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Safety Class – Needlestick Safety Act – Yearly Requirement

Device Screening and Evaluation Forms

Mandated by the Needlestick and Prevention Act, changes to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA) bloodborne pathogen standard were published January 18, 2001, to take effect April 18, 2001. The revisions clarify the need for employers to select safer needle devices as they become available and to involve employees in identifying and choosing the devices. Prior to the act, only a few dental devices incorporated safety features (e.g., anesthetic syringe needles with sliding sheathes), and most dental healthcare personnel are uncertain about how to select and evaluate the safer devices now available on the market. Although these forms are specific for anesthetic syringes, they can be modified for use with other types of dental devices.

Developing Programs to Prevent Sharps Injuries

Every dental office should develop and implement a program to prevent sharps injuries to dental personnel and patients. A staff person knowledgeable about or willing to be trained in injury prevention (i.e., a safety coordinator) should be assigned to

  • Promote safety awareness,
  • Facilitate prompt reporting and post-exposure management of injuries,
  • Identify unsafe work practices and devices,
  • Coordinate the selection and evaluation of safer dental devices,
  • Organize staff education and training,
  • Complete the necessary reporting forms and documentation, and
  • Monitor safety performance.

Ideally, these activities should be described in a written plan and mechanisms for staff feedback should be available. This feedback will assist the safety coordinator in reviewing the effectiveness of the plan and making the modifications needed.

Identifying Safer Dental Devices

Information on specific brands and products of safer dental devices can be obtained from vendors, purchasing agents, scientific literature, lists published on the Internet or in trade journals, and other healthcare facilities. A variety of devices should be considered and the choice should not be limited to the product of any one vendor.

Developing Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation criteria are used to measure the design and performance of safer devices during the screening and clinical evaluation phases, and differ for each phase. Criteria for the screening phase will help determine whether the device is safe to use on patients, has safety features to protect dental personnel from sharps injury, is readily available for purchase, is easy and practical to use, and is compatible with other equipment. Criteria for the evaluation phase help determine impact on patient care, acceptability by users, and cost. The evaluation criteria for both phases should be unbiased and the evaluation forms should be easy to use and score.

Screening Devices

Screening assists dental personnel in making decisions about clinical and safety considerations before evaluating a dental device in the clinical setting. Screening usually consists of physically examining the safer device, then comparing it to the traditional device and established evaluation criteria. No device should be used on a patient before it has been screened to ensure that it meets clinical and patient safety needs.

Evaluating Devices

Device evaluation involves a trial (or pilot test) to determine the acceptability of a safer dental device in an actual clinical setting. This process includes identifying a safer dental device to test, selecting the area of the facility to be used as the test site and the staff who will be the end users of the device, selecting evaluation criteria, and determining how long the test will last. The testing should include plans for quickly bringing back the traditional device should the safer dental device being tested be determined unsafe. The device evaluation should provide the safety coordinator with enough information to make an informed decision on whether to continue using the safer device.

Below is the forms you will need to complete the class.

Class Roster (All staff must sign roster each year)

Needle Safety Device. Screening Eval (This is a form for the dentist to fill out EACH year)

Needle Safety Device. Evaluation (This is a form for the dentist to fill out EACH year)

UltraSafety_Instruct.First Option (PDF version for evaluation)

The Epiphany Safety Syringe by SafeShot (Video for ease of evaluations)

VibraShield (Video for ease of evaluations)

Throughout the year I will find products for you to evalualte. At anytime your office finds a great product to do an eval on, please send me the link to the websites’ email address. [email protected]

Have fun! Any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. All FAQ for this, manditory yearly class, will be posted below with all names taken out for confidentiality.


MSDS
Linda L. Cannon
Director of Safety Compliance

Phone: 1-757-718-1515
Toll Free: 1-800-483-0223

Email: [email protected]

www.MSDSSafety.com

MSDS' best practices website is not a standard or regulation, and it creates no legal obligations, nor does it change any existing OSHA or other government standard or regulation. The guide is advisory in nature, informational in content, and is intended to assist employers in providing a safe and healthful workplace.