Life of dental hygiene school

2011-04-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Finished my 1A's and 1B's this morning and if my afternoon patient doesn't stand me up I will complete my class 3's and my final PE. My requirements will be complete and I will be able to breathe and sleep a little better tonight. If only my WREB test scores would come and I would know for a certainty that I will graduate and be eligible for my license. I am excited to get my resume out there and hopefully someone will think I am an asset to their dental office and give me a job.

Winding Down

2011-03-31T18:05:00.001-07:00

After today only two more clinics and one more day at the VA. It should seem like it is going so fast but every morning when my alarm goes off I wonder if I can make it another day. I think I am physically and mentally exhausted from boards and have not had the days or nights to recooperate. I am pretty bummed, I thought I was done with all my class 3's and 4's and found out today I still need one more quad. I sure hope my 3 shows up next thursday since the one I had scheduled today stood me up.

2011-03-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of clinic after boards. It was so much more relaxed knowing I was done with WREB. I passed both local anesthesia exams and national boards. Still waiting to find out about Process of Care and calculus removal. I sure hope I passed because finding another board patient and transporting them to whereever they are testing plus paying all the fees againg would be awful.
If I did pass this next month will be really nice to finish up all my projects and start getting faster with my patients.

LA Mockboard

2011-03-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

Today was our LA mockboard, I passed the written, it wasn't so bad. I hope the real written board is like the one I took today. On the injections I failed the IA because I redirected my needle without announcing it and I passed the PSA. I am really nervous for the real thing. I wasn't very nervous today because I know the professors and I am not scared of them. But on the real day I am worried I will be shaking uncontrollably because it is the WREB examiners. I sure hope I pass.

Stressed Out!!!

2011-02-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

Only one more clinic day before the real board. I am so nervous. I hope I don't fail. I am getting so tired of these long days of clinic and class and then to go home to all night studying, laundry, kids and a dirty house. I will be so glad when I feel like I have some control over my life and house and don't feel guilty when I am not spending every waking minute studying or stressing.

2011-02-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

Today at the VA started out good. My first patient had extreme anxiety. I just kept talking to him about his kids and family and by the end of the appointment he said I made it pleasant for me and that I was going to be a good hygienist. That made me feel good. My afternoon patient on the other hand was a new patient and needed everything done. He had an abscess on his lower molar and because I didn't take a PA of it before the doctor came over, the doctor made me feel like I was stupid because I hadn't already taken a PA of that tooth. Oh well I made it through the day and now I am gearing up for another long day of clinic tomorrow.

2011-02-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

Well I took Process of Care today and took National Boards last week. I sure hope I passed both of them because I really don't want to have to retake either one and pay the money. I also had my final mockboard last week and finally passed. I sure hope I can do that well on the real board day. I am really burned out I hope the remainder of this semester goes fast and I pass all my boards so I can be done with the exhausting studying.

2011-02-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

Another day down in clinic. The ony great thing about today was both my patients needed injections. The bad thing about today if it would have been boards I would have failed my injections. My syringe was not over the premolars on my IA. If I don't pass all my boards I will probably crawl in a hole and never come out. I take my first board next Wednesday. They say no one fails National Boards, how stupid will I feel if I fail. Other than the fear and stress of boards I love dental hygiene and love the patients, every day is a new experience and I feel I am learning so much with every experience.

Injections

2011-02-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

My husband came in today so I could practice injections on him (what a sport). He is my LA board patient so in another month he will let me to it to him again. He should get husband of the year for this sacrifice. I guess I did okay on his injections with a lot of coaching from Prof. Perry.

My afternoon pt I did injections on as well, I did okay on her IA but, on her PSA Prof. Perry said I did a great infiltration on her second molar, my 45* angle was off. I hope I get many more patients before boards to practice injections on.

2nd MockBoard

2011-01-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

Well I failed my second mockboard today, but looking on the positive side my score was 27 points higher than last time, so if I can continue to increase on each exam I should pass boards with flying colors.
Today started out as a nightmare. My patient cancelled 5 minutes after she should have arrived. I finally got someone in an hour late. My scale time was cut about 40 minutes and I was so flustered and shaky. When I gave my injection I was shaking so much from all the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I finally calmed down and began cleaning. My patient bleed like crazy and unfortunately the time I had to clean went way to fast and I didn't get the time I really needed to take a breather and go back in and feel with my explorer.
Even though I failed today I am very happy I got a patient in my chair and I got the experience again to clean someone that has very hard tenacious calculus. Even though I have seen class III's and IV' since the last mockboard I don't feel any of them have had the hard calculus like these patients have had.
I am looking forward to the next mockboard and hope I can get better and my patient will not cancel or be late.

