Dental practitioners who perform exposure prone procedures will now be asked a number of additional questions about their compliance with the Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) guidelines during registration and renewal.
The guidelines, the Australian national guidelines for the management of healthcare workers living with blood borne viruses and healthcare workers who perform exposure prone procedures at risk of exposure to blood borne viruses, which reflect the current expert consensus on the evidence in relation to healthcare workers and their blood borne virus status, "include measures related to the prevention of transmission from, and the management and treatment of healthcare workers with hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and/or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)." (Department of Health)
Currently, dental practitioners are asked at registration and renewal if they are compliant with the CDNA guidelines and the Dental Board of Australia's (the Board) Guidelines on infection control.
In response to the CDNA guidelines update, those renewing their registration who perform exposure prone procedures will need to answer an additional number of questions on their compliance with these guidelines.
You can find the guidelines along with information sheets at the Department of Health.
The Board will be releasing more information about the CDNA guidelines in coming months, along with its implications for dental practitioners. These updates precede the development of guidelines to complement the CDNA guidelines with community and profession consultations scheduled to commence later in 2019.
The updated CDNA guidelines will be incorporated into the upcoming fourth edition of the ADA's Guidelines for Infection Control.
