IPC FAQ
Find the answers to that IPC question that you've been wondering about.
This is a living document where frequently asked questions (FAQ) will be posted along with the answers from our IPC team. IPC includes but is not limited to:
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Disinfection
Cleaning
Dental device reprocessing
Immunizations
And more
Remember to visit this page often as it will be continually updated. We encourage you to submit any questions to dentIPC@ualberta.ca.
Infection Prevention and Control Principles and Terminology
What is an aerosol generating procedure (aka AGP)?
An AGP is any dental patient care procedure that may produce fine aerosolized droplets. AGPs may be produced when you use any of the following instruments or perform these tasks:
Air-water syringe (using just air, just water or air and water together)
Alow speed handpiece
High-speed handpiece
Cavitron
Piezo
Intraoral radiography - may cause gagging or coughing which in turn produces aerosols
What is a Point of Care Risk Assessment?
A PCRA is the first step in routine practices. It should be done for every patient and every care interaction. The purpose of a PCRA is to help you decide what PPE you should use based on your specific situation. Do the entire assessment by asking yourself these three questions before beginning to don PPE. Remember to include hand hygiene in the process of donning the appropriate PPE. The questions that are involved in the PCRA are simple and easy to remember:
Is there a potential that I will be exposed to contaminated items or blood/body fluids?
If yes, perform hand hygiene and don gloves.
Is there a potential that my clothing, hair or skin may become contaminated by sprays or splashes or come into contact with contaminated items?
If yes, clean your hands and then don a head cover and a gown
Is there a potential that my face and eyes will be within two meters of a person who might cough/gag/vomit or is there a chance that a splash/spray/aerosol will be created?
If yes, clean your hands first and then don either an N95 and safety glasses (we are not using N95s currently) or a Level 3 surgical mask and a full face shield
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
I thought my gown was clean, but my instructor told me to remove it before leaving my op. When is a gown considered clean or dirty?
A clean over gown is defined as:
Is fresh one right out of the clean gowns bins in the alcoves.
OR
One that has NOT been worn while performing an AGP or been otherwise soiled during patient care (see AGP definition above).
I’m confused about when to don, doff or change my gown. Can you please clarify?
A clean overgown (see clean over gown definition above) must be worn for all patient care, including in radiology.
Overgowns must be changed (soiled over gown removed and placed in the soiled linen bag (blue plastic bag) and hand hygiene performed) in between AGPs involving different patients.
Students may wear a clean over gown while moving about the clinic (ie. when going into radiology, the prosth or ortho labs and when requesting items from the dispensary)
If unsure about leaving an operatory with an over gown on - please seek advice from an instructor or a circulator before leaving the operatory. If an AGP has been performed - the answer will be NO. Stay in the operatory and ask for assistance from an instructor or circulator. Soiled gowns should never be worn outside of the operatory.
Only clean over gowns are allowed in OHC Prosthodontic lab or Orthodontic lab areas
Remove all over gowns (clean your hands immediately after removing) before entering any non-patient care area such as:
Offices
Washrooms
Patient services
Designated break areas
Front (east) or back (west) hallways
Overgowns are to be worn as part of full enhanced PPE during operatory clean-up
The RN told me to stop touching my mask and face shield when I’m in the clinic. What’s the big deal with touching my PPE?
Once PPE has been worn for patient care, it MUST NOT be adjusted or otherwise touched unless you are taking it off. There is a real risk of self-contamination and/or cross-contamination of your patient. Once you have gloves on, DO NOT touch any PPE. Remember that hand hygiene is the cornerstone of the safe use of PPE.
If you wear a hinged face shield, DO NOT touch it with gloves on, if you need to adjust it, remove your gloves, clean your hands, adjust the shield and then clean your hands again before donning gloves again. The same process if followed for masks, once donned and worn for patient care they should never be touched with gloves on.
If you are wearing a mask without any other PPE for COVID-19 continuous masking, remember not to touch the mask by the front “fabric” part. If you must adjust a mask do so only by the earloops.
I’m confused about when we need to wear a head cover, can you please clarify?
We should cover our head and hair whenever we are in the OHC. Don your headcover at your locker or If wearing a disposable headcover, before you head to your operatory. Please refrain from walking around the clinic without a headcover on.
My face shield is all cloudy and scratched, what am I doing wrong?
Wearing your face shield for patient care protects you by stopping splashes and debris from contacting your face and eyes. This means that your face shield may have small abrasive particles all over it, which could cause scratches to the shield during the cleaning process.
