The Compliance Divas Podcast
Our podcast covers current topics such as infection prevention and control, OSHA and HIPAA compliance for dentistry. We discuss the latest regulatory information, answer frequently asked questions and give suggestions for dental practices to make compliance easy and sustainable. The Compliance Divas are a trusted source for consistent, accurate information based upon current guidelines, standards, science, and recommendations.
The Compliance Divas Podcast
#208 Exciting News from the Association for Dental Safety
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In this episode, Ashley Quackenbush shares insights about Ask ADS, the latest feature from the Association of Dental Safety. This newly launched AI tool answers your toughest questions about dental compliance and clinical best practices. Whether you're a solo practitioner or part of a large DSO, Ask ADS makes staying compliant refreshingly accessible.
- Ask ADS: https://www.myads.org/ask-ads-
- ADS Compliance Divas membership discount on 1st year membership: Divas50
Welcome. I'm Leslie Cannon. I'm Mary Gavoni.
SPEAKER_03I'm Linda Harvey. I'm Olivia Lon, and together we are the Compliance Divas.
SPEAKER_04Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. I'm Mary Gavoni and I'll be the moderator for this episode. The Compliance Divas bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. You can subscribe to the Compliance Divas podcast through your favorite podcast app or on our website, thecompliancedeivas.com. Any resources that we mentioned during our podcast can be found in the show notes, and you can submit any questions to support at thecompliancedivas.com. And don't forget, after you're done listening, scroll down to the bottom of your app and please leave us a review or give us some feedback. The Divas have mentioned many times the Association for Dental Safety, formerly known as OSAP. I think it will always be OSAP to us longtime members. We frequently cite them in our podcasts because they are our trusted resource for infection prevention information. It is the premier organization for infection control and safety in dentistry. And today we have a special guest from ADS, Ashley Quackenbush, who is going to tell us about the newest development at ADS, which we're very, very excited about. So, Linda, I'm going to turn the mic over to you and we'll pick Ashley's brain.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you, Mary. Ashley, we're thrilled to have you join us today on this podcast. I think it's great that our listeners can just learn firsthand about the Association for Dental Safety in here from the insider. This is perfect. So but first I'd like to start off and just say, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role with the Association of Dental Safety?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Thank you all so much for having me on this podcast. I'm so excited to be here. So my again, my name is Ashley Quackenbush. I'm the senior director of education and marketing for ADS. I've been with ADS for almost seven years, which is quite exciting. It's amazing how time flies. And within ADS, I have a variety of different responsibilities. So my main one is that I oversee all of our educational initiatives, including curriculum development for our boot camp, our annual conference. We have a variety of online courses and webinars. Another big key part of my role is I'm responsible for writing grants and managing the projects and the educational tools that are developed out of that funding, which is also kind of a really fun little part of my role. But one of my favorite responsibilities is really enhancing learning experiences through technology. So several years ago, while we were still OSAF, I built a brand new website, a membership database, and a learning management system for ADS. And most recently, I have developed an AI-powered tool called Ask ADS, which I know is really the focus of today's podcast.
SPEAKER_02That's amazing. I love how you're bringing these new ideas and fresh looks to ADS because sometimes, you know, let's face it, Donald Timur's kind of like can think of infection prevention as something rote, just wrap, you know, take the instruments, put them in the ultrasonic, dry them, wrap them up, take it just like monotony tasks, right? But it's so important to stay vigilant with all those. And I think the programs that you have in this new technology, especially that ask ADS, is going to just help in so many ways. Particularly, actually, one thing that comes to my mind is when there's a differing of opinion and how to do something in dental practice. So many times the team members are either one, they do not get along because of that, or one person will choose not to be confrontational and not say anything to the other person. When really it's all about clarification. To me, that's the best word to use with communication. And what can they do? They can reach out and ask ADS now. So that's perfect. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. That is so great, especially now we're kind of in this firestorm of where's the information with the CDC, then Ask ADS will be our great trusted source. So we're now going to turn over the mic to Olivia, and she's got some questions about what we can do, what we need to know about Ask ADS.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, Mary. Uh, first of all, actually, we really appreciate all of the incredible contributions that you've made to ADS. It's been exciting to see year to year the improvements that are being made and how valuable my personal, my personal membership is in being a part of ADS. But I'd love for you to share with our listeners how they can benefit from this new service.