Running a successful, productive, and profitable dental practice is not easy. Dentists and their staff must work against fleeting time to keep appointments, and provide the highest quality treatment to their patients. Of course, a successful dental practice must accommodate a growing number of patients per day. Working at their best efficiency equal with patient satisfaction, dentists must find ways to increase their productivity, so that they have more time to supply better services to their patients. Not only this, but the optimization of productivity is also essential for survival in an extremely competitive environment.
In such a scenario, with everything thing else honed razor-sharp, an autoclave, if designed with thought, can play a significant part in improving the clinic’s productivity. A ‘smart’ autoclave can help give you an edge over practices, supplied the autoclave is designed with sophistication and refinement.
Do you wonder if an autoclave can boost your productivity? Is that even possible?
The answer is Yes. Provided you select the best “intelligent” autoclave.
And how will an “intelligent” autoclave increase your productivity? Stay tuned.
One of the merits of a ‘intelligent’ dental autoclave is the ability to reach the set temperature quickly and keeping it steadily at the desired levels for just the right intervals of time. No excess temperature, no under-temps, and no extra delays. An advanced steam generator will help towards that, significantly reducing heating time. It will save you time and of course electricity. A quicker cycle means your practice can handle a higher number of patients in a day.
Excellent design and built-in intelligence will make an autoclave more user-friendly by ensuring simplified operating procedures. That again reduces the burden on your clinic and goes for improved productivity, as your staff won’t have to spend extra time running the autoclave. A simple, one-touch system saves time and increases the productivity of your staff.
Advanced technology can add a layer of intelligence to an autoclave. An advanced autoclave should be able to follow a preset temperature vs. time profile, controlling power automatically, drying, and cooling down to the correct temperature for handling after the sterilization. In our day and age could give a beep or a visual signal at the end of the cycle.
Busy dental professionals have to do multiple operations simultaneously-multitasking- one of which is the collection, cleaning, and sterilization of the used dental instruments. It is helpful to be able to concentrate on other chores while autoclave works independently. And it is good to get a reminder when the sterilization is complete. And if your autoclave is WIFI connected, you and your assistant can even remain aware of exactly which phase your sterilization process is in, using your smartphone to receive live status updates. The days when your assistant had to go check the autoclave in the middle of treating patients are long gone.
This is easily done with your smartphone showing you information sent by the autoclaves, in real time, even while you’re treating patients. You or your assistant do not have to go and check whether the sterilization is complete or if the cycle aborted. If something goes wrong during the sterilization process, the autoclave can automatically issue an alert on your cellphone or any other display device attached to the autoclave. Thus, completely remote supervision of the sterilization cycle is possible.
Dentists have to perform operations that often need more than just two hands. That is why an attendant is necessary during most clinical procedures. The right, intelligent autoclave requires less attention from your attendant and makes him or her more available by the chairside, thereby increasing your efficiency and productivity.
While the autoclave may control the sterilization cycle automatically and efficiently, certain activities must be done by humans. For example, instruments must be loaded correctly in the sterilization trays and then removed. A sterilization system that can supports large trays, will perform all your day’s sterilization in fewer cycles. Can you imagine the time and electricity saved by simply having extra-long trays?
A well-designed autoclave will reduce and facilitate water feed, with the choice of front or top loading will be convenient, especially when re-location is needed. Similarly, the water feed system should be convenient. If you’re interested in streamline autoclave water consumption, connect your autoclave to a water supply and drain with sensors, this will save you the hassle of constantly refilling water. If this is not an option you are left with two valid water loading options – top and front.
When you buy an intelligent sterilization system that save your time and energy consumption, you reduce the workforce required to support your dental operations. Labor is certainly not cheap. An investment in a better machine can give you many folds advantage in cost savings.
But wait, it’s not all about productivity, safety is just as important as productivity. Standards are developed by national and global professional bodies to ensure compliance with requirements of safety, efficacy, and economy. Buying systems compliant with international standards will help you achieve those targets. Sterilization of reusable instruments is a profoundly serious concern. A prominent display of compliance with international standards of sterilization will reassure your clinic against cross patient infection.
As dentists, we often do the put our emphasis on the importance of good quality, efficient, and productive autoclave in running our practice. This article highlights that by just switching to an intelligent, fully automatic autoclave, you can improve the productivity and the revenue of your practice.
About Tuttnauer – You’re one stop shop for dental sterile processing
Tuttnauer provides end to end sterile processing solutions for dental clinics, including; advanced autoclave sterilizers, washer-disinfectors, indicators and sterile processing products.