Remember to wash your face shield with warm soapy water immediately after use. It’s important to gently remove any debris with soap and water before disinfection to avoid rubbing the debris around and scratching your shield. Once the shield is washed and dried, you may disinfect it by retrieving an alcohol disinfectant wipe from dispensary. Using any other type of disinfectant on your shield may damage it and cause it to become cloudy. Always be sure to have a spare clear plastic shield as backup should your shield become damaged and unsafe for clinical use.
Safety Glasses or Face Shield - how do I choose?
The key to choosing the right eye protection is performing a Point of Care Risk Assessment to assess the risk presented by the activity you are planning to do.
Each type of eye protection offers different attributes that protect us.
Safety glasses:
Is part of a comprehensive occupational health program
Worn for protection from flying debris and liquids. Often worn by lab persons, tradespeople
Protects eye area only
Must be worn with a N95 Respirator
Face shield:
Is part of a comprehensive IPC program with aspects of occupational health
Worn for protection from the moisture of aerosols, flying debris and liquids
Protects entire face and neck area including mask
Can be worn with a level three surgical mask
Can extend the life of a mask by preventing contact with sprays and splashes
Cleaning & Disinfecting
When and how should I clean my face shield?
Your face shield should be cleaned each time you remove it. Remember that your face shield, mask and head cover remain in place for an entire clinic, even if you are seeing multiple patients in that clinic. The only time you would remove your head and face PPE in the middle of a clinic is if it became soiled by splash or spray.
With clean hands, remove the shield and place it on the side counter, clean your hands again. Using water from the sink tap and hand soap, gently wash and rinse your shield to remove any particles that might be abrasive and scratch your shield when you disinfect it. Dry the shield with a disposable towel. Don clean gloves, retrieve an alcohol-based disinfectant wipe from the dispensary and disinfect the shield. It is now ready to be stored or used again.
Having to wipe my operatory twice seems like a lot of extra work for no reason, why do I have to wipe the whole operatory twice?
We wipe contaminated surfaces such as counters, hoses, light handles, articulators and lab pans that may have bioburden (aka - saliva, blood, tooth debris, tissue) on them twice because the first wipe removes the bioburden and then the second wipe disinfects. One wipe to clean, then a second wipe to disinfect.
Taking stuff for fixed, removable or ortho cases to the lab confuses me. There are so many rules. Can you please help me understand what to do and what not to do?
Clean overgowns (not used in an AGP or otherwise soiled during patient care) can be worn into the Prosth or Ortho Lab. **Lab staff may turn you away if your over gown is soiled**
All lab pans and articulators must be disinfected prior to leaving the operatory when taking them to the lab.
All impressions and/or any appliance or prosthesis must be transported to the lab in a ziploc bag.
Fixed prosth final impressions and bite registrations must be placed in a Cidex bath just inside the lab door with the timer set for five minutes.
Removable prosth impressions, appliances and prostheses must be disinfected before taking them to the lab. Lab staff will direct you to use the bleach disinfection bath & timer in the Rem Prosth area of the lab, should the disinfection be deemed inadequate by lab staff.
All lab pans and articulators must be disinfected by the student, resident or staff member for a second time in the prosthodontics lab. There are disinfecting stations in both the fixed and rem prosth areas, ask for details.
If you don’t know, ask an instructor or staff member.
Dental Device Reprocessing
Help! I had an IPC Infraction reported against me by the central sterilization team for something I did or didn’t do with the instruments I used for a fixed case. Why and what can I do to prevent this from happening again?
Our team of medical device reprocessing technicians (MDRT) are trained experts. They each process many thousands of instruments each day! This dedicated team is the very heart of all patient care clinics. Without clean, sterilized instruments, you wouldn’t be able to see patients in our OHC. We must do our jobs so that they can safely do theirs.
When you return instruments either single or in cassettes, it is your responsibility to make sure that they are ready to be decontaminated, packaged and sterilized. This means ensuring that:
All instruments are free of gross contaminants and materials. You must inspect every instrument before returning it to the dispensary to remove any blood, tissue or dental materials.
The integrator/indicator inside the cassette has been removed.
All trash has been removed from inside the cassette (gauze, dental materials packaging, used applicators, etc).
All sharps have been removed (suture needles, scalpel blades, local anesthetic needles).
No instruments are poking out from the cassette.
Immunizations
What immunizations do I need to work and learn safely in the OHC?
You must (students & residents) or should (staff & faculty) have immunization against the following diseases:
Tetanus
Diphtheria
Pertussis (whooping cough)
Varicella - must submit evidence of disease or immunity
Measles
Mumps
Rubella
Hepatitis B and post-immunization serological titre to confirm immunity
You should also have evidence that you do not have active Tuberculosis - (TST test & result & possibly a radiograph to confirm no active disease).
