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
#204 Next Generation Sterilizer Innovations from Midmark
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Join the DIVAS and Holly Weaver from Midmark for an in-depth discussion of the new Midmark M-9 and M-11 sterilizers. Dental teams will want to know how these innovations and new features can elevate the instrument sterilization process, trouble-shooting errors and recordkeeping for risk management.
Resources:
- Midmark Corporation https://www.midmark.com/dental/products/instrument-processing/steam-sterilizers
- CDC Guidelines for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities - 2008, updated 2024 https://www.cdc.gov/infection-control/hcp/disinfection-and-sterilization/index.html
Welcome to the Compliance Divas podcast. I'm Mary Gavoni and I'll be the moderator for this special episode. The Compliance Divas bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. You can subscribe to the Compliance Divas podcast on our website, thecompliancedevas.com, or on your favorite podcast app. And we ask that if you do use a podcast app, that you scroll down to the end after you listen and give us a rating or give us some feedback. We'd love to hear that. If you have any questions from this podcast, you can submit them by email to support at the compliancedevas.com and we will answer those questions for you. We also will have some resources listed in the show notes on your podcast app that you can get even more information about today's podcast. Our special guest today is Holly Weaver from Midmark Corporation. Many of our listeners know Midmark for their sterilizers, the M11 sterilizers, which are the workhorses in our dental practices. But Midmark does much more. They transform dental care environments for the benefit of all. They're reliable, easy-to-use solutions provide integrated ergonomic support, keeping safety for both patients and practice teammates at the center of design. For single source industry leader that can help you plan, equip, and expertly utilize your operatory, imaging, instrument processing, mechanical room, and clinical grade cabinetry solutions, choose Midmark Dental. And that was a mouthful of all the things that Midmark Dental does because I think what comes to mind so many times is the beloved M11 sterilizer. So I mentioned that our special guest today is Holly Weaver. Holly is the marketing manager for instrument processing with Midmark. She has worked in a variety of roles at Midmark since 2016, and she recently earned her ADS, formerly known as OSAP, Dale Foundation Dental Infection Prevention and Control Certificate. Congratulations, Holly, and thanks for joining us today. Thank you. So glad to be here. Well, even though I said that most of dental practices would recognize Midmark as the manufacturer of the beloved M11 sterilizer, you do have so much more equipment and imaging and so forth. But we are going to talk about sterilizers today because you have lots of new exciting things that you've recently introduced with sterilization technology. So we're going to start out with Linda, and she has a couple of questions for you.
SPEAKER_02Holly, one of the things I've been watching over the past few years is just how innovative our technology has become in the whole infection control and sterilization area. So I know you have something new that you are launching. So can you tell us about the research behind it first and how you came up with this new design?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, absolutely. So as we begin the design process at midmark, we not only go into the areas, but we also make sure that we keep in constant contact with what's happening in the dental industry specifically. We see the ADA put out a study recently that 85% of dental facilities are still either experiencing difficulty recruiting dental assistants and hygienists. I think the belief was that it was going to get better post-pandemic and it's really just not rebounded. So it's still a major challenge in dental facilities. So we're looking for new innovation and designing products around market challenges. We look at that. So that accompanied with the demand that goes into dental, and all these new people typically get placed in sterilization as they're the launch into their dental journey. We wanted to make sure we were really mindful in designing our new M9 and M11s.
SPEAKER_02That's exciting because I don't think we yet revealed that you have new M9s and M11s. So that's the big news that we're going to talk about today, right? So on that note, what went into the design? I think it's very sleek looking. It's very modern, but it's more than just what meets the eye. So tell us what's behind all that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's that's a good note, Linda. And if you've not laid eyes on this beauty yet, I would definitely encourage you to go into the show notes and check out the images. They are everywhere on our website, and we're proudly showing them pretty much at every turn. So if you've not seen it, the optically the easiest way to identify this is the newest M11 is that it has a single piece of glass that stretches across the face of the machine. So it is touch screen. But not just that, we really, again, we know that we're designing for the people that use it. We're designing for those dental assistants and hygienists that use our sterilizer. We really wanted to try to bucket that into three key opportunities. And that's really durability, workflow, and compliance when they're using the sterilizer.
