How could there be any benefits of hiring an infection control professional?
Dentists and doctors have been managing infection control for a long time. But just because that is how it has been done, does that mean that’s how it must stay?
Technology has entered the infection control space and is changing the industry. Dentists and doctors are busy professionals with specialized training in their respective fields.
It is hard enough to keep up with a business, much less keep up with all the industry changes.
If you are overwhelmed with running your practice and want to simplify your life, here are 6 benefits of hiring an infection control professional.
1. Help you stay compliant
There are a lot of governing boards out there. FDA, OSHA, EPA, ADA, CDC, AAPD, DEA, HHS, and on and on.
Every board has different regulatory requirements. If an inspector from any of these boards would happen to ever do a surprise inspection, there are reams of paperwork with many boxes that must be checked in order to pass an inspection.
Infection control professionals stay up to date on all these regulations and can help make sure that all of these inspection boxes can be checked for you.
For example, it is recommended that you test your water lines once every 90 days. Along with that you are supposed to ensure that bacterial counts remain below 500 CFU/ml. You might be taking time and performing these tests which are great, but could your staff be doing something better with their time?
Infection control professionals can and will perform these tests for you, to make sure you are checking that box, and saving you and your staff time to do what you do best.
2. Don’t have to keep up on latest trends
As previously discussed, there are a lot of regulatory agencies and their requirements are constantly changing. Additionally, there are new technologies, chemicals, and infection control procedures entering the market.
Last I checked, dentist and doctors are trained to practice dentistry and medicine. How can they be expected to keep up on all the legal codes and new technologies. You had a passion to help people and that is why you went to school.
An infection control professional keeps up on all the legal changes and technologies, becoming a valued partner and extension of your team.
For example, there are copolymer cleaning products that create protective barriers on surfaces. These keep your surfaces clean and protect them 24/7 up to 90 days. This is in response to the feedback of harsh chemicals that are hurting people and damaging surfaces.
By hiring an infection control professional, you can forget about all the infection control codes and technologies and focus on what you do best, and frankly enjoy doing more.
3. Allow you to focus on generating revenue
It is well documented and taught in schools, that for a dental or medical facility to make the most money, it requires the team to maximize their time performing services.
So why would you want to do anything but that?
By hiring a professional you can minimize the time out of operatories and chairs and maximize your revenue.
As an alternative way of considering this reason: how much time will you spend out of operatories (i.e. losing money) if you miss something on a compliance issue in a surprise inspection?
If you hire a professional, you are minimizing the risk of some regulatory noncompliance and then having to deal with that mistake.
That could be a very costly mistake both in fines, and opportunity cost of not performing procedures and cleanings if you aren’t compliant.
4. Take a load off your staff
Office managers and hygienists are heroes in our eyes. They are responsible for so many things both during patient care and between patient care.
They often end their shifts tired, sore, and exhausted from the long grueling days.
By hiring an infection control professional, you can shift some, if not all, the infection control burden off your already taxed staff, and onto someone else.
This is good for morale, staff retention, and the overall health of your team.
P.S. Also if they are less tired and taxed, they will perform better when taking care of the patients. Therefore, make less mistakes, and prevent other risks in your practice.
5. Added safety for your patients and staff
Through all our swabbing and testing we have seen how many places are missed during what are thought to be good cleaning practices.
With infection control professionals you will get two benefits.
First, you will get a more thorough disinfecting since that is their primary focus.
Second, if you hire the right professionals, they can give you reports that provide verifiable evidence that your office is free of microbial contamination through swabbing and testing.
At MCS we have a clean guarantee, that if we miss something we will come back and fix it at no cost to you. This is something that you can’t get from your staff.
6. They are trained
When a medical or dental member goes to school what are they trained for?
They are trained to perform medical and dental procedures. There is little time spent training on how to clean an office.
You might spend some time reviewing guidelines, and best practices. But most people don’t get much hands on experience. Not to mention retraining when procedures change.
Infection control professionals are highly trained because that is their area of expertise. They get hands on training and coaching from supervisors, and industry leaders.
Most technicians spend dozens of hours in the field observing, practicing, and getting coached before they are left to their own devices to clean an office.
There is a lot to know from how heavy to spray chemicals, how to take accurate swabs, how to document test results, and what areas of facilities to pay special attention to.
With better training comes better results.
7. Bonus: Peace of Mind
Finally, as a bonus benefit, is peace of mind.
Think back to when COVID broke out. What kept you up at night?
Most likely it was things like can I keep the doors open, is it safe to practice, is my patient’s health at risk, is our office clean, etc.
When you hire a professional that knows how to handle situations like that you don’t have to worry about any of those items. You can take a proactive step rather than a reactive step.
You can put that out of your mind and focus on all the positives in life.
What is peace of mind worth?
Conclusion
At the end of the day, you and your staff went to school to practice dentistry or medicine. By hiring an infection control professional, it allows you to free up time and energy from things you don’t like and haven’t been trained on and focus all your time and energy on the things you love and are trained for. You can have higher revenues, better staff morale, and minimize risk. On the surface, it might not seem like a critical decision, but after deeper consideration you will see that it is a wise decision.
MCS helps dental and healthcare facilities become safe places for patients and staff to work and seek medical and dental attention. We help our clients by not only providing long-term disinfecting and infection control protection solutions for their facilities but also by testing and verifying the cleanliness of those facilities. Every office we have been in has had some level of contamination, and our clients have seen a 100% decrease in microbial activity and an average decrease of 75% in their ATP levels. If you would like help in getting your office cleaner and safer, and have objective verifiable data to prove it, call us today at 469-778-7550 or contact us here.
