Since dental surgeries have broadly remained open during the later stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, there has been a lot of guidance written on how dentists can reduce the risk of virus transmission in their workplaces.
These guidelines include details on mask-wearing, enhanced cleaning, temperature and symptom checks, as well as surgical rules like making better use of aspirators to prevent aerosol transmission. Dentists across the country know these rules and they’re making both them and their patients much safer.
But, what about risks other than Covid-19? As we’ve seen across the healthcare sector, the pandemic has led to an increase in examples of violence towards members of staff as well as verbal attacks and abuse. With appointment waiting times a huge issue for many surgeries as well as stressed-out patients having to comply with new rules in unusual and uncomfortable situations, the dangers are clear.
Plus, enhanced cleaning rules mean significantly increased down time for each room in the surgery, which means anxious patients spending even longer in waiting areas.
So, how do you protect against all of these increased risks? One option for dental surgeries is a panic alarm button, like Little Green Button. Here are 4 ways it could keep your surgery safer during the pandemic:
1. Defuse situations before they escalate
Having a discreet panic alarm button that’s always available for your receptionists or other members of staff to use allows for quick response to any minor issues before they blow out of proportion. With a panic alarm system like this, other members of staff can quickly step in to defuse situations and encourage patients to calm down.
It’s much better to have members of staff respond quickly to an agitated patient before it gets worse – and it gives your staff peace of mind that they’re protected and kept safe.
2. Helps with unusual security practices
The new guidelines around reducing the spread of Covid-19 may be impacting your patient procedures around greeting them, building access, and even location of waiting rooms. With temperature checks or mask-checks being required by the guidelines, potentially with a checkpoint at the door of the building, having a flexible panic alarm system is ideal.
A system like this allows you to respond quickly to any incidents that may occur, like refusal to wear a mask, and allows you to safely and effectively back up your staff when it comes to refusing entry. The new guidelines mean you may have temporary staffed checkpoints set up in locations where previously your staff wouldn’t work – would you hear a commotion at the doorway of your surgery?
3. Provides a simple calling alert when a room is free
With the enhanced cleaning procedures for dental surgeries, the downtime between patients in each treatment room may be significantly increased as all surfaces need to be wiped down and cleaned. Little Green Button’s panic alarm system offers a simple way to let the members of staff in the waiting area know that the room is ready.
You can reduce downtime by using this alert feature, as well as decreasing the amount of foot traffic in the surgery as staff don’t need to walk through to let everybody know. And, it’s quicker than using intercom or phone systems – and keeps these systems free for other critical uses.
It can also help keep your waiting patients calmer if they see that room occupancy information is quickly being received. Patients will want to see a smooth and professional operation to feel at-ease themselves and using a digital system to signal room availability is a great way to do this.
4. Get quick responses if additional medical support is required
In addition to helping support reception and waiting room staff, panic buttons can also be set up on the PCs used by dentists within treatment rooms. If there is an issue while treatment is being carried out, additional medical support can be quickly summoned in a robust and failsafe way.
With Little Green Button, you can set up custom locations, and specific escalation paths for each option, enabling members of staff at your surgery to quickly summon the right colleagues when they need to.
If you’re looking for a way to keep your dental surgery secure, give Little Green Button a try. We’re offering a 21-day free trial to give you plenty of time to see if it works for you. You can sign up for the free trial here with no credit card required.
Alternatively, we’re happy to walk you through some of the features of Little Green Button and how they could help your dentist surgery – just get in touch.