What actions would you undertake in the event of an emergency involving an aggressive patient in the surgery? What records should be completed in the event of an incident/accident? A number of approaches that can be taken if there is an aggressive patient in the surgery. It is firstly important to establish why the patient is distressed and what has caused the aggression in the first place (there may be a series of factors that contribute to this type of medication being taking, alcohol induced, medical illness ETC.).
It is important to try and calm the patient down as much as you possibly canin order to resolve the problem. It is important to make the patient aware that if they have a complaint, then the practice has a full complaints procedure which requires the dentist or the practice will reply to this letter within 4-5days. Sometimes patients may become aggressive as they may feel they have received poor treatment or not been seen to promptly regarding a particular problem.
If a patient continues to become aggressive once a member of staff has tried to help the patient, then the member of staff needs to inform the patient that they will get the dentist to who may be helpful with their problem more efficiently, should this aggression continue then the dentist will inform the patient that the police will be called to remove them from the premises, all incidents need to be logged onto the work place safety file. What is your workplace policy on smoking, eating, drinking & drug taking?
Smoking is strictly prohibited within or outside the premises at all times, this applies not only to staff but to patients also. Eating is not permitted in the surgeries under any circumstances, however there are some designated areas (such as the kitchen and staff restroom), which can be used in order to accommodate these needs. Drinking alcohol on the premises is strictly forbidden as it is a sack able offence. No alcohol drink should be kept on the premises at any time, drinks such as coffee/tea ETC, should be drunk outside of the surgeries and in the smae designated areas as eating.
Illegal drug taking is forbidden and a member of staff caught on site taking these substances would go through a dismissal straight away. Prescribed drugs are allowed as long as the side effects (i. e dizziness) are not too severe) do not impair your work in the environment . Complete the table | |Hazardous |How would you dispose of this waste | |Types of Waste |Or Clinical | | | |Clinical |Staff must ensure that they are wearing heavy duty gloves (at | |Needles | |least), when disposing of used needles. Any needles or sharp | | | |objects are disposed off in the sharps bin.
These bins are | | | |designated in different are throughout the practice (surgeries | | | |and sterilisation area) | | |clinical |Blood stained materials can be disposed of in the clinical | |Blood stained materials | |waste bin. In the event that there is a blood spillage outside | | | |of the surgery (i. e. in the waiting area), then an application | | | |of sodium hypochlorite (bleach) can be used with a scrubbing | | | |cloth to remove the spillage before it comes a stain. | | |hazardous |Staff must first don full PPE when dealing with amalgam. At the| |Waste amalgam | |end of the day, the aspirator filter is emptied into the sink | | | |to check its contents for any waste amalgam.
If there is any | | | |amalgam present, then it is carefully placed in the white waste| | | |amalgam pot, which is stored in a dry area (i. e. a cupboard). | | | |The lid for this container must fit the container tightly. | | |hazardous |Authorized hazardous waste collectors come to premises to | |Used x-ray chemicals | |collect any used x-ray chemicals | | | | | | |hazardous |Spillage of mercury must always be reported to principal | |Mercury spillage | |dentist straight away, if a spillage occurs globules of mercury| | | |can be drawn up into a disposable intravenous syringe/bulb | | | |aspirator and transferred to mercury container.
Larger | | | |spillages require staff to wear full PPE and a mercury | | | |absorbent paste being applied to the areas which are covered. | | | |The past consists of calcium hydroxide and flowers of sulphur | | | |which is mixed with water. This should then be left to dry and | | | |wiped with a wet disposable towel and placed in a storage | | | |container. If spillage is larger than this evacuation of the | | | |premises with the HSE being involved. | Which legal regulations covers the above.
Health and safety at work act 1974, control of substances hazardous to health regulations 2002, environmental protection act 1990 and the personal protective equipment at work regulations 1992 ………………………………………………………………………………….. LO1 AC4 What would you do if when reading the manufactures instructions they did not comply with current legislation Staff members reading the instructions should report to the dentist or the practice manager and then they contact the manufacturers and explain to them what the situation is and this should comply with the legislations and regulations.
LO3 AC3 If you were working in a different surgery and found the following, what action would you take and why and who would you report it to? ¦A sharps bin stored on the floor – the sharps bin would be removed from the floor to prevent any injury or harm to staff or patients. Generally this would be stored in a cupboard under the sink so that only staff has access to it or to be placed in the sterilization room all staff should be notified where the sharps bin is.
¦Black bags were being used for clinical waste – to inform all staff that only orange marked clinical bags should be used for clinical waste, with black bin bags being used for general waste. This is to help avoid putting the waste in the correct bins, the practice manager would also be notified so that this procedure is maintained and followed. ¦X Ray chemicals stored on a high window sill in direct sunlight – x-ray equipment should be removed from direct sunlight as it can cause the image to deteriorate. Staff then need to check that they can still be used; if not then the patient may need to have the x-rays re-taken.