SPEAKER_02And that sums it up really nicely because when we have to think about all of us, the end users. And so that was it's perfect that you're thinking about their needs and their wants when they go through the whole workflow of this instrument sterilization process. And I can't wait for them to see it too. So I hopefully they will remember to scroll down, look at the images that we provide because this is beautiful, and there's a lot of new features that I know you'd be talking to the other divas about.
SPEAKER_01And we're going to turn this over now to Leslie to talk about the durability and device longevity.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much for recognizing the pain point in our industry of having a shortage of workforce members. And it's true, most of the time I'm seeing people who are not formally trained in the sterilization room, operating the equipment, responsible for sterilization. So on one end of the spectrum, we have a shortage of workforce, but on the other side, when we look at the dentist's investment in these machines, can you walk us through some of the ways you have improved durability?
SPEAKER_04Yes. And I think Mary mentioned this at the top that we're already known, Midmark is already known to be to produce a workhorse of a sterilizer. So we want to make sure we're really continuing that legacy. We published a cycle life of it used to be 10,000 cycles over the course of 10 years. We've now upped it to 25,000 cycles. And that's really, again, to speak to what's happening in the market. So we see dental practices with the expanded services they're now offering. They might have endo a couple days a week. They might have peri or ortho come in. It's really driving additional hours. Patients now expect to be able to go in on Friday or maybe a half a day on Saturday. So it drives what's happening in sterilization, what's happening with the sterilizer to really live a longer life than it's ever had to before. With that, we also doubled our warranty. And then we wanted to make sure, again, in our research, we see while observing assistants and hygienists working in this area, they're wiping down everything in sterilization. The sterilizer is not an exception. So we wanted to make sure we were producing a product that would withstand those daily rigors. So we actually took the face of the machine and the display and soaked it in some of those for several days and then blasted it with heat to make sure we're testing beyond any practical use that we'd really see.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing. And of course, that does lend to durability. Also, can you tell us a little bit more about workflow? How have you improved this area?
SPEAKER_04Yep, absolutely. So we understand hygienic assistants typically are in sterilization, peeking in to start a new cycle. So we wanted to make sure that was front and center on the on the home screen. So we've really maintained that two-button operation. You just choose the cycle and then start. And then we also integrated a lot of those that key information on the home screen as well. So they're not having to dig around and look for their serial number or how many cycle counts they have on each sterilizer because they probably have more than one back there. And we also have notifications there front and center. So similar to your phone, you just have a little notification to see some reminders, and we can get into that.
SPEAKER_00And there's one other thing that is the same, but it's also an important feature is that open door drying, the open door drying is something that, well, for one thing, it doesn't mean that someone has to go be alerted to a buzzer and go open a door or stay late at the end of the day to wait for that sterilizer to finish and open the door. And another thing is that making sure those instrument pouches are dry and the drying cycle clearly is the period of time that we want to make sure that instruments are there. And that sometimes our newer dental assistants in the sterilization room think that once the door is open, well, then I can take the instruments out, but the drying cycle has not completed. Can you tell us a little bit more about how someone would recognize someone maybe that hasn't worked in the film for very long, that the process is still going? Is there some kind of an indicator light on the panel?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So again, you you hit the nail on the head, Leslie. There's a lot of people that are new to this area. They're new to sterilization, they're new to working, a sterilizer in general. So we have a color-coded progressing light bar actually that starts about five to 10%. So as soon as that cycle has started, you'll see that light bar appear and then it'll work its way across the entire face of the machine. So not only do we have a large countdown clock on the five-inch touchscreen, but that light bar stretches about 17 or 18 inches across the entire face. So even if they're peeking around the corner or just trying to check in and see how many minutes do I have left. I've got five minutes before my next patient. Do they have time to go in there and unload and load back up again? And it's really, really easy to see. So whether they're down a hallway, they don't have to be just within a couple inches. They could be several feet away and just easily tell.
