Party at the VA!

Today we had three no-shows, hence, here I am blogging my little heart out! We studied the AndyRDH board quizzes, which makes me really wish that boards could be taken as a group, and studied some of the hygiene decks too. I thought the AndyRDH site was a really good quiz to go through for sample board questions.

Mockboards... glad that is over!

So, lets just say that 37.5/100 isn't exactly a good score on mockboards so you can imagine how I was feeling for the rest of the day. I can comfort myself a little by knowing that Prof. Hanson told me he was an incredibly difficult patient that she wouldn't put in front of anyone as an exam patient but still... I only got like 2 areas completed and he has to come back for completion of the quad that I worked on for mockboards. I just can't help but think, what the heck is my problem? I feel like 2 hours should have been more than enough time and yet I know when I was working on him there was still a lot of work to do after 2 hours. So I guess I'd just like to know how much of it was him being a hard patient and how much of it was just my own inefficiency?

And even though I went home with a horrible feeling of dissappointment after this mockboard I am looking forward to the next one hoping that I will be able to redeem myself, at least somewhat. Anyway, it was a good learning experience and I'm glad I had a hard patient instead of an easier patient because I wouldn't be as aware of my limitations if that were the case.

The happy couple

This is me & Eric... I just thought this was a cute picture of us! :)

My engagement ring

By request here is a picture of my ring. My fingers look really big and fat in it though! I love it... Last night I had a horrible nightmare that I went to show it to somebody and all the diamonds had fallen out of it! Luckily when I went to check it this morning they were still all there.
And this is a picture of Eric, me & the "Doctor", whom I later found out was just an orderly,at the official proposal.

Universal imstrumentation TA

Today in clinic we covered universal instrumentation and I found myself getting a little frustrated sometimes because I felt like I would offer a suggestion to a student a either they wouldn't really understand what I was trying to say or they would try it and it wouldn't work for them. It wasn't something that was constantly happening but it did happen a few times and I just wanted to say "okay don't listen to me because I don't know what I'm talking about!" Anyway, hopefully I am able to give them answers which are consistent with what other TA's and instructors are giving. Otherwise, it was just another great day of Clinical TA-ing! Only 5 more weeks left.

Clinic TA - 10/18/06

I was the radiology TA for the second time today and today was really good for me. Mostly it was a good learning experience for me but also I think I was a little bit of help for the junior students as well. I learned how to do digital xrays, which I'd never done before and even got a chance to play around with it a little bit. I learned how to write on the films and put graphics on them (like circling a spot of calculus or something). Anyway, it was also a good review of technique for taking PA's. I think I'd kind of forgotten the proper technique for the canine film and as I was helping the students today things started coming back to me.

LAB & CLINIC

The lab this morning was really fun & as crazy as this sounds, it made me a little nostalgic of the good ol' days of first year when we didn't have the stress of patients and classifications and requirements. I heard we got some really good pictures of everything.

This afternoon I saw a class 1B patient, which is okay but I'd rather have seen a class 2 because I haven't seen any so far!! Eeks! Better luck next time. Anyway, my patient experience was good because he hadn't had his teeth cleaned in over 4 years. There was a lot of plaque and quite a bit of decalcification along the gumline. I encouraged him to buy Prevident but he wasn't interested so what can you do. It is hard to understand why patients don't take up these great offers we can provide especially when I understand how much he really could've used the Rx toothpaste.

Clinic TA

Sorry I missed clinic on Wednesday, I was home sick! But I made up my questions for my survey which will be handed out next week and I was thinking about which questions to ask I just realized that this experience has been really beneficial for me! I am also nervous about the responses I get on my survey because I don't know if the first years think I am stupid, too aggressive, too laid back, or what but hopefully I am helping them in some small way! :)

Mockboard patient

Yeah, I finally have a mockboard patient so I feel good about that! I was sick in clinic so it was nice to know I could just hurry and clean one quad of my class 3 patient and then schedule him for mockboards. I was totally stressing about it so I feel much better now... other than this nagging cold that just won't subside. But thanks to whoever gave me the tip about the cotton rolls up your nose, it really works! :)

Dent: 3 cavities

Today for the first time as a TA in 1st year clinic I got to be the patient. This was because we were doing Dent screenings and 3 of the 4 students in my pod had mouths full of virgin teeth. (I am insanely jealous.) So I let them practice charting my teeth and they all got to see/explore 2 of the 3 cavities that I was diagnosed with yesterday. :( It was somewhat difficult to act as patient and instructor because when they would ask "What is this?" I would have to strain to look inside my own mouth to try and tell them what they were seeing. Anyway, it is really a good experience to review this stuff each clinic session with the 1st years.