Free checklist
Chairside Assisting Checklist
The checklist (11 items)
Written as observable actions, so two trainers scoring the same shift land in the same place. In CrewSharp this is the Chairside Assisting checklist in the Clinic / Dental practice starter set, filed under Operatory, and every item here is editable.
- 1Reviewed the patient's medical history before seatingMust pass
- 2Seated and draped the patient comfortably
- 3Passed instruments in the order the provider needed them
- 4Kept the field clear with suction
- 5Mixed materials to the correct consistency
- 6Watched the patient for signs of distress
- 7Charted as the procedure wentMust pass
- 8Changed gloves when moving between patient and clean areasCritical
- 9Kept used instruments separate from clean ones
- 10Gave post-op instructions in plain language
- 11Checked the patient understood the instructions
Print it, score it on a clipboard, or open it in Sheets. No email required.
What usually goes wrong
Changing gloves between patient and clean areas is the critical item, and it slips once hands get busy. It is easy at the start of a procedure and much harder to hold when the pace picks up.
The items a good total should not outweigh
- Changed gloves when moving between patient and clean areas
When to sign someone off
A workable bar for this checklist: no critical items missed, a score above a line you set for Chairside Assisting specifically rather than one number for the whole building, and observed on more than one shift with at least one of them busy. Then date it, so it can expire.
That last part is the one people skip. A sign-off with no date cannot be re-checked, which means a year later you have a record that says somebody was ready once.
Other clinic / dental practice checklists
The rest of the set, if you are building out the whole floor rather than one position.
Common questions
How long does it take to train a chairside assistant?
The protocol is quick to learn, while anticipation takes longer. Working smoothly with a specific provider takes repeated sessions with that provider, which is why a sign-off is worth recording per person.
What should be on a chairside assisting checklist?
The 11 items above cover it: reviewed the patient's medical history before seating, seated and draped the patient comfortably, passed instruments in the order the provider needed them, and the rest of the list. Keep it in that range. Fewer and a pass proves very little; many more and trainers stop finishing it during a real shift.
Which items should count as critical?
On this checklist, one item is marked critical: changed gloves when moving between patient and clean areas. Missing one means not ready, regardless of the total score, because these are the failures that cannot be corrected after the fact.
Scoring it is the part that lasts
Run this Chairside Assisting checklist on a tablet between rushes and CrewSharp keeps the rest: who is signed off, when it was last checked, and which item your crew misses most.
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