SPEAKER_00Game changer. Absolutely. Especially again for our newer, less seasoned dental professionals coming into our workforce today.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. This user interface is fabulous. And I think, Olivia, you have some more questions about that and also about some workflow.
SPEAKER_03Yes, Holly. I wanted to mention that I have been on site every week the last four weeks, and I always write it down the type of equipment clients are using. So I'll know that. Inevitably, mid-Mark, M11, mid-Mark, M11. So it is described beautifully as a workhorse. So it's an honor to have you, Holly. But studies show that the dental assistants and hygienists, when they watch workflow, they're going in and out of the sterilization center 80 to 100 times a day. So how do you think this new device, this new model will help that workflow?
SPEAKER_04So similar to what I mentioned with Leslie, just the fact that they're saving steps and not having to go all the way up to the sterilizer to check that time. They can check from around a corner is super helpful. But not only that, we also have reminders built in. Speaking of new people that are always in that are typically in uh sterilization, we want to standardize the process so everybody's learning the same thing and performing the same steps. Not only is it easy to see from far away, but we also have reminders and tutorials and step-by-step guidances built in that automatically track. So we know each person is getting the same set of information while still, you know, swinging by serialization at every extra moment that they have.
SPEAKER_03So the compliance divas, that's what we're really interested in is learning about these updated or improved compliance and how that relates to record keeping. Can you expound on that?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, absolutely. So we all know the CDC requires, not recommends, that cycle capture happens every single cycle, every single time. So we automatically, instead of putting that task on the assistant or hygienist that's working back with this sterilizer, we automatically capture that on board every time. But we didn't stop there. We actually automatically capture that daily, weekly, and monthly routine maintenance. So not only do we remind them, we show them how to do it, we actually record each time that they do it as well. So they really have a comprehensive history of cycle records, routine care. And we also went as far to capture up to 200 errors to have a full history, not just for serviceability, but also for behavior. So if there's an opportunity, maybe a new teammate, maybe a longtime teammate has a history of interrupting the cycle, there's a documentation trail that we can follow and look for training opportunities.
SPEAKER_03That was clever. Now I'm looking at the screenshot. I don't see the pouch or the pack icon on the screen. Can you share with us how this new screen displays?
SPEAKER_04Yep, absolutely. So we've always had four preset FDA cleared cycles. We still have four preset cycles. The difference now is that they're unique. And one of the things that we updated is we really want to drive users, our assistants and hygienists, from matching up what's in their hand to the icon that they see on the screen. So we don't want them to play press and guess. We want them to see, okay, it's wrapped. It could be a pouch, it could be a cassette, it could be a handpiece. And we really went with wrapped and had two different offerings to make sure we're using a universal term that's kind of seen in sterilization guidances rather than what shape it it is that when you put it in.
SPEAKER_03Wow, this is incredible, Holly. I can't wait to see it in use in dental practices. Mary, back to you.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Olivia. As I'm listening to all these amazing features that you have built into this, it is something that you said, Holly, really struck with me, the press and guess. You've taken that out of the equation, and you have given such a gift to the users and the efficiency tools for tracking not just the cycles, but tracking the maintenance and errors and all of those things. So it's really sort of an all-in-one device, if you will, to be able to monitor what is happening with that sterilizer. And I think so, so very important. Holly, can you explain a little bit more about you mentioned that you have videos and training available for users so that they know what to do, what these cycles mean, and all of that. How do they access them?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, absolutely. So if you visit our website and go to midmark.com slash dental, you'll see a banner front and center with our with our new beauty with the new M11. We also offer this in an M9. So you can quick link the banner. It'll take you straight to the product page. If you scroll down a little bit, there's a video section. There's all kinds of goodies in there on how to use, how to operate, even how to install and how to unbox. Hopefully, you're not having to unbox, but there's some materials on that and all kinds of things that we even mentioned today. So you'll get to see some more visuals.
