Recently legislation was passed in South Australia which mandates that all intravenous sedation (other than conscious sedation) needs to be performed in a licensed health premises.
The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists have advised the profession that they do not support the distinction in this legislation between conscious and unconscious sedation, and that they (ANZCA) do not support any lV sedation being administered anywhere other than a licensed health premises.
They have produced a document in which this position is outlined. It has been prepared and endorsed as a collaboration by the. Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RAGS), the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) and the Australian Society of plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
The position paper has been prepared to assist in the preparation of the licensure (licencing and accreditation) regulations in each Australian jurisdiction to ensure that an organisation or individual working in those jurisdictions meets minimum standards in order to appropriately protect public health and safety.
On the strength of this, MIGA, the Medical Indemnity Group of Australia, have advised Anaesthetists that any practitioner who had an adverse event whilst administering intravenous sedation in unlicensed premises could expect the ANZCA/RACS document to be produced as evidence of expected standards of practice.
Thus, most anaesthetic services in Adelaide are advising dental practices they work with, that they will be unable to provide lV sedation in your dental rooms in the future unless your rooms licensed under the new guidelines.
An alternative, in the mean time, is to access a licensed facility with full accreditation to carry out IV sedation procedures. This can be local hospitals or day surgeries.
One barrier for dentists is the lack of equipment and staff familiar with dental procedures.
If your practice has been carrying out IV sedation and would like to continue doing so
in a dental facility, (until such time that your practice becomes accredited) please consider using the Greenhill Dental Day Surgery as an short or long term option to ensure your patient's access to anaesthetic services remains undisturbed.
Our modern facilities allow dentists to work in a dentally focused setting with a large range of dental equipment focused on surgery and oral implantology. Conventional general dentistry is also possible. We will supply you with anaesthetic services as part of the service at Greenhill dental Day Surgery so you can focus on your patients needs.
To enquire more about accessing these facilities and services please send all
enquiries to:
admin@greenhilldentaldaysurgery.com.au or visit
www.greenhilldentaldaysurgery.com.au
Join our growing team of visiting dentists today.
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