/u/toothjanitor made this post but it's sort of old, and I had a question regarding infection control and dealing with people as well.

I am still trying to learn what can be touched with clean hands, what needs gloves, which end of the forceps to use to grab stuff out of drawers, and all of that. For some reason it is not instinctual with me...I do not understand what is "clean". I change dentists weekly and work with different dentists and assistants. I see one person reaching into the drawer with freshly washed hands, and another person using gloves...both of these things seem ok to me because both are clean. But I've also seen people reach into the drawer with dirty gloves after using the forceps to open the drawer, because they couldn't grab onto whatever they were trying to get with the forceps. Doesn't that make everything in the vicinity of what they were going for dirty now?

I've also seen people open the cabinets with gloves and grab things, and also later touch them with hands...I am very confused on what to touch and what not to touch, because I am seeing so many people do things differently. Now I just always assume the cabinet is "dirty" and to take my gloves off before I grab something, then sanitize and put on new gloves. But then I have to open the thing...it's the little stuff like this that I am getting confused on and I can't figure out what to do.

How do I learn the right thing to do? I have literally told every single person that I have worked with that I am having troubles learning what to touch and what not to touch, and to please stop me if they see me reach for something that I shouldn't be touching. They have done this, but then an hour later I see them reach for the exact same thing...how do I learn what is right?

Is this something that will come with time? I feel like it's the most basic and important thing and I've been in the clinic for over a month now and I am still fucking it up every day almost. And I can't say "well so-n-so told me to do it this way", or shift blame, or anything like that. It's my responsibility to learn it and to do it properly but if I can't get others to show me how to do the right thing, how am I supposed to do that?

/rant