Can There Be Spread Of Corona Through Dentistry? Considering the situation worldwide, there are high possibilities that any kind of interaction between humans, animals or even objects contains a huge risk of the corona. Spread in 110 countries so far, it’s the immediate point of concern. As far as dentistry is concerned, being a profession that deals with the human mouth, it contains relatively more chances of spreading the virus. Corona through dentistry is something that is highly possible. The spread of Corona through dentistry According to research published in the International Journal of Oral Science, there are three major ways through which Corona can spread. These there are as following: Airborne Spread Contact Spread Contaminated Surfaces Spread Airborne Spread The dental papers indicate that numerous dental strategies produce pressurized canned products and beads that are polluted with the virus. Consequently, bead and airborne transmission of 2019-nCoV are the most significant worries in dental facilities and medical clinics, since it is difficult to maintain a strategic distance from the age of a lot of vaporized and bead blended in with patient’s salivation and even blood during dental practice. Notwithstanding the contaminated patient’s hack and breathing, dental gadgets, for example, fast dental handpiece utilizes rapid gas to drive the turbine to turn at high velocity and work with running water. At the point when dental gadgets work in the patient’s oral pit, a lot of vaporized and beads blended in with the patient’s spit or even blood will be produced. Particles of beads and pressurized canned products are sufficiently little to remain airborne for an all-encompassing period before they choose ecological surfaces or enter the respiratory tract. In this way, the 2019-nCoV can possibly spread through beads and pressurized canned products from tainted people in dental centers and emergency clinics. Contact Spread A dental expert’s continuous, immediate or circuitous contact with human liquids, tolerant materials, and defiled dental instruments or natural surfaces makes a potential course to the spread of viruses. Likewise, dental experts and different patients have likely contact of conjunctival, nasal, or oral mucosa with beads and pressurized canned products containing microorganisms created from a tainted individual and pushed a short separation by hacking and talking without a veil. Compelling contamination control methodologies are expected to forestall the spread of 2019-nCoV through these contact schedules. Contaminated Surfaces Spread Human coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), or endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV) can persist on surfaces like metal, glass, or plastic for up to a couple of days. Therefore, contaminated surfaces that are frequently contacted in healthcare settings are a potential source of coronavirus transmission. Dental practices derived droplets and aerosols from infected patients, which likely contaminate the whole surface in dental offices. In addition, it was shown at room temperature that HCoV remains infectious from 2 h up to 9 days, and persists better at 50% compared with 30% relative humidity. Thus, keeping a clean and dry environment in the dental office would help decrease the persistence of 2019-nCoV. Preventing the spread of Corona through dentistry There are a few preventive measures that dentists must take to avoid any kind of transmission of Corona. A few of them are given as follows: Patient Evaluation If possible, make sure that you are aware of the patient’s history. With a person with positive Corona, it’s highly advised to be extremely careful. Use Instacare’s Telemedicine to have a complete medical session through a video call. This will reduce the chances of transmission. Hand Hygiene It’s been widely notified that washing hands regularly, significantly reduces the chances of virus transmission. Use a hand sanitizer in case you don’t have access to water. Personal protective measures for dental professionals Airborne droplet transmission of infection is the main route of spread, particularly in dental clinics and hospitals. Barrier-protection equipment is strongly recommended for all healthcare givers in the clinic/hospital settings during the epidemic period of 2019-nCoV. Like including protective eyewear, masks, gloves, caps, face shields, and protective outwear. Rubber dam isolation The use of rubber dams can significantly minimize the production of saliva- and blood-contaminated aerosol or spatter, particularly in cases when high-speed handpieces and dental ultrasonic devices are used. Mouthrinse before dental procedures Since 2019-nCoV is vulnerable to oxidation, preprocedural mouthrinse containing oxidative agents such as 1% hydrogen peroxide or 0.2% povidone is recommended, for the purpose of reducing the salivary load of oral microbes, including potential 2019-nCoV carriage. A regular mouthrinse is also recommended. Even after all these measures, make sure that you don’t interact unnecessarily. Even now, we know very little about it. So, keep your surroundings clean.
