Have you scheduled performance reviews with your team members? This is a great time to conduct your evaluation of the employee's achievements and contributions made last year and to assess the areas to improve during this year. 

Have you wondered why people are leaving their jobs? According to iHire's 2022 Talent Retention Report, the top 5 reasons people left jobs in the last 12 months are:

Have you scheduled performance reviews with your team members? This is a great time to conduct your evaluation of the employee's achievements and contributions made during year 2022 and to assess the areas to improve during year 2023.

On December 14, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a settlement with a dental practice in California over the impermissible disclosure of patient protected health information (PHI) in response to online reviews, and other potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. The practice used social media inappropriately responding to a negative...

Your Work Exposure Control Plan is essentially one of the most important parts of your OSHA Manual, and it needs to be reviewed by everyone at the practice annually. Consider taking time to review the Work Exposure Control Plan as a team when you have your annual training. 

Let’s face it, many practices are struggling with the staffing shortage. Those who are employed are likely working doubly hard, handling the duties of two people.  It may be difficult to recruit RDHs and RDAs right now; particularly those who have added skills.  

One of the “small” details that is a big deal to OSHA is sharps containers. In some practices we at MPS have inspected, we’ve found sharps containers in places like cabinets, treatment room corners, and on countertops. OSHA has standards for sharps containers that if left unfollowed could result in costly OSHA fines. Since disposal is usually the main occasion for contaminated needle sticks to happen (according to CDC’s Workbook for Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Sharps Injury Prevention Program,) OSHA pays close attention to how sharps containers are placed and handled. 

Did you know that the way your Sterilization Center is set up could save you 5+ minutes per procedure and set your practice apart in infection control? Laying out your Sterilization area efficiently puts your practice in the fast lane on the road to success. Take an honest look at your practice’s Sterilization Center and compare to the layout ideas below:

Does everyone at the practice know the drill if there were to be a natural disaster or emergency? It’s a great idea (and required by OSHA) to have a Fire and Emergency Action Plan in place that everyone at the practice knows and would instantly adhere to if there were a natural disaster or fire. 

One of the things we’ve noticed over the years in visiting different practice’s is the state of their SDS binder. We often see what we refer to as “Frankenbinders,” which have chunks missing, pieces of unrelated materials added, and an overall disarray of pages. When you look at it, it gives you feelings of dread and procrastination and you definitely wouldn’t want OSHA to see it if they were to drop by unannounced. 

The average dental practice is extremely busy in trying to keep up with patient and treatment schedules. So for many practice staff, the thought of keeping up with both OSHA and HIPAA compliance is overwhelming. This is why it is vital to have designated officers that can handle these components. 

Over the years, we’ve received quite a few phone calls with desperate and worried persons on the other end of the line telling us that there has been a needlestick incident in their practice and they have no idea what to do next. This is definitely not a fun predicament to be in, but it’s important to keep your head and take the appropriate steps to ensure that you’re following OSHA’s standards. Don’t be intimidated by the forms and the protocol. You can do this. 

Everyone knows that having the right IT company to serve your practice is acutely important, but how do you choose the right one? Asking the right questions will clarify whether or not the IT company you’re interviewing will meet your needs in the ever-advancing world of technology and security threats. Let’s explore some questions that you can use as your framework.

Every practice needs a person who is in charge of keeping the practice OSHA-compliant and safe. This person needs to be onsite at the practice for most of the time when the practice and/or specific location is open. For example: if you are a practice that has multiple locations open at the same time, you’ll need to find one safety coordinator per location. If OSHA were to drop by unannounced, they are going to ask to see your safety coordinator. If OSHA hears “he/she doesn’t work at this location,” or “he/she is only here on Thursdays,” that won’t satisfy.

Notes: When treating patients, corrosive chemicals and debris and even splash and splatter from the patient’s oral cavity can end up in unprotected eyes. Because of this, it’s vital that an emergency eyewash station is nearby and up to OSHA’s standards. If you’re wondering if your practice even merits having one in the first place, OSHA answers you with a clear and resounding “YES”: 

A part of the OSHA Manual that is often overlooked is the Waste Management section. Disposing of used sharps properly is essential, and there are different ways of doing that. Before getting into those options, here is a refresher on instruments classified as sharps:

Not sure what the term “Human Firewall” means? A lot of people don’t. But as the idea and practice of a human firewall gains more and more recognition and effectiveness, now is a great time to implement this in your practice.

Basically, a human firewall is a team of employees (all of them) within a business that commit to following practices to prevent and/or report suspicious online activity such as phishing emails, ransomware, data breaches, or anything that looks questionable in terms of the practice’s online security. This means that the entire team is trained in keeping the network secure. 

Two support questions we receive quite often are: what is the difference between an Infectious Spill Kit and Chemical Spill Kit, and what products do we need to maintain those kits?

The difference between an Infectious Spill Kit and a Chemical Spill Kit is basically what they’re used for. 

The saying “it takes a village” doesn’t only apply to raising children – there are many other businesses that keep your practice running successfully that cannot be in-house or self-supplied. This is essentially what business associates are. Here’s the more technical version: A business associate is a person or entity who performs functions or activities on behalf of or provides services to a covered entity that involves access to PHI.  The HIPAA Rules require that the Business Associate will appropriately safeguard PHI.  

Let’s face it, many practices are struggling with the staffing shortage. Those who are employed are likely working doubly hard, handling the duties of two people.  It may be difficult to recruit RDHs and RDAs right now; particularly those who have added skills.