The Compliance Divas Podcast
Our podcast covers current topics such as infection prevention and control, OSHA and HIPAA compliance for dentistry. We discuss the latest regulatory information, answer frequently asked questions and give suggestions for dental practices to make compliance easy and sustainable. The Compliance Divas are a trusted source for consistent, accurate information based upon current guidelines, standards, science, and recommendations.
The Compliance Divas Podcast
#134 "Tis the Season for Gratitude
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Thanksgiving is around the corner! In this episode, the Divas express their gratitude with special tips for our listeners along with a Thanksgiving trivia question. The trivia question is posed at the end of the podcast with directions to enter for a Divas surprise gift. Happy Thanksgiving!
- CDC Gratitude Works https://www.buzzsprout.com/1774326/13999048
Welcome.
SPEAKER_01I'm Leslie Cannon. I'm Mary Gavoni.
SPEAKER_03I'm Linda Harvey. I'm Olivia Wan, and together we are the Compliance Divas.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. This is Linda Harvey and I will be your moderator today. We bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory compliance world to keep you on course. We invite you to subscribe to the Compliance Divas Podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecompliancedeevas.com. Any resources that we mentioned during our podcast will be found in the Compliance Divas website as well as in the show notes. And we always invite you to submit any questions that you have to support at the ComplianceDivas.com. Well, it's the day before Thanksgiving. And the Divas have something different planned for you today. Our topic of conversation is gratitude. We are thankful for all of our sponsors throughout the year and the years that we've been podcasting. And we're thankful for you, our loyal listeners. And reflecting upon Thanksgiving, I found a very thoughtful poem about gratitude that I'd like to share with you. And then each of the divas has some gratitude tips to share with you. Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to? Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow. Be thankful for your limitations because they give you the opportunities for improvement. Be thankful for each new challenge because it will build your strength and character. Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons. Be thankful when you're tired and weary because it means you've made a difference. It's easy to be thankful for the good things. A life rich to fulfillment comes to those who are also grateful for the setbacks. Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles and they can become your blessings. This author is unknown, but I hope that you find some inspiration in gratitude and profession and growth from this poem. So now the divas are going to switch gears and have some gratitude to share with you using the letters and the word gratitude. So, Mary, can I ask you to kick us off, please?
SPEAKER_01Yes. And I'm going to start off with the letter G. The gift we receive from all of our loyal listeners this past year makes us very grateful. It fills us with gratitude. We appreciate all of you listening and sharing the Compliance Divas podcasts. We appreciate the feedback that you give us, the questions that you ask us. And in your day-to-day practice, think of G as representing growth of the team in all aspects of compliance. The more you learn, the more you grow.
SPEAKER_02Wonderful.
SPEAKER_03Olivia. Well, in the word grateful, R could stand for reuse. We should never reuse single-use items. And common examples would be dental burrs, gauze, syringe needles, scapel blades, saliva ejectors, high-volume evacuation tips. They're made for just one patient. They're not designed to be cleaned and reused. So let's keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_02What a great opportunity to learn as part of our gratitude. Leslie.
SPEAKER_00The next letter in Grateful is A, and that stands for always, always wear your PPE correctly. You know, over the last three and a half years, our patients learned a lot about PPE, and they're watching us. So it's important that we wear our mask correctly. It should not be positioned under our noses or under our chin. We should wear a clinical jacket to protect our arms, and that means that sleeves should be long and meet our gloves so there's no skin showing. We should be wearing appropriate eyewear because injuries do happen. And sometimes it may not just be splashes or spatters, but a piece of debris or tooth shrapnel or some kind of restorative material can fly off of a handpiece and it's said to be at maybe 60 miles per hour. We can't blink that quickly. So let's always wear our PPE correctly. If we can't protect ourselves, how can patients expect us to protect them?
SPEAKER_02Very good, Leslie. I like that. The next letter in the word grateful is T. That stands for treating all patients the same according to the CDC standard precautions. No matter how tired and weary you might be during the workday, we know that your patients will appreciate you treating them all the same with the same high level of infection control and standard of care.
