Real Patient Day!

Well, my real patient day didn't exactly go as planned. My patient, love him though I do, had high blood pressure... too high. I had to get prof. Costley's permission to work on him, and having her check his pressure and counsel him combined with getting back in the swing of things took up quite a bit of time. In radiology, we only have one size 2 sensor. Toggling that back and forth ate up a lot of my time as well. When all was said and done, I didn't even get to OHI!

Although it wasn't my smoothest clinic day, I did feel like what work I was able to do was good. I am really scared and nervous about doing radiology with the patient next semester, if today was any indication of how it will be!

All in all, I had fun and my patient was the best! I do know the things that I need to work on before next semester, and I know I can do it. I just have to keep thinking "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."

Mock Patient (operator) Day 2

Today seemed to go by smoother than last time. I finished up the remaining 3 quads and had an instructor help me clear up my confusion regarding Taleval. Even though my patient had very little calculus, I could feel my back and arm getting tired from the work. That's something that I can start working on, I think I need to start exersizing more. My muscles get tired way too easily, and I need to strengthen my core so that my posture is better.

Real patient day is on monday, it's finally here! Time to see what we are all made of :)

Mock Patient (operator) Day 1

I was super nervous for today, but it went really well! I really got the feel for how things are going to run next semester, which made me really happy! 3 hours or so in clinic feels like a really long time, but with your patient in the chair it absolutely FLIES by! It felt like I was working really fast, then I'd look at the clock and wonder where the last half hour went! I don't know how on earth I'm going to do this all in 40 min when I get out into the real world, it seems impossible! I scaled one quad on my patient, and was really proud of myself for getting that far.

Taleval is such a strange creature to me. I'm a little confused by it, but I know before long it will be second nature to me... I hope.

Mock Patient Day 2

Today, again, we checked in and were led to our seat by our student hygienists. Jennifer scaled 3 quads on me, and I was surprised by how quickly and efficient she was! She didn't miss a single area when she called for a scale check. I hope I can be that good on Monday!

I'm feeling a lot of anxiety about next semester. We are going to be seeing real patients, and I have a lot of worries associated with that. Will I be able to keep up seeing patients and still having to work my hiney off in my other classes? Will I be able to get enough patients to fullfill all of my requirements? What if I mess up? I guess I just need to relax and trust that everything we've learned will be enough. I'm sure I'll be really nervous for the first few patients, but the newness and anxiety will wear off (hopefully).

Mock Patient Day 1

Today I got to experience what patients feel like when they come in to see us, the process of it all. It was strange how much I actually felt like a patient coming in! We (the patients) first checked in at the front desk and filled out our registration slips. We then waited until our Hygienists came and got us :)

Jennifer was great and did a good job of scaling my teeth. It was really fun to watch everyone buzzing around like mad from the patient's perspective! It was also cool to get to be the patient first so that I could get a good feel for how everything is going to go for me on Monday when we switch! I'm going to bring my instruments home this weekend and go over exploring, scaling, and I'm going to review my charting! It feels like all of this takes so long, how are we every going to get everything done in just one or two little appointments!

I passed off my instrument sharpening PE (felt good to get that done with, only 1 more to go!)

Instrument Sharpening and Eaglesoft Walkout

Leanring instrument sharpening wasn't too bad. We already had a module on this concept in Professor Costley's class, so it was really more of a review. Eaglesoft walkout wasn't very time consuming either, which left a lot of time to pass off PEs and practice! This made me really happy! With the end of the semester approaching, anything I can gett off my plate is a huge relief!

Sealants!

Today we placed sealants on eachother! I was really nervous going into it, because I'd never placed a sealant before. My partner looked for teeth that could be sealed on me... none. I felt so bad, she had to go team up with someone else who's partner had some she could do. She was so sweet and patient while I worked on her and when I was done, I have to say .... it felt soooooo good! It was one of those "I feel like a hygienist" moments, and it was great :)

I scheduled my real patient that I will be seeing on November 21st, less than three weeks! When I start to look ahead like that, I start feeling overwhelmed. It's much easier to concentrate on the week at hand.

Wednesday I'll be passing off air/powder polishing and flouride. Flouride i'm not too worried about, but the air/powder polisher.... it's just so awkward!! I hope I can get everything done!