2011-01-13T10:11:00.001-08:00

I was really nervous to go back to the VA after a long Christmas break, but it went well. I had two patients that were class V. They were both very nice and made the day go fast and it was fun. Today I saw my special needs patient, I gave her Nitrous Oxide, I wasn't planning on doing it so I hadn't reviewed my PE so I was bummed I couldn't pass it off because I needed help remembering how to turn it on. She was a great patient and seemed very relaxed to be on nitrous compared to last time when she was very jumpy.

Spring Semester Senior Year

2011-01-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

Today is our first day of clinic of our final semester until we graduate! We are learning taleval before our patients show up. Today I have a 1A and class 4 scheduled I hope to start this semester out right both my patients show up and I can remember how to do everything. So far this semester I am feeling a little overwhelmed with signing up for boards and feeling like I have so much to still study and I am very worried about clinicals because I have only done injections on one patient.

2010-12-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

One more final to go I am so looking forward to Christmas break. It will be nice to study for boards without having to worry about all my other courses. I haven't done so well on my finals other than Human Sexuality because my professor didn't feel like writing a final so she gave all of us 100%. I did pretty bad on Professor Alexanders final. I studied really hard but her questions didn't really come from her powerpoints or what we learned in class so I don't know what I could have done any better other than be a hygienist that has been practicing for several years and it is just common sense to me. I just hope everyone else struggles as well and she raises all the scores.

Last clinic day

2010-11-28T14:00:00.001-08:00

Had our last clinic day but due to the fake big storm we sent our afternoon patients home early. I wish I would have had about 30 more minutes with my patient to get x-rays and probe depths to know what class he was for next semester. Oh well can't complain to much about a really long Thanksgiving break.

Injections

2010-11-18T16:41:00.000-08:00

I finally gave injections today at the VA. I was so nervous but with the help and encouragement of Professor McConaughey I made it through the scary experience. My legs were shaking like crazy my patient was laughing at me afterwards because he could see the nervousness in me but I am happy my first time on a patient is finally over.

Frustrated!!!

2010-11-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

Today was a bummer day. I think I a the only student in our class that hasn't given injections yet. I set up a patient for today that has always had injections in the past so I knew today would be my chance. I watched the LA video three times last night and practiced on my skull and husband so I would be more confident for the injections. When I told him we would give him some injections today to numb him so he would feel anything he said he would be fine but would like some topical numbing. I couldn't believe it. Why is my luck for injections been so bad. My class IV pt a couple of weeks ago also refused injections and also just wanted Oraquix.

2010-11-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

Completed all the required quads for fall semester today, what a relief. Now I just need to magically pull a bunch of class III 's out of nowhere. Hopefully they start coming along. Otherwise I am feeling good about clinic.

2010-10-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Cleaned Brittanies teeth today and she was a good sport and let me do blood glucose and diagodent on her as well. I didn't get as far on my mockboard pt as I would have liked to because she showed up late. My class 3 this afternoon went well got her finished and placed a lot of Arestin in her mouth. I wish LA was as easy to administer as Arestin is. I am looking forward to having tomorrow off to catch up on some sleep, house work and homework.

Mockboard

2010-10-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

I had my first mockboard today and it was very humbling. I missed ten sites of calculus. I really thought I got everything. I felt around with my explorer before I submitted her and I obviously didn't know how to feel for it. Prof. Hanson said she was a hard patient but I think I really just suck at scaling. In my defense though she bleed a ton and I couldn't see a whole lot with the hand instruments. She told me I wasn't going deep enough. So I failed my first mockboard and got a really low score. The only positive part about this is I hope I can only get better.

VA

2010-10-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

Quite an interesting day at the VA, both my patients were anti-fluoride so I had to remember all my teachings from Prof. Costley on the benefits and have good explanations on to the importance of fluoride. I did convince one guy to do the varnish the other was pretty hard headed. They were both very nice guys I had great conversations with both which made the day go very quickly and with ease. My second patient was very set on me leaving the church and believing in the apostasized church. He was very knowledgeable so I wasn't about to disagree with him so I listened to all his stories and he seemed pleased to have a listening ear.