The country is in Panic as 19 patients of coronavirus have been confirmed in Pakistan out of which 15 are reportedly in Karachi, 2 in Islamabad, 1 case in Quetta and 1 in Gilgit. Covid-19 aka coronavirus by world health organization has spread in over 100 countries. About 11 patients, suspected of coronavirus in Pakistan are still under observation in hospitals in different cities across the province. The suspected patients have been kept in isolation rooms including three patients in DHQ hospital, Gujranwala, two each in Mayo Hospital and Doctors Hospital in Lahore and one each in DHQ hospital, Hafizabad, DHQ hospital, Sargodha and DHQ hospital, Lodharan. As many as 65 patients have been cleared of suspicion of contracting the virus and discharged from hospitals from across the province. However, sources informed that two patients including a NAB prisoner and a patient from Gujranwala have also been kept in the High Dependency Unit at the Services Hospital, but it could not be confirmed if they were suffering from symptoms similar to coronavirus. “As only those patients, suspected of carrying coronavirus symptoms, are supposed to be kept in HDU isolation, but officials deny that these patients were being kept for suspicion of coronavirus,” a doctor at the Services Hospital told The News Tuesday. PM’s Special Assistant on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza said the cases in Pakistan have more than doubled in the last 24 hours. This is not surprising. The disease has spread in 106 countries. All 19 patients have contracted virus from abroad, and are stable. There is no evidence of local spread as yet. If we act responsibly we can avoid the virus spread. The most important thing is to limit the spread of coronavirus is by ensuring hygiene; washing hands properly, avoid touching our face and keeping a distance from sick people. “The government is working hard to contain the spread, but we all need to play our role in this fight,” he added. Post Credit: The News
How Fatal Are Medication Errors Worldwide, And In Pakistan? How To Avoid These Nearly everyone, especially in Pakistan has gone through, bad experiences in the health sector. Things like the wrong diagnosis, disasters due to doctors’ negligence – even if it is bad handwriting, ill prescription, false mention of dose timings so on and so forth. These kinds of instances are prevalent among government hospitals. Though these ill practices are present worldwide, in Pakistan, these are up to an alarming frequency. Just to quote one instance, Umer Farooq Bajwa died at Sheikh Zaid Hospital due to a medication error during his liver transplant. Another unfortunate incident happened last week. Umer Farooq Bajwa went to hospital for a liver transplant for his mother and died due to a medication error that occurred due to human error. Wish we could save an innocent soul. #Instacare #healthcareforall #HealthCareTech pic.twitter.com/0qU2qg90zl — InstaCare (@InstaCarePk) February 7, 2020 There are innumerable cases of such treatments. The irony is most of these can be avoided without any excessive measure. What is a Medical Error? Simply put, a medication error is a difference between what the doctor intended and what he carried forward. In this definition, the quacks haven’t been considered because the whole treatment of quacks is a medication error since they don’t know what they are doing most of the time. A scholarly definition is given by Grober and Bohnen which says that a medical error is “the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended (an error of execution) or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim (an error of planning) (Reason, 1990). An unintended act (either of omission or commission) or one that does not achieve its intended outcome (Leape, 1994). Deviations from the process of care, which may or may not cause harm to the patient (Reason, 2001).” Types of Medical Errors: There are several types of medication errors. One problem in listing down all of these is that in different situations, certain kinds of error might or might not occur. For example, while using a digital platform for medicine management (like EMR or EHR), there are far fewer chances of the wrong prescriptions in terms of handwriting (as doctors are notorious for their handwriting). But just to name a few, the following is the list based on a study done by US National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health: Diagnostic: Error or delay in diagnosis Failure to employ indicated tests Use of outmoded tests or therapy Failure to act on results of monitoring or testing Treatment: Error in performance of an operation, procedure, or test Error in administering treatment Error in the dose or method of using a drug Avoidable delay in treatment or in responding to an abnormal test Inappropriate care Preventive: Failure to provide prophylactic treatment Inadequate monitoring or follow-up of treatment Other: Failure of communication Equipment failure Other system failures Medical Errors around the world: As said before, medication errors are prevalent all around the world. In the US, 1.3 million people are injured annually due to medication errors. Around 9,000 to 24,000 people die annually in Canada. due to negligence of hospital administration. According to a study by the European Commission, the prevalence of medication errors in Latvia is 32%, in Denmark, it is 29%, and in Poland, it is 28%. Journal of Anesthesiology reports that in India, medication errors occur around 5.2 million times annually. And only in Delhi, 82 out of every thousand prescriptions contain an error. Medical Errors in Pakistan According to a study done by the Journal of Pakistan Medical Association, quotes a prescription error of 39.28%. It is found that 5.5% of pharmacists, 2.6% nurses, and 1.1% of physicians are negligent towards their practices. Only a handful of medical errors get attention in our media. And in fact, thousands of cases go without the attention of even the patient himself. No one will question that the deterioration of their health even after a check-up by a doctor, can be the result of a medication error. People make statements like this doctor doesn’t have shifa and that’s all. Only a handful of people understand that the negligence of the system could result in this unfortunate event, not the doctor himself. Abdul Latif Shaikh, president of the Pakistan Society of Health-System Pharmacists (PSHP), quoted that 5,00,000 people die annually due to some kind of medication error in Pakistan. Can we avoid Medical Errors? These errors cannot be removed over nightly but can be reduced significantly in a day just by employing a reliable and efficient Electronic Management Record system (EMR). By using an EMR software, issues like prescription errors, dosage errors, and wrong diagnosis will be reduced considerably. Plus, the efficiency that comes is additional. A lot of errors occur because of the workload on doctors. When an EMR software will share their managerial workload, they will be easily able to put more effort into diagnosis and spend more time with the patient. And hopefully, save a few beautiful lives.
