Ten Days Until Graduation!

I am super excited right now! I got all my requirements done today, I had a fun lunch with my girls, I saw fun patients today and graduation is only ten days away! It sure did come fast! I was sitting in Pod wrap today thinking, “I don’t have anything else clinic wise to stress about!” It is such a great feeling to know that I am almost done with school. I will miss my friends, teachers and some patients, but I am super happy to be done!

All Done With Papers!

It’s Friday and we don’t have class or clinic but I still had to make a trip up to the school to complete my Eaglesoft project.  I was happy to see that there were a few of my friends up their working on projects or doing the same exact thing. Lucky for me they were there because I had lots of questions. That is what I LOVE about our class, I don’t feel stupid asking stupid questions to you brilliant girls. It feels good to be done with the papers and projects but as the end gets closer it is getting harder for me because I won’t be around everyone in a few weeks. I vote we have collage reunions often so I can still see all my friends!

Almost Done...

I am supper excited about today! I was able to get all my PA's done and a few PE's.  I also am supper happy that i got my results back from boards and I passed! Next week I will be seeing my roommate and will finish up my requirements on her. Overall it was a good day :)

Why Are Injections So Hard For Me?

Today was going good until my afternoon pt that I had to numb up.  I had was finishing her today and I knew that I needed to do the Left PSA (which scared me) and the Left IA (which did not).  But I gave the Left PSA with no real problems; it was the stupid IA that got me. I went in to site of penetration and hit osseous like five times, so I withdrew and aimed higher. When I went in the second time I was able to get to site of deposition but when I was aspirating my stupid harpoon got disengaged! Then I had one more try to really go in and get her numb, but I wasn’t too scared because I knew from the second try where to go exactly. But when I got to site of deposition for the third try, I got a freaking positive aspiration and didn’t get to numb my pt! So the cleaning was really uncomfortable for her and me and I felt bad the whole time, thinking that my pt thought I was an idiot. Well…. I am starting to freak out because I still need to take my LA clinical board but this just shot down my confidence.

Class 4's are HARD!

So Today I saw my class four again and i really hope that i am an expert by the time i see another one! She was freaking hard! I wished I knew more of what I was doing because I struggled getting her calculus. She was super patient with me and I feel bad that after i scaled her mouth for an hour, i had to have my instructor scale with me for the next hour. I am excited that today is one month til graduation thou! The light is at the end of the tunnel, it just seems kinda dim still :)

Scared For Boards!

I am super stressed out right now! I think I had a mini panic attack at the end of clinic today (sorry for all who witnessed) I know that everyone probably feels the same way and I am glad that im not the only one freaking out! I am praying so hard that everything works out for everyone. Today we found more board pts and that worked out great so this can too! Good luck to everyone during the next two weeks!!!

Wanting to Join the Overwhelmed Club

I’m feeling a little overwhelmed today after clinic.  I had my morning pt from the resource list and really hoping she would be either a class three or four. Nope. She didn’t even need LA. My afternoon pt was also neither of the classes I need so in a way I feel like today was a waste. I did learn and got to practice my skills so that’s always good but I am still on the lookout for my class four. I have been praying really really hard that everyone can find board patients and I am hopeful for Fridays screening.

Screenings

Today I went to help out at the screenings on campus and we had a lot of luck. I think four girls found their board pts! I was supper excited for them and will be on the lookout for the rest of the girls that need them!
This week has gone by so fast. Mockboards on Tuesday went well for me and I am hoping that Boards goes well too. The VA yesterday was also ok but both of my pts were 1B's. I am hoping that the class three pts start popping up! Goals for next week are finding others board pts and to find a class four pt. Wish me luck!

UDA Convention

I don’t know if it is because I knew what to expect this year, but the UDA convention was way more fun this year compared to last year. I went to a class today that talked about ways and theories in remembering your patients names. Honestly the reason I went to this lecture was because I was hoping that I could get pointers on remembering facts for boards as well as pointers on remembering pts names. It was really interesting and the speaker was British so he was enjoyable to listen to. He taught us five things to do to remember names:


1. Hear their name (really listen and focus on what they say)

2. Spell their name out in your head

3. If it’s an odd name to you, make a remark about it

4. Use their name a few times during your conversation

5. Use their name when saying goodbye to them

Along with those five tips he talked about reviewing them often. I think if I apply this same theory to facts I need to remember in dental hygiene, I may be able to remember more. I hope it helps!

First Positive Aspiration

Today was LA mockboards and I had my peer pal help me out and be my pt. She has great anatomy and I think I would have done so much better on her had I not been so nervous. Before I started on her, I was hearing that a lot of the girls that had gone before me had gotten positive aspirations so that made me nervous a little. When I have seen positive aspirations done (I have never had one) but they always shoot bright red into the carp immediately. So when I was giving my peer pal her IA injection I aspirated, waited three seconds and said neg. aspiration because I was looking into the carp and didn’t see a shot of red. I should have waited another three seconds because I had gotten a positive aspiration but just a tiny little drop of blood slowly diffused through the carp and it wasn’t visible for a while unlike the others. So, I failed but I hope that I will learn from this experience and NEVER call a positive aspiration a negative one again!

It's Raining 1B's

Today I got another 1B off the resource list! I pick names that i think will be harder classifications but all im getting are stinkin 1B's. My pt this morning was really cool to talk to though. He had not had a cleaning in four years yet he had a very healthy teeth. I will hopefully be able to find more class III's and a mockboard before the time comes for another mockboard. :)

#2 Mockboard

Mockboard day is over! I cant believe how much less stress the second round of mockboards was for me. I was still really nervous but I was confident in the process and that my pt did show up! I didn't do too bad but their are a few things i know i could improve like really sticking to my routine. I should have gone over at the end with the ultrasonic also. I am going to be putting my ultrasonic away for a little bit so that i can really perfect the use of my skills on hand instrumentation.

What... No Ultrasonic?

So today I let myself down a little. My a.m. pt had a pacemaker and I wasn't able to use the ultrasonic. I thought that I would do fine without it because he didn't have too hard of calculus. Little did I know how much I rely on my ultrasonic because when it came for a scale check, I had missed spots galore! I really am taking this learning experience to heart because I want so badly to be a good clinician and I want to be good at my hand instrumenting. Goal: for the next few pts (after mockboard) I am not going to use my ultrasonic. I want to make sure my skills are up to par and that I'm not just falling back on the ultrasonic. Wish me luck!

I'm Havin' Fun

Today was a good day! I was a little nervous coming back for our last semester of DH but the day went very smoothly. During my a.m. appt. i thought to myself, "This is a lot of fun cleaning teeth!" I realized that I missed this during the break. Next week I really want to work on improving my times, I know we still have a semester left but I still feel like I need to be faster. Yay to the last semester! Good luck to us all. :)