Class IV

2010-09-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

I saw my first class IV today and it wasn't so bad, my class II I saw in the morning was harder b/c of his tenacious calculus. My class IV has been coming to Weber for a really long time so his calculus hasn't gotten to hard but he still isn't maintaining his bone levels so I am glad I got him as my class IV. My class II on the other hand has been one of my hardest pt so far. I had to use the file on his lower anteriors because nothing was coming off with the ultrasonic or graceys.

2010-09-22T14:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterdays clinic was much better than the previous week. My patients showed up and I was finally able to see a class III. This is the first time since I started the program that while I was probing the probe dropped into a pocket. This lady had a 12 mm pockedt. I couldn't believe how the probe just kept going and going. Cleaning it on the other hand was not as exciting. It was difficult to get a scaler to go down that far. I used my file that we had just been taught on Monday how to use and then went in with my ultrasonic. My instructor said I got all the calculus so that made me happy.

2010-09-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well this is my third clinic day and it is my third clinic day that I have had a pt cancel on me. I found out last night that my patient wouldn't be here so I lined a new one up and he showed up, unfortunately he was only a 1B. Then my afternoon showed up and I was very happy about that but she had a cold sore so I was told I couldn't work on her. I am so frustrated this semester it seems everyone else has patients on time and they are harder classifications so they are getting their requirements and I'm not. I feel like God hates me because this is happening to me. I have a class 4 and 3 scheduled next week, if they don't show up I will be so upset. I hope my next post is more promising.

PRE-MED

2010-09-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

Today was definetely one I hope I don't have again for a while. This morning my 8am pt didn't show up so I finally got a pt at 10 am, one hour before I had to walk her out. I thought my afternoon can't be this bad, well it was worse. My pt was on time but she was on five meds she had just had stints put in her heart and she had high blood pressure. She was an amazingly sweet lady but trying to get through her health history was exhausting. I made it through the day though and I learned a ton about meds and pre-meds.

Senior Clinic

2010-08-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of senior clinic where we saw pts. I was so nervous not knowing if I would remember what we learned back in April. It went suprisingly well. I had two class 2 pts and was able to finish one of them. Today I really felt like my positioning was working for me. I was able to have access and see what I was working on. By the end of the day I was feeling a little more confident in myself, like I can do this. It was a great way to start out my senior year. Hope I feel this happy at the end of all my clinics.

2010-04-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

I just typed a really long post and it deleted it. I bought a seniors flash cards to study for boards so I am going to set a goal to study at least 1 hour each day so that when next semester rolls around I will feel like I remember some of the stuff I learned junior year.

Finals

2010-04-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well I just finished my stats final which means I am officially done with all tests for spring semester. I am so happy to get a break. I feel I've worked so hard this semester. I have studied every night hardly watched any TV and really neglected my house and family. I am so looking forward to spending the summer with my husband and kids and getting my house and yard emaculate. It was a great semester but also very stressful.

Junior Clinic

2010-04-16T16:28:00.001-07:00

I can't believe its over Jr. Clinic. A week ago I didn't think I would complete it and now its over and I met all my requirements. Lets just say prayers really are answered. I didn't know how I would ever come up with some class 3's and they really did just start falling into my lap. I am so happy and thankful it all worked out. I just took my second to last final, hopefully tomorrow I will take my last and start my summer vacation.

Class III

2010-04-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Yea!!! I did 2 quads of a class III today and now I only have two left to do and I meet my requirements for this semester. I also did my peer calculus removal PE and was CA so I am feeling much better this week other than the million finals I have to take this week.

2010-04-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

So I have been fiddling around with the settings on my blog site, I think it looks better. It was fun to change things up a bit a customize it a little more today.

Class III, on my way!

2010-04-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

Just got two class III's with two quads each to start on this coming Monday. Nothing like getting down to the wire. I hope I can do well and finish them up. Talked to a dentist today about working this summer for him, he said he can probably use me. If I get this job then at least I will probably get better at x-rays and polishing. Well hopefully next week goes well. Only two more weeks of school, yeah!

2010-04-07T10:23:00.001-07:00

Well today I finished 8 quads so that is good, but I still don't have my class 3 and if he doesn't show up next Monday I wont pass clinic. I haven't slept in days I have called anyone I can think of that maybe a class 3 and they are all class 2's and now I have only 2 clinic days to go so I am really going to be in trouble.

Disappointment

2010-03-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

My class 3 that I had scheduled did not show today for his appointment. If I can't get him to come in I don't know what I am going to do. I am afraid I will fail clinic. I got to clean a kid by chance though so that was good.

