Competencies

So there's is only about a month and a couple weeks left until this semester is over. At the moment, I am very worried about not completing all my competencies. Since there is a shortage on patients, I feel as if every time I complete a competency I must pass it on the first try or I won't be able to meet the expectation of competency fulfillment set by the school. It is very frustrating at times, when we don't have patients which leads to not enough practice. I remember a senior telling me, "don't worry about failing your competencies, I failed my hard tissue competency 10 times before I passed". And in my head all I could think is, "I wish I had 10 patients to fail my competencies 10 times with". Shortage, shortage, shortage= less practice, which makes me feel if I don't pass the first time then I am SOL (so out of luck)! I just hope things pick up within this month.

Radiology

Keys to having a successful day in radiology. The best time to learn about how to take a film is during patient screening on Wednesdays. When taking a panorex you have to make sure the patient neck it straight, they are close to the machine, make sure you align the lights so that the patient face is even, all jewelry must be taken off, and least but not last make sure the patient tongue is pushed up to the palate to prevent air space. If you follow these steps you will most likely have a successful radiograph. Taking bite wings, periapicals radiographs just take a lot of practice, and you have to make sure you use the correct angles.

Blood Pressure Cuffs

We are currently using the Omicron automatic blood pressure cuffs. It a nice device, but I think that the readings are only accurate half of the time. I think the problems occurs with the cuff not being a soft cuff and the way it fits around the arm. In two occassions, I had to take my patient to oral surgery to get their blood pressure read. If the cuff was more accurate we would be able to save alot of time, and perhaps finish the appointment. I guess we are in the phase of trial and error. Hopefully we can purchase new soft cuffs for our machines.

First Official Day in Clinic

We have currently seen our first patient. It was a great learning experience. She spoke very little english, and was 30 minutes late to the appointment. But she was a great patient. When she came to clinic, she brought 5 new medications. The medical history took up most of our time during the appointment. We end up having a recall, and finishing the appointment the second time around.

Another patient of ours, we were given the wrong chart. I believe this patient has been charted in the wrong chart before, due the fact that some of the same medications where charted and also the same nasal cancer was charted in both charts. This was a great learning experience, and I am glad we caught the mistake earlier. Also with this patient, the medical history took most of the time but she will come back for a recall.

POH

After not passing my POH by 1%, but later on passing my POH, I would like to put up last minute tips for passing your POH. I would recommened getting an electric toothbrush. Brushing with listerine combined with toothpaste, and getting the thick floss.

Competency

I am very happy that I passed my first competency mirror, explorer, and probe. I am now able to identify the working ends on the 11/12 explorer. Our next competency is on Friday, we will be working on all scalers. So far to prepare for the competency, I have been working on a typhodont and trying to identify the lower cutting edges on the instrument. After, practice in clinic I feel pretty good about the use of the area specific gracey, universal, and sickle scalers. I hope I can pass this competency on the first try. I feel as if every time we have a competency I get very nervous and end up making a goofy mistake. I need to remember to take my time, look at the working area, make sure I have the correct working/cutting end, and remember the correct patient positioning. Overall, if I remember these things I think I will do well. I will keep you updated on how the competency goes.

Overwhelming

Lately, this course has been overwhelming. I feel like we are just getting tons of information thrown at us. All the exams happen to fall on the same day, one after another, they continue to roll in. On a brighter note, I finally feel confident in using the 11/12 explorer. My trouble's started with finding the correct working end. But with extra clinic time, and more practice I feel very confident and I am ready to retest for my competency. We are curently working on sickle scalers, and curets. I do not feel comfortable with these instruments. There are many of them, and so many cutting edges. But in time, I believe like the explorer, I will begin to feel more comfortable and confident. With time, practice, and effort we will get through this course.