SPEAKER_01That's fabulous. And I, and so many people are visual learners that that really makes a big difference in helping to see. And then the information in the training materials is consistent. It's not, you know, one person's interpretation and then passing it on, as we have come to call the legacy training in using any kind of equipment, but the sterilizer is such an important piece of equipment. So, Divas, do you have any other comments or questions? I think Linda has a.
SPEAKER_02I have a couple, Mary. So, Holly, a couple points. First, I'd like to comment about the level of the detail that you can track what this device now, this new M11 and new M9s, and that is the fact that you can take your key compliance indicators to a different level and be able to really understand and know how the team is using this device and know it factually. So that way, if you have a new team member or someone who's less experienced in dentistry, you can, like you say, go back and retrain. So that's a key piece, especially when you think about any liability that can happen in the sterilization process with any patients who may allege that there was disease transmitted in that practice. That's a really important piece to me. Another piece was the fact that when you mentioned that this the drawing indicator goes across the front of the whole unit. And I like the idea you can just kind of stick your head in or walk by and glance. That's a visualization that I think all team members need because all of us divas face the challenge of helping our offices to remember not to take out the instrument so they draw too soon. And I always pose that as that's a good conversation to have with your doctor, because that means either one, you need more instruments, you need another sterilizer, something needs to change because your your growth is not keeping up with your with what you have on hand. So I think that will give another indication to them that it's not ready to take out, and it's visually seen that it's not ready to take out. So anybody else can see when someone's taking out the instruments too soon, and then it's also digitally tracked. So kudos on both of those. Love it. And could you also speak to the fact about what can we wipe down with the front? What can you do to clean a disinfectant?
SPEAKER_04Yep. So we actually tested both optimum one wipes and cavi wipes to wipe down the front of the machine because we know that's that's a habit, that's a behavior. So we went ahead and took the display and the front cover and soaked it for several days in optum one and cavi wipes and then blasted it with steam to make sure that we're really withstanding any practical use that we've seen in office. And then to kind of side note on the previous statement, not only do we have that progressing light bar, I'd also mention that even at a glance, they can tell when the cycle's complete, that light bar will turn green. And then if there is a behavior that someone's interrupting the dry cycle, for example, they'll actually have an audio cue and they'll have to authenticate and put their name in that they were the ones that interrupted the cycle. So it'll really help drive down where that training opportunity is and maybe who to revisit it with.
SPEAKER_02That's amazing. I'm so glad you mentioned that. I think that's a really important detail. I can't wait to start training on this.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. That will be a game changer. If somebody has to authenticate, that they're the ones that interrupted the cycle. Oh my. Leslie or Olivia, do you have any additional questions or comments?
SPEAKER_00I just wanted to say that this morning I was at my ear, nose, and throat surgeon's office. And as I walked by one of his surgery suites, there was a beautiful mid-mark. It wasn't the brand new one, but I can bet you that people are going to be anxious to put a new one in based on all these wonderful features that you've mentioned. I'll be sure and tell my clients about it.
SPEAKER_04Awesome. Thanks, Leslie. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Only the divas would get so excited about new sterilization technology. But we're we're very excited to share that enthusiasm with all of our listeners and with our clients that we work with because, and I think I mentioned before, I think the sterilizer is the heart of our infection prevention and control programs and our practices. So this is a game changer. I think it's what you've done is so innovative and helping to streamline the process and help us to know if we're making mistakes, if we're doing things wrong, then we can help correct them right away. So thank you. Thank you so much, Holly, for being here with us today and and showcasing this amazing new, two amazing new sterilizers, the M11 and the M9. So thank you all again for joining us for this edition of the Compliance Divas podcast. If you have questions, you may submit them to by email to support at the compliancedivas.com. There are resources that will be in the show notes on your podcast app. And don't forget to give us a rating or some feedback on the podcast. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next time.