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So, really the goal of Ask ADS, which is an AI-based tool, is to ensure that every dental visit is a safe one. And Ask ADS has really been designed to be a trusted, always available resource to answer your questions on dental infection prevention, safety protocols, and regulatory compliance. And we want the responses to be quick, clear, and accurate. Years ago, um, we had a service that was still also called Ask ADS, but it was actually a subject matter expert. So you would submit your questions to an actual human, she would research your um your questions and respond in three to five business days. What's incredible about new this new Ask ADS is the response is immediate. So no waiting. There's no time. Um, you know, you don't have to wait multiple days to get your response, so you get it immediately. And it's really got another bunch of key features. So the biggest part is really that it's trained on trusted sources. So all the responses are grounded in the most current evidence-based guidance and best practices in dental infection prevention and safety. And Ask ADS has been trained on more than a thousand sources to really build a robust knowledge base from a variety of authoritative materials. So it's been trained on um regulations, standards, guidelines, and best practices from key US federal agencies, so the CDC, ETA, FDA, and OSHA. Um, we've also trained Ask ADS on a lot of ADS developed resources, such as our General Unit Water Lines White Paper. We've also added in um articles from our bimonthly peer-reviewed educational publication, which is called Infection Control and Practice, which is really that um practical um type of uh resource. It's got real life scenarios and checklists and guides. So Ask ADS will pull responses from these tools. Um, it's also, we most recently actually added, I think it was last week, the seventh edition of the Infection Control and Management of Hazardous Materials for the Dental Team, which is a book that was written by a longtime ADS member, Dr. Chris Miller. So Ask ADS now pulls information from that textbook. And then it also includes detailed information about ADS itself. So if you have questions about our leadership, who's on our board, you know, what are the member benefits of membership, what education and training opportunities are there? Um, and then one kind of neat thing that we've also added is we have pulled um the state dental practice acts from all 50 states and imported that information into the system at well as well. So no matter what state you're in, you should be able to type in a question and it should be able to give you a response based on your specific state, which is really pretty neat.
SPEAKER_03That just blows me away uh how amazing this platform is going to be. So I think to highlight some of the important things that you said is the availability of the response. You know, it was going to a human that was knowledgeable. Now, not only is it speeding up the process using AI, but it's the trusted resources that you pointed out, which is critical because I think that's why some people are afraid to use AI, because what we've learned that it may not be pulling from a good resource. Um, and also it's incredible that it pulls all the dental practice back because I know there's a lot of these DSOs that are present in multiple states, and their safety coordinators may be looking up the information relevant to where all those satellites are located. So that's going to be a great resource for them. And I know from experience that when we have clients calling in for support or we get a message through our portal, you know, they want information quickly, especially if it's something critical, like how to handle an exposure event. You know, what are the proper protocols? What we mean what are the correct vaccines? So this is going to be such a valuable tool, especially for the safety managers that are out there. So we really appreciate what you're bringing to the ADS organization.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And just to kind of expand on that, so it's not just able to answer your questions, like, you know, how do I maintain my water lines? You can actually use Ask ADS to build policies and procedures for your office. So you can say, you know, I have X number of chairs in my office and, you know, kind of outline what type of office you have and then ask it to build you a policy or procedure for those specific topic areas. So it's not just question asking, it's really to help, you know, support your practice and the safety of care that you're able to provide.
SPEAKER_03So it's almost like having a virtual assistant.
SPEAKER_01It really is.
SPEAKER_04That's great. Back to you, Mary. Thanks, Olivia. Wow, I I did not know until you shared that with us about it being able to create policies and procedures. That is fabulous. So the question of the hour from Leslie is of course, how do we get this?
SPEAKER_00You know, thank you, Ashley, for all of this amazing information. I knew about ADS from attending the annual session, which is where all the insiders get their information first. But I think our listeners would be most interested in finding out how they can access Ask ADS.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so for a limited time, Ask ADS is available to everyone. Everyone, anyone, whoever has a question about infection prevention and control in the dental setting can access it. So the easiest way to access is through the ADS website, which is www.myads.org. And on the homepage, there's actually a couple different ways to try to make it as easy for you to find the actual web page. There is a menu item on the top of the website that says ask ADS. There's also a little graphic on the homepage that you can click. And also there is a link in our quick links, which are on the side of every page throughout the website. Once you click on that one of those options, you'll land on the Ask ADS homepage. And first-time users will need to complete a quick registration form, but there are no fees associated with doing so. So it's really just a way for us to kind of get a sense of who's using the system so that we can kind of continue to improve it. And then once you fill out that form, you'll land on a web page where the the actual ask ADS tool lives. Now, if you are a returning user, you will be prompted to log in. Um and but you can ask as many questions as you want at one sitting, you can come back as many times as you need to. Um so it's really kind of flexible. It does just have that little login feature. Um but there are no membership is not required, although we would absolutely encourage um joining at ADS to make sure that you uh maintain continued access to the service. Um, but for now it is free to everybody.
