Reduce Sharps Injury in Dental Clinic
Care Process & Redesign
Yishun Health One Improvement Festival
National Healthcare Group
8 April 2025
1. To reduce or eliminate incidents of sharps injury caused by dental burs at Dental Clinic by the end of December 2023. The intervention shows promise for improving staff safety through reducing the occurrence of sharps injury and reducing mental stress.
Year Submitted: 2025
Published Date: 08 April 2025
Tags: Care Process ＆ Redesign, Quality Improvement, Workflow Redesign, Cost Saving, Productivity, Risk Management, Operational Management, Inventory Management, Inventory Space Management, Build Environment, Value Based Care, Safe Care
About this Content
Aims
1. To reduce or eliminate incidents of sharps injury caused by dental burs at Dental Clinic by the end of December 2023.
2. To redesign and develop a new system or processes to reduce and prevent the risk of recurrence of sharps injury.
Background
Due to repeated incidents of sharps injury in Dental Clinic, the Department of Infection Control and Risk Management was alarmed. A total of 6 incidents of sharps injury caused by dental burs occurred from April to September 2023. The injuries were caused by contact with burs when the doctor or nurse reached over the handpieces panel to get the instrument. Doctors were injured during treatment, while nurses were injured after treatment when clearing the instruments.
Methods
1. Root cause analysis was conducted, and each domain was analysed.
2. Department sharing was done on the analysis and implemented the proposed plan.
3. Advise the users not to put sharps adjacent to each other.
4. Advise the dentist, dental assistant to avoid placing instruments/equipment behind the handpieces Panel.
5. Re-educate staff to do doffing of PPE after clearing instruments & before leaving the room.
Results
In the 12 months post-implementation period with the revised workflow and raised awareness, the number of sharps injuries has dropped tremendously. Sharps injury incidents related to burrs reduced to zero from October 2023 till now for one year follow-up period. Staff are more aware of the risk involved in day-to-day work that deals with sharps and more aware of reporting such incidences. Cost saving of staff & patient consultation time required for sharps injury. Cost avoidance for the department was $1,365 for post-injury laboratory investigations & time avoidance in total was 7.5 hours for reporting and following up the incident for each sharps injury.
Conclusion
The intervention shows promise for improving staff safety through reducing the occurrence of sharps injury and reducing mental stress arising from a sharps injury.
Lessons Learnt
There was effective reinforcement during the follow-up period after the implementation. The great effort for raising awareness through re-education & redesign the workspace and workflow have a positive effect in reinforcing sharps safety culture among dentists, dental assistants & nurses.
Additional Information
Foundation: Staff Well-Being, Quality & Patient Safety. Current: No instrument on the handpiece panel and tip is covered when not in use. Materials: Suggest to use thicker quality of gloves, if possible. However, it was not implemented after evaluation, as it is too thick for the doctor to perform procedures.
Keywords
Sharps, Injury, Dental, Safety, Workflow
Innovators' Details
Innovators' Details
Healthcare Cluster(s) | National Healthcare Group |
Organization(s) Involved | Khoo Teck Puat Hospital |
Platform(s) | Yishun Health One Improvement Festival |
Healthcare Professional Group(s) | Healthcare Administration, Nursing |
Applicable Specialty or Discipline | Dental / Dentistry |
Project Lead(s) | Sornito R.P., Meng Q.S |
Project Member(s) | N/A |
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KTPH & YCH Innovation & Improvement (I&I) Office - i-i@ktph.com.sg