Dental Assistant Emergency Care The role of Dental Assistant involves being able to perform a variety of duties. It also requires being detail oriented, alert, and able to react calmly and quickly in emergency situations. A Dental Assistant o bserves all dental procedures, assisting both Dentists and Dental Hygi enists to perform quality procedures for all patients. While most dental procedures are routine and take place without incid ent, emergency situations do take place. Eliminating short cuts for p rocedures and staying alert with the focus on the needs of the patien t will help prevent emergencies from occurring. Planning and preparat ion can help Dental Assistants be able to resolve issues and remedy e mergency situations with positive results for all involved. People have been known to stop breathing during dental procedures or h ave allergic reactions to local anesthetics. During such a situation, it is vital that Dental Assistants are properly trained in how to assi st. It is recommended that Dental Assistants know how to perform CPR. Some dental facilities require monitoring of a patient’s vital signs t o help them monitor for any side effects or other issues. Another incident that can take place in a dental facility is accident ally swallowing something, causing the patient to choke. A patient ca n choke on dental equipment, tools, extracted teeth, or other materia ls. Since most procedures are done under anesthesia, the patient may not be able to control reflexes to push the object away from the thro at. Dental Assistants must know how to quickly react to prevent serio us injury or death from occurring. Likewise, objects including dental tools, extractions, and other mater ials might be dropped or ricochet, landing in the eye of a patient. Ey e wash stations are generally available in dental facilities. Dental A ssistants need to make sure they are familiar with how they work and w here they are located in the facility. On occasion, a patient may suffer from other health issues not related to their dental procedures. These health issues may include a heart a ttack, stroke, or blood clot. Therefore, it is important for Dental As sistants to be trained in basic medical issues as well as those that r elate to dental procedures. There are other types of emergency situations that can occur in a dent al facility that Dental Assistants can help with. In the event of a fi re, quickly remove all patients from the building. This needs to be do ne keeping everyone as calm and comfortable as possible. During an emergency in the dental facility, patients should not be le ft alone under any circumstances. Dental Assistants and other staff m embers have a duty to the patient to administer quality emergency ser
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vices until the proper medical response team arrives to take over. It is important for the Dental Assistant to be able to inform the medic al response team of the changes the patient exhibited as well as docu mentation of everything that took place prior to the event. This info rmation can help medical response teams pinpoint the issue faster and provide adequate medical care. Since medical emergencies don’t often occur in dental facilities, is important for staff to have regular meetings and reminders about th e proper procedures in the event an emergency does take place. Pract ice drills are a great way to keep the policies and procedures fresh in the mind of all staff members. It is important to post phone num bers of all emergency agencies in several locations where all staff can easily access the information. However, it is not recommended th e information be posted where patients can see it. For those who are already nervous about coming in for a procedure, seeing that inform ation is not going to easy their level of anxiety. Being prepared fo r such emergencies will make a difference in the outcomes. Dental Assistants need to address the issue of emergency care at the s tart of their employment. If no such policies and procedures are in pl ace, encourage your employer to establish them. It only takes one inci dent of a medical emergency taking place for a dental facility to be s ued. If they are found to be negligent it could result in charges bein g filed or the business having to close down. Protecting your job and the business you work for as well as providing quality procedures for all patients will ensure job security. PPPPP Word Count 711
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