Annapolis, MD: March 29, 2016-The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just released the Summary of Infection Prevention Practices in Dental Settings: Basic Expectations for Safe Care. The new CDC summary addresses the fundamental elements needed to prevent transmission of infectious agents, key CDC recommendations, current CDC recommendations from theGuidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings–2003, additional topics, recommendations and information published since 2003 and assessment checklists to evaluate prevention practices.
The Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP) recognizes the importance of these CDC documents and supports CDC’s efforts to guide the profession to provide the safest care possible. To this end, OSAP has created an array of tools and resources at www.osap.org specifically designed to help dental teams understand and comply with the CDC guidelines.
As a trusted source of information for dental educators, consultants, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers, OSAP provides timely updates, advanced education, innovative training tools, referenced answers to vexing infection control questions, and proven strategies to address compliance challenges.The organization has custom-designed tools and resources to help the dental team put the CDC guidelines into practice. These include:
· From Policy to Practice: OSAP's Interactive Guide to the CDC Guidelines, a free online course with seven modules that break the guidelines down into easily understood principles.
· CDC Guidelines: From Policy to Practice by OSAP, a self-study workbook that walks users through the CDC guidelines. Each chapter contains practical how-to instructions, charts and checklists, pictures and captions, answers to common questions, and guidance for making sound clinical judgments.
· OSHA & CDC Guidelines: Interact Training System, a program that combines requirements for OSHA annual training with the CDC Guidelines.
· OSAP Dental Infection Control Educators' & Trainers' Toolkit, a coaching workbook delivered via CD designed to assist with the development, planning, and promotion of successful, high-impact infection control and safety programs and presentations.
In addition, OSAP will keep the dental profession informed using social media, member publications such as InfoBites, expert advice via Ask OSAP, web forums, and special programming at the OSAP Boot Camp, the annual OSAP conference, and national dental meetings. OSAP will also work with consultant, educator, and corporate members, and coordinate with other dental organizations to help inform the dental community.
Dental practitioners and other interested parties are encouraged to check the OSAP website (www.osap.org) frequently and become a member of OSAP to receive timely updates on new resources and gain access to additional educational opportunities as they become available.
Celebrating over 30 years of service to the worldwide dental community, OSAP is a growing community of clinicians, educators, students, policy-makers, and industry representatives who advocate for safe and infection-free delivery of oral healthcare. OSAP focuses on strategies to improve compliance with safe practices and on building a strong network of recognized infection control experts to help dental professionals ensure that every visit is The Safest Dental Visit™ for patients and the dental team.
