On May 5th every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates World Hand Hygiene Day! Each year the SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign aims to progress the goal of maintaining a global profile on the importance of hand hygiene in healthcare and to…
Most state dental boards require dental offices to verify proper sterilizer function at least weekly using a biological indicator, such as a spore test. However, because spore tests are only performed periodically (i.e. weekly) and the results are usually not…
As mandated in Federal OSHA Standard 1910.1030(f)(1), employers must offer the hepatitis B vaccination to all employees with the potential for occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens (BBPs), within ten working days of initial employment: 1910.1030(f)(1) The employer shall make available…
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with the media, has reported on recent outbreaks of measles cases in the United States. On March 29, CNN published a news story reporting that measles cases for March 2024…
The Dental Board of California (DBC) recently announced that beginning August 1, 2024, all California dispensers of controlled substances (CS) will be required to report dispensations to an updated version of the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES).…
On March 14, 2024, the Dental Board of California (DBC) issued a fraud alert regarding a recent phishing scam targeting DBC licensees. The DBC alerted the public about a similar, but slightly different nuanced, scam two years ago. Scam artists…
In February, two dental practices faced extreme violence in the workplace. The first occurred on February 7, 2024, at a clinic in New Orleans, when an allegedly unhinged woman entered the dental office, asked to speak with the dentist, and…
On February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group and one of the largest healthcare technology companies in the United States, experienced a crippling ransomware cyberattack, considered to be the most serious incident of its kind against a…
The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) exempts dentistry, as a low-risk industry, from posting and maintaining the OSHA Form 300 Log, and from reporting that information to OSHA. The OSHA Form 300 Log provides a summary of work-related…
On January 9, 2024, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) updated its COVID-19 isolation guidance for California. These changes to the isolation requirements, which are incorporated into Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Standard (Title 8 California Code of Regulations Section…
