A Day In The Life Of A Dental Nurse- Krystyna- Part 2- Throughout The Day And End Of The Day Reception And Infection Control
Last time I explained how I start my day at Debra Brown Dental. In this article, I pick up where I left off.
Once I have set up the steriliser room, I begin the reception jobs for the day. This is started by texting or calling patients two days before their appointment to confirm we will see them. I also call back anyone who has left a message and I check and respond to any emails, which have been received.
While on reception, during the day I print out the next day’s day sheet, which lists all the patients and appointments for tomorrow. I then get out the patient’s medical history forms and indicate which ones need updating by the patient. I also file away the medical histories from the previous day to the correct files.
The day’s jobs for reception include:
- posting mail; banking
- calling patients on our “care call” list which are patients that have recently had large work done such as teeth extractions; and
- cleaning up the waiting area. The cleaning includes the windows and doors, desks, front footpath etc. Some of the cleaning jobs are done only once or twice a week.
Deb will have jobs needing to be done throughout the day written in our communications book.
Throughout the day I expect to put on about 3 sterilisation loads, and if it is very busy, about 5. I have to continually check to make sure there will be enough instruments for any patients coming in soon and if a load is sterile or needs to be completed.
We get a morning tea break and lunch throughout the day. When it is Kaitie’s turn for morning tea or lunch, I take over in the surgery, helping assist for the patient.
Towards the end of the day I will begin the afternoon cleaning process. We vacuum and mop throughout the building, empty the rubbish bins and put new bags in, the last load of instruments for the steriliser is put through the ultrasonic, dried, bagged and added to the Autoclave.
I set the Autoclave up for the night load, adding the Helix Test to the load for the test that is done the following morning. The cleaning bucket is emptied and the Ultrasonic is drained. I clear the benches, wash the instrument drying clothes and hang them to dry overnight and wipe over all the benches.
Once the last patient has been processed I bring in the “open” sign and turn off all the computers and pack up and tidy the clinic.
The last job of the day is making sure the plant room is turned off; the plant room is where the compressors for the surgery machines are. Once that is done, we turn the lights and air conditioners off, lock the front door, and head home.