For staff and faculty, it is recommended that we have up-to-date and accurate immunization records in your personnel file. All immunization records are held in confidence by our registered nurse.
Contaminated Personal Injury
Oh NO! I’ve just poked myself with a contaminated scaler… now what??
First stay calm and breathe.
Remove all your PPE except your head cover, face shield & mask, then make sure that you clean the wound thoroughly by washing it with soap and water for a minimum of 5 minutes. If needed you can ask a circulator for a bandaid or go to oral surgery to have the registered nurse (RN) dress the wound.
Then tell your instructor.
Work with your instructor to perform a risk assessment*. (*how to do a risk assessment link to follow soon)
Go to axiUm links and click on personal injury and scroll down to the bottom of the page where it says 'Personal Injury - Contaminated'
If blood work is indicated by the risk assessment, print off the serology requisitions for both the source (the person whom the contamination came from) and the recipient (the person who was contaminated). Fill in the demographic information for you and your patient on the appropriate form then both you and the patient must go for blood work
Click the link for the Incident Report on the personal injury page and complete the report
Send the RN an email or axiUm message stating:
you had a contaminated injury
the date & time it happened
location it occurred
Patient chart number
If and when you went for blood work
Wait for further instruction, if necessary, from the RN. Remember, No News is Good News! If we don’t hear back from the lab within 24 hours this is a very good sign that there will be no follow-up needed.
Miscellaneous IPC Topics
My patient has to go to the washroom or radiology in the middle of their appointment, what do I do?
First (and always) as soon as you are no longer working intraorally on your patient, have them re-don the mask they came with. Then you (if no AGP has been done) or your instructor or the circulator will escort the patient to the closest washroom in the clinic. The escort will wait outside the washroom for the patient and escort them back to the operatory.
When you are escorting a patient around the OHC, do not cross alcoves. Instead, head to the inside back hallway by the student lockers to travel north and south in the clinic.
My patient has a hard time walking and moves very slow, how can I help them move about the clinic safely and faster?
If your patient has mobility issues, retrieve a wheelchair from an alcove to help them move around the 8th floor. You (or an instructor or circulator) can use the wheelchair to move mobility-challenged patients for things like:
Take a patient to the washroom
Bring a patient into the clinic from patient services
Take a patient out to the patient services
Take a patient to Oral Surgery
Take a patient to the shade room
Take a patient to radiology
**Remember that the wheelchair must be disinfected before returning it to the alcoves**
I’ve seen some staff and students leaving the clinic with scrubs on but I thought that was a no-no… when should we change out of our scrubs and why?
Staff, students and faculty are our greatest asset. We’ve created our IPC & PPE policies to not only protect our patients but to protect our people as well. Removing your scrubs and head cover after a day (or clinic session) of patient care helps to prevent cross-contamination of your items, like your coat and your backpack and it helps to prevent you from carrying contamination from work/school home to your family. We are trying to help you develop career-long IPC & safety habits that help to protect our patients, you and your families.
Remember, not everyone who is leaving KEC is going home. They may be going to another space on campus and should have their lab coat over top of their scrubs when doing so. If you have concerns with a particular person's IPC, take the time to privately and respectfully speak to that individual to address the concern. We must function as a team to ensure everyone's safety.
Why aren’t we measuring the temperature for staff and students during their daily Fit for Work screening?
As the temperatures drop outside the temperature readings taken during our fit-for-work screening have been extremely unreliable. We have continued taking temperatures, even though the rest of Alberta Health Services (AHS) has stopped taking temperatures for their staff and patients, to comply with the joint guideline of ADA&C, CRDHA and CADA (dated August 2020).
In consultation with those involved in developing the guidelines, they are leaving the decision regarding temperatures to our discretion. Therefore, we will stop taking temperatures as part of our screening process starting Monday, Nov. 2. In doing so, we are in line with current scientific evidence and AHS’s screening process.
One rationale for removing temperature checks is that fever in general is not a reliable sign of COVID-19 infection. Evidence shows that with core body temperature measurements, not the less reliable non-contact temperature measurements we have been doing, there is a COVID-19 detection sensitivity of 24% at most. Read the article here.
Patients’ temperatures will continue to be monitored in the clinics as these measurements are taken as part of a comprehensive set of vital signs and aren't used solely for screening purposes. The measurement we take on patients using non-contact thermometers is far more reliable because by the time we measure their temperatures in the OHC clinic, the patient's surface temperatures should have returned to near normal after coming in from outside.