Practice Management: OSHA, records, inventory, and controlled drugs
Practice Management
This domain tests the business and compliance side of practice: workplace safety, medical records, inventory and controlled substances, consent, and team workflow.
Core rules and concepts
- OSHA: hazard communication with SDS access, PPE, sharps handling, eye wash, radiation safety (badge and lead), and zoonosis and vaccination policies. An exposure incident requires immediate washing and reporting.
- Medical records: the legal record must be contemporaneous, legible, and unaltered. Corrections are made with a single line, initials, and date - never erased or backdated. Records support billing, defense, and continuity.
- Controlled substances: locked storage, biennial inventory, running logs, witnessed wastage, and DEA-compliant records.
- Inventory: track par levels, rotate stock by expiry, and log refrigerated vaccines and drugs with temperature monitoring.
- Consent and estimates: written informed consent and a signed estimate before procedures; document declined recommendations.
Worked example
A client declines a recommended dental because of cost. Record the recommendation, the estimate range, the discussion of risks (pain, infection, tooth loss), and the client's decision with the date and initials. This protects the patient and the practice, and sets up a follow-up conversation at the next visit.
Traps
Altering a record after the fact. Storing controlled drugs in an unlocked drawer "for convenience." Using expired vaccines. Failing to log a partial controlled-substance vial. Giving an estimate verbally without documentation.