A FREE tool these five dentists wish they'd had on their "worst day ever."
Dentist "A" took 40 minutes to call 911 after his patient became unresponsive. About 50 minutes into the procedure, the patient’s oxygen saturation dropped to 78%, dropping further to 53% about eight minutes later. No other readings were recorded for the patient. The patient became unresponsive. 40 minutes later, a staff member FINALLY called 911.
The dentist's patient died in the hospital.
Dentist "B" sedated her 4-year-old patient for treatment of tooth decay. The patient suffered a seizure, and her oxygen level and temperature fell dramatically. The dentist and her dental team DID NOT CALL for medical assistance for more than 4 HOURS!
The dentist's patient is now severely brain damaged for life and a jury awarded her family $95.5 million.
Dentist "C" treated a patient - whose medical history included a heart attack and chronic sleep apnea - for a routine biopsy and lip lesion extraction. When the patient’s vitals were taken before the procedure, the patient had low blood pressure and low oxygen saturation. Shortly after the patient received the sedation medications, he went into respiratory failure. The dentist left the patient alone in the room and went to the front office to seek another staff member to help him administer CPR.
The dentist's patient died 3 days later and the family was awarded $1 million.
Dentist "D" performed a procedure to extract teeth and provide implants. However, the dentist failed to perform an adequate risk assessment and pressed ahead with the procedure despite the patient's medical history which included a heart attack six months before the visit, two strokes within the previous two years, and was taking medication that could have affected her response to the sedation. The dentist also failed to properly respond to the patient's decreasing oxygen levels, her respiratory distress, and her cardiopulmonary distress.
The dentist's patient died.
Dentist "E" administered anesthesia and sedative agents to the patient before and during an implant procedure. The patient's oxygen saturation levels and heart rate dropped to life-threatening levels but the dentist unsuccessfully attempted to place an endotracheal tube to assist with the patient's breathing, before calling 911. Even though the patient's oxygenation and heart rate did not improve, the dentist did not successfully place an advanced airway adjunct, create a surgical airway via cricothyroidotomy, take specific interventions to treat bradycardia, or initiate CPR prior to EMS’ arrival.
The dentist's patient was taken off of life support and died.
These 5 cases are just the tip of the iceberg.
I've looked at tons of case studies of dental patients who experienced adverse events in a dental office.
Every one of the adverse events has two things in common:
The failure to act quickly to stabilize the situation and prevent things from getting worse
The reluctance to call 911 and get help
This FREE resource STOPS both of those things.
It's a chair-side cognitive aid for use during ANY patient emergency to ensure you flawlessly...
...using a systematic methodology of checking:
Airway
Breathing
Circulation
Defibrillation (if required)
Emergency drugs/equipment/response plan (including a call to 911)
Following up with the correct chair-side cognitive aid for the needed emergency treatment algorithm
Get your FREE Basic Emergency Management algorithm here. It will protect your career in 2024.