety of the patients as well as for their protection (School of Dentistry, 2009). Secondly, they guide dental radiographers to follow logical health procedures and report any possible health risks to the authority. Third, they enhance compliance with infection control policy of the health care organization during radiographic practices (Nyirenda et l., 2019). Regarding this policy, dentists are advised to perform a clinical examination, determine the signs, symptoms, and medical histories of the patients; and consider the vulnerability of the patient to the environmental factors that may be harmful to oral health (Harte, 2010). In this context, it is appropriate for the dentists to order radiographs when they think that the additional diagnostic information can affect the patient's dental care.

Infection Control Information

Information on the approach to infection control will be maintained and updated through infection prevention education and training. Ongoing education and training of dental health care personnel are critical for ensuring that the individuals understand policies and procedures for infection prevention (Mitchell, Say, Wells, Wilson, Cloete, & Matheson, 2014). All the registered dentists in dental radiology should receive education on the fundamental principles and practices for reducing the transmission of infection in oral health. Training should include the safety of patients and dental health care personnel.

Education and training should be offered during orientation to the dental radiography department when the hospital introduces new tasks and procedures. The dental radiology department should also maintain training records as required by the state and federal governments. Provision of education and training to dental health personnel will also facilitate infection prevention programs, which will address occupational health needs (Sodhi, Shrivastava, Arya, & Kumar, 2013). Therefore, through education and training, dental health care personnel will understand how to maintain and update information on infection control using health management information systems (HIMS).

HIMS provides the system for policy planning and implementation. It supports planning, management, and decision-making in healthcare organizations (Sodhi et al., 2013). The advantages of education and training combined with HIMS in the dental radiography department include the following: It enhances the privacy and data security of the patients, helps dental radiographers improve productivity and work-life balance, and increases awareness of the infection control information (Harte, 2010). Therefore, dental radiographers should enhance training and education and apply health management information system in the dental radiography department to help them maintain and update information on the approach to infection control.

Implementation of Information Control

Infection control utilizes a risk management approach to reduce or prevent the transmission of infection. The criteria of standard and transmission-based precautions offer a high protection level to dental radiologists, patients, and other healthcare workers (Harte, 2010). Standard precautions refer to the work practices needed to attain a basic level of infection control (Mitchell et al., 2014). The application of standard precautions aims to reduce or stop the infection transmission risks. They apply to all patients irrespective of their status of infection and diagnoses. Approach to standard precautions in the dental radiography must be used in the handling of blood and other body fluids.

Standard precautions embody practices such as hand hygiene, waste management, proper handling of linen, the use of protective equipment, and routine environmental cleaning (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Transmission-based precautions are used alongside standard precautions to prevent transmission of infection in oral health. One of the strengths of implementation of information control is that it prevents Healthcare-associated infections in the dental radiography department (World Health Organization, 2018). It also prevents the transmission of disease-producing agents like viruses, bacteria, and fungi from one patient to another. Lastly, it encourages the evaluation of safety programs associated with dental radiology by observing their benefits in providing protection and compliance level (Harte, 2010). Therefore, radiologists are advised to implement approaches for infection control that aims to reduce and prevent healthcare-acquired infections and transmission of other infections in the radiology setting.

Monitoring and Improving Infection Control

Regular monitoring and timely feedback of practices related to dental radiography should be performed according to standards of infection control to prevent hospital-acquired infections at the healthcare facility (National Health Service, 2015). The purpose of monitoring is to support the attainment of behavior and improve practices to minimize the risk of hospital-acquired infections. Monitoring infection controls include an evaluation of the extent to which radiographers meet accomplish goals and activities performed based on the requirements needed for improvements. According to the National Health Service (2018), radiographers should first consider monitoring during the creation of the infection control program, and this should form part of the implementation process.

To monitor and improve infection control, professionals within the dental radiography department will first develop a well-defined monitoring plan will clear objectives, targets, and activities, including data collection tools (National Health Service, 2018). They will then conduct monitoring on various processes and indicators, including hand hygiene compliance, transmission-based precautions and surface cleaning, waste management, use of personal protective equipment, handling of possible infectious materials, and hazard identification. Both Hand Hygiene and Self-Assessment Framework (HHSAF) and Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework (IPCAF) will be used for monitoring (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016).

HHSAF is a tool used by healthcare organizations to plan their activities, track progress in hand hygiene, and aim for sustainability CDC (2016). IPCAF supports the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on primary elements of infection control at the health facility. Next, the healthcare personnel will consider the application of safety culture surveys such as hospital safety climate scale (HSC), and patient safety climate in a healthcare organization (PSCH) (CDC, 2016). Additionally, they will establish regular reporting and monitoring data and reflect on the use of trend analysis. Lastly, health care professionals operating the department of dental radiography will create a feedback mechanism to the infection control team and use bidirectional feedback to support quality improvement.

Project 2

Within the dental radiography department, standard infection control precautions (SICPs) policy will be implemented to control infections incorporating hand hygiene and hand care; use of personal protective equipment; surface cleaning; waste management; handling of potentially infectious material, as well as hazard identification, risk assessment, and management. This policy aims to minimize variations in practice and standardize care procedures; support a common understanding for every patient; improve the application of knowledge and skills in infection prevention and control; reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections; and align health care practice, monitoring, education, quality improvement and scrutiny (Sodhi et al., 2013).

To implement this policy, all health care providers working in dental radiography will be required to comply with the health and social care act: Code of practice on the infection prevention and control-related guidance (Nyirenda et al., 2019). Further, this policy will be adopted and implemented according to the processes of local governance. To do so, health care organizations must have systems and resources needed for implementation, and monitor compliance with infection control as demanded by this policy (NHS, 2015). The organization must also ensure that it has a culture that encourages incident reporting while emphasizing on improving systematic failures and promoting safe working practices.

Conclusion

Implementing and monitoring infection prevention and control policies in the health care environment not only helps in reducing the rate of hospital-acquired infections, but it also promotes the well-being of the patients. The most appropriate policy to control infections incorporating hand hygiene and hand care, use of personal protective equipment; surface cleaning; waste management; handling of potentially infectious material, as well as hazard identification, risk assessment, and management is standard infection control precautions.

References

School of Dentistry. (2009, October). Retrieved January 26th, 2020, from https://dental.washington.edu/policies/clinic-policy-manual/radiation-safety/

Harte, J. A. (2010). Standard and transmission-based precautions: an update for dentistry. The Journal of the American D...