The Oxford English Dictionary defines infection as the process of infecting or the state of being infected. Infection control is the process of minimizing or eliminating the infection process. The purpose of infection control in the dental profession is to provide an environment that minimises the risk of the transmission of disease producing agents and tries to eliminate the possibility of becoming infected by bacteria, viruses and fungi. To achieve these purposes certain guidelines have been laid out by the Australian Dental Association. These are known as the infection controls guidelines (Australian Dental Association 2015). The procedures discussed in this essay …show more content…
A duty of care applies to all staff members, contractors and practitioners to do what is reasonably possible to ensure safety and care to ensure health of all staff and patients. They must ensure the risk of infections spreading is minimised to the best of their ability (Oosthuysen, J, Potgieter, E, & Fossey, A 2014). It is important for all dental staff to know how to handle patients whether they are infectious patients or not. Part A, Section 4 of the Infection Controls Guidelines state that patients with hepatitis B, C or HIV are treated using standard precautions and that the same cleaning and sterilisation techniques as for other patients are applied, as the standard infection control precautions should be adequate and as safe as possible regardless whether the patient is infectious or not. Patients do not legally have to disclose this information. 21,000 people in Australia are currently infected with HIV and another 1,000 become newly infected each year. This is the main reason for practicing infection control in the dental profession - to minimise exposing people to infections. To try and eliminate the spread of microorganisms the following information is provided as a baseline procedure in …show more content…
Personal care includes immunization. According to the Australian Dental Association, all staff should be immunised against Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Influenza, Pertussis (whooping cough), MMR (measles, mumps, rubella, if not already immune), Varicella (chicken-pox, if not already immune) and Tuberculosis. Records of immunization should be kept and maintained by staff. The Australian and New Zealand office-based health care guidelines states that health care workers are to be in good health and practice a high level of personal hygiene (Standards Australia & Standards New Zealand 2006). All cuts on skin should be covered with waterproof bandages and staff should maintain cross infection precautions. Staffs with skin diseases such as dermatitis, skin infection or infectious lesions are to be examined by a medical practitioner before commencing medical workplace duties to minimise or eliminate the possibility of cross infection (Robinson, R,