This is an on-demand online course designed to provide staff working in dental practices with up-to-date information on the changes in standards for instrument reprocessing and other emerging issues that flow from the 2024 ADA Guidelines for Infection Prevention and Control 5th edition. The topics of the various modules in this course are designed to support practices in reviewing and updating their procedures for reprocessing. The course covers the overarching concepts behind national and international standards, and how they are connected. The course content progresses stepwise through phase soft reprocessing from pre-cleaning through to load release. There is also information on ancillary topics including water testing and the design of the reprocessing area to achieve optimal workflow.

Learning Goals

• Determine a pathway that includes gap analysis and risk assessment when planning changes in local protocols
• Understand the impacts of physical infrastructure on the effectiveness of reprocessing  
• Identify common places where problems occur in reprocessing
• Appreciate alternative sterilisation technologies and their use
• Understand how to check sterilised loads prior to release
• Appreciate how to implement initiatives in infection prevention and control that enhance sustainability and lower cost

All assessment responses must be written in your own words. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools or assistance during exams is strictly prohibited. Any participant found to have used AI to generate or support their exam answers will receive an automatic fail for the assessment.

Speaker Biography

Emeritus Professor Laurie Walsh AO

BDSc, PhD, DDSc, GCEd, FRACDS, FFOP(RCPA), FIADFE

Professor Laurence Walsh AO is a specialist in special needs dentistry who is based at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Laurie has been teaching infection control and clinical microbiology for over 25 years at postgraduate level and has been the chief examiner in microbiology for the RACDS for the past 20 years. He has presented invited courses and lectures on infection control across Australia and internationally. Laurie has written over 60 articles on infection control in ADA publications and over 200 articles on clinical microbiology in the dental literature. He serves on two committees of Standards Australia (personal protective equipment; and instrument reprocessing) and in recent years has been an adviser to the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Laurie has been a member of the ADA Infection Control Committee since 1998. 

He has contributed to the development of various infection control protocols, guidelines and checklists and manuals used in Australia.