Pages: 56-64

Abstract

Healthcare is one of the important sectors where the level of risk is so high, hence, the errors and mistakes that occur within this sector and cause failures in the system are also very important. In this context, one of the important errors is the human error that its examination, within the framework of healthcare, infection control and dentistry, can prevent many adverse and unpleasant consequences. The present study has been conducted to identify the causes of human errors in infection control practices such as hand hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Methodology: Present study has been conducted in a specialized dental center. Data collection is performed by interviewing dental specialists and using analyst’s reports and observations regarding those tasks of the dentist that are related to infection control practices such as the use of personal protection equipment and hand hygiene. After identifying human errors and collecting the necessary data, they were analyzed by using SHERPA technique and then, controlling strategies were presented. Findings: Considering the causes of errors, the following results were obtained: forgetfulness and distraction 34%, out-of-work fatigue 3%, inappropriateness of conditions and equipment 4/5%, lack of awareness 17%, forgetting the items taught during the training courses 20% and ineffectiveness of training materials 21.5%. Conclusion: The identified errors, results obtained from the evaluation of the causes of errors and the strategies presented to control them, all, indicate that SHERPA is a suitable and applicable technique in the field of infection control in dentistry, as it has been proved to be useful in studying other fields related to the healthcare and recognizing the root causes of identified errors through this technique, can play an important role in determining the strategies, the way of implementing and programming them.