Moving and handling: medical emergencies in the waiting room

As musculoskeletal injuries can have serious implications, dental nurses must recognise the importance of ensuring safe moving and handling practices in the dental surgery, particularly in emergency situations.

Medical emergencies requiring safe moving and handling techniques, that could occur in the waiting room of a dental practice, include cardiac arrest on a chair and a syncope (faint) episode. If a patient has a cardiac arrest on a waiting room chair, but does not fall to floor, he/she will need to be moved to the floor to enable effective CPR to be performed. If a patient has a syncope episode and the dental nurse is there, it may be possible to assist the patient to get to the floor. A patient who is on the floor following a syncope episode, once recovered, will probably need assistance to get up.