SPEAKER_00That is just amazing. And uh keeping up with the technology must be so difficult for you, uh, having done all the improvements on the website, and now simply by typing in a question, someone can get the answer that they need within seconds. And I imagine the resources for where that answer came from will be clearly displayed as well. So when it goes to get a question answered for a team, would be able to come back and say, we're supposed to do this with water lines, and this is where I reference that material. Uh, sometimes I get emails from clients and audiences, they say, would you solve an argument between us girls at the office? And then they have the question. And uh so having the having the ability to write those protocols and policies would normally take hours and hours and hours of research on just one particular item. And that being able, of course, to access some of the great resources from ADS is amazing. I I would never be able to do what I do as a consultant and speaker on ocean infection control without ADS.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and you're right. Every so when Ask ADS writes its answer response, it often will cite the resources it's pulled the information from right in the written response. And then at the bottom of the kind of box, there's a um, I believe it says uh other information you may be interested in. And it that will also direct you to other resources that you can, and if you click on it, it will bring you right to the web page or to the PDF that was used to um train Ask ADS. Um so that's really kind of a great resource. And you also have the ability within the kind of chat window, there's a little download icon. So you can download and print off or email a PDF of the written response. So it doesn't just kind of poof disappear. You can actually have it written. Um you can also, you know, copy paste into a Word document or a Google Doc or whatever um document system you may be using. Um so it's really a pretty user-friendly experience.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that is amazing. I think that uh one of the things that is exciting to me is that I'm gonna see a lot of light bulbs go off. I'm gonna see a lot of aha moments for the people I tell Ask ADS about. Thank you so much, Ashley, for your contribution.
SPEAKER_01And one other thing I just wanted to point out is that Ask ADS actually is multilingual. So if you ask a question in Spanish, it will respond in Spanish, which is really kind of a neat feature. Um, I'm not exactly sure how many languages it covers, but it's a wide range of languages. Um, so that's also a really neat feature, especially as ADS kind of it starts to try to expand into a more global organization, really supporting all of those who have dental infection prevention questions. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04Linda, did you have another question for Ashley?
SPEAKER_02I just wanted to chime in here because it's such exciting news. I just can't hold it. But we've you've always had ADS has all an OSEP has always had international members. And so I think this is just so awesome because infection control is for everyone, it's not just a law or regulation and in one country or one state. And that's so significant. And then the fact that you can drill down to your state is so very important because how many times even are we doing a presentation in a state? And we ask them, well, what does your state dental practice act say about infection control or certain questions? Just to kind of test their knowledge or bring them into a conversation, and they they aren't able to even talk about it because they don't even know what we're talking about. So this is just a great resource. And I also appreciate the fact that it's going to the trusted resources that you and Olivia discussed because when I did a program earlier this year on AI, I was doing some research. And the Harvard institution refers to AI sometimes when it's wrong as hallucinating because it's pulling from incorrect information or outdated information. And now you've you've assembled the resources that all the consultants would use, all the members would use, and ideally all of our dental team members would use to get the correct answer. So that's so important. It's going to just really change the trajectory of the infection control knowledge at the dental team member level. And I think that's what we all strive to do in our personal careers and speaking and coaching and just working with practices. So this is amazing. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's one of the really neat parts about this is it's a closed system. So it's not just searching the internet as a general chat GPT would do. It's searching only those things that we have chosen to put into the system. So it's not going to pull those kind of off-the-walls thing. So it really be will hopefully reduce some of that misinformation that we know is um really all too common.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. And I think that's probably one of the most powerful features of this is that it's it's going through past all the craziness that's out there and we know it is, and getting to those trusted sources. Right now, um Ask ADS is available to everyone, but at some point it may be a member-only feature. And so we're going to encourage our listeners to use a special code, and we'll put it in the show notes. But the code is Divas50, and it allows any of our listeners to get 50% off their first year of membership. So we hope they do become members. We really want to see ADS continue to grow as this very, very trusted resource. So, Ashley, before we close, do you have any other comments or feedback you'd like to share with us?
SPEAKER_01My only other comment would be really to help us spread the word. Um, we really want as many people within the oral healthcare community to try Ask ADS out. You know, so whether you're a consultant, an educator, even if you work for a dental manufacturer or distributor, this can be helpful to you, your clients. Um, and so we hope that you share this widely. On the Ask ADS website, we actually have created a marketing toolkit. So it's got some uh PowerPoint slides. We've included a social media guide with some suggested copy for the various social media sites and some graphics. So we want you to help us spread the word and get this amazing tool out there to the community.
SPEAKER_04Well, we are happy to do that. All of us are longtime ADS members, and we support the mission of the organization and all that you give to us in terms of information and support. So thank you so much, Ashley, for joining us today. And we thank our listeners for participating in this episode. The compliance divas brings clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. If you have any questions from this episode, you can submit them by email to support at thecompliancedivas.com. We will put the discount code and links to Ask ADS in the show notes, so they'll be available on your podcast app. And if you have any feedback you'd like to give us, please scroll down to the end of your podcast app and give us a rating or give us some feedback. And Ashley, thank you again. And we'll see our listeners next time.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much for having me.