SPEAKER_01Mary, what comes next? Our next letter is E, which stands for education. Education and training is our best defense for the safety of our team members and patients. Education or training needs to be provided for all new employees when they come on board in the practice. It needs to be done according to OSHA on an annual basis or at any time when new procedures or products are implemented. So if you switch your surface disinfectant and perhaps the contact time for TBKIL is different, then there should be a little mini training session with the team, perhaps in the morning huddle, where we say, okay, now we're using this disinfectant. This is what you need to know about it. Anytime you change something, have a short training session. If you revamp a procedure that you're doing, maybe you got a new type of sterilizer, then that might lend itself to a little bit longer training or an in-service, maybe even with the manufacturer's rep from the sterilizer company to show you how to use your new sterilizer. So any of those little training sessions that you do in addition to your annual training sessions need to be documented. And four things that you document for training: the date of the training, who was there, and what is their position in the practice, who presented the training, who was the trainer, and it could be one of the staff members, and what did you talk about in the training?
SPEAKER_02Perfect, Mary. Very thorough for those mini or micro trainings throughout the year.
SPEAKER_03Olivia. F. F would stand for follow manufacturers directions for use. So whether it's a heat sterilizer or some kind of product or even a piece of equipment, we could never assume that our staff know how to exactly use it, especially if it's something like a high-level disinfectant. The amount of chemical, the dilution time, the contact time, the safe use and disposal could vary from one manufacturer to the other. And so when we're using products, cleaning and disinfection products, always follow manufacturers' instructions.
SPEAKER_02That is one thread through every entire office, Olivia. Thank you. Leslie, what's next in our word grateful?
SPEAKER_00Next letter is you, and we'll use that for don't unwrap instruments until the patient is seated. I know for myself, I appreciate seeing that instruments that are going to be used for my care are sterile. I don't know that if those instruments have been displayed on a treatment tray prior to my arrival in the operatory. So if we can, and I know that it does sometimes impact our schedule where we want to try and prepare in advance, there are so many things that we can do in the treatment room to prepare, such as unit dosing, the medicaments that we're going to need, and having all of the disposables ready. But when we unwrap those instruments in front of the patient or unwrap the cassette, it sends a message that our instruments are sterile and they're sterile just for you. And I also wanted to add another U under utility glove and remind everyone, I got the letter A for always wear PPE. Utility gloves should be worn when processing contaminated instruments. It reduces the chance of having a serious injury. Wearing exam gloves when you're getting your instruments cleaned and then packaged and wrapped for sterilization puts you at great risk in the event that you get poked with something sharp.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Leslie. And that brings us to the last letter in the word grateful. L. Level up your compliance knowledge in 2024 by continuing to subscribe to the Compliance Divas podcast and submit any topic area you'd like to see the Divas discuss in the new year. We would welcome your input. So I hope that the tips that we've shared from the gratitude and the word grateful provide some thoughts for you as you get ready to head into Thanksgiving. But we have one more surprise in this podcast today, and that is we have a special Divas giveaway. If you can answer this question, and your name will go into a drawing. So we're going to ask you to go to the compliance divas Facebook page. You'll know it's us from the caricature and the purple microphone. Put your answer in there, and your name will go into the drawing for a divas surprise gift. So are you ready for your Thanksgiving question? How many American towns are named Turkey in the United States? And we'd like you to submit the states with those that have a city or town named Turkey as part of your Facebook answer. So again, how many American towns are named Turkey? So you're going to enter in the number of towns and the states that they are located on our Facebook page, the Compliance Divas Facebook page. So you're ready to go. And before we let you go and get started on that contest, we would like to remind you that the Compliance Divas bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. Please subscribe to the Compliance Divas podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecompliancedeevas.com. Any resources that we mentioned to our podcast can be found on the compliancedeevas.com website. And we always invite your questions to support at thecompliancedivas.com. And lastly, before you close out your podcast app today, we invite you to scroll down to the bottom and give us a reviewer rating. If you've been listening to our podcast, we'd love your feedback. And on that happy note, happy Thanksgiving, and we'll see you next week.