PE's

2010-03-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

Passed off two PE's today and finished up Brittanie so I am happy. I only have 4 more PE's to go. So as long as I can get my class 3 in I think I will pass clinic. My class 3 is suppose to come in on Wednesday so I am praying he will show up and he will be a class 3.

Class 1A exam

2010-03-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

I did my class 1A exam today. I think it went well. At least I finished him up. I am starting to get really worried about completing my requirements. I keep screwing up on my charting. I feel like I have so many things swirling inside my head that I can't do anything right. I am going to bring my instruments home this weekend I feel I really need practice. It seems like everyone else is improving and I am getting worse. I hope I pass and can get better.

Denture Patient

2010-03-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

I did my denture patient on Monday. It was probably the worst day I have had so far in clinic. It was my father in-law. He has 4 of his own teeth left and he is so proud of them, while I was giving him his pano one of the crowns broke off. The rest of the appointment went horribly. He was upset my mother in-law that has Alzhiemers would not stay out of my pod so it took me the whole appointment just to do Dean. I was planning on finishing up Brittanie but all I got finished were her x-rays. I am really starting to lose confidence in myself.

2010-03-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

The patient today that I thought might be a class 3 was a class 2 so I was bummed. He wasn't a very nice person he didn't want to be seen but his girlfriend set up his appointment and he wasn't very happy about it. I finished him up because he refused x-rays so at least he is not coming back. I guess this was good for me though because a lot of people hate going to the dentist. I really need to get harder skin and not let people get to me so much.

clinic

2010-03-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

I can't believe junior year is almost over. This year has gone by so quickly. There have been times I thought I wasn't going to make it through another week but somehow I seem to continue on. I feel like I have really improved my skills during this semester. I feel like I am gaining more confidence in myself. I know I can do this and know that I chose the right pathway for my career. I love cleaning teeth, I love educating my patients on correct Oral Hygiene. I wish my hygienist would have taught me a lot of the things I am teaching my patients years ago. I believe I would have had less caries and less recession. I hope I can really make a difference in a lot of peoples lives. I chose this career because I truly want to help people and I know I can with dental hygiene.

Class II Exam

2010-03-03T10:21:00.001-08:00

I finished my class II exam today, I did 3 quads and finished. I missed a few spots but today is the first time I really felt like I knew what I was doing with my explorer. I could really feel what I was trying to remove. I also passed off 4 PE's so that was nice to get done. I also just felt much better hand scaling today. I watched the video on line on instrumenting and I really tried to adapt they way prof. Hanson was demonstrating and I feel I did better.

Sealants

2010-03-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

Did four sealants on my son today. I really need to practice this procedure. I enjoy it but I feel like my hands are full of so many instruments and I am all thumbs. I also finished another 1B today so that makes 30 quads for me. I sure hope I can get to 65 quads in the next month and a half.

Class II

2010-02-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

I finally got my class II exam patient. I was so excited I wanted to dance in clinic. It was hard though her calculus was pretty tenacious. I hope to finish her up at her next appt. She was awesome though because she told me to dig deeper it doesn't hurt.

Blood Glucose Test

2010-02-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

Today we learned how to do the blood glucose test on each other. I had to be pricked three times to get enough blood. It didn't hurt but made me very nervous. Got through it and did it to my partner.

Class 2

2010-02-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

Wednesday I did cleaned a class 2 patients teeth. A second year student had started him and had 2 quads left to do. He needed to be numbed because his gums were so inflamed. He bleed a lot. I was very proud of myself for not getting sick or quissy. Got his two quads done which took the whole clinic session. It was a good experience to see the calculus, plaque and blood.

Frustrated

2010-02-08T15:26:00.001-08:00

today was such a frustrating day I really wanted to finish my patient today but I didn't it seems like everyone else is finishing their patients in one appointment except for me. I am really feeling down.

Class 1B exam

2010-02-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

I did my class 1b exam today. I did it on Randy I sure hope I passed because Randy had a lot of plague and calculus on his ant linguals on lowers. I did finish him up though so good day. One more patient down.

Another one bites the dust

2010-02-01T13:48:00.001-08:00

I just typed a big long paragraph and there was an error and it erased everything. So as I was saying I finished Eric the football player today. He was a great patient. I should have had him be an exam. Next time is Randy.

Class V

2010-01-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

I finished a classV today. I am so happy I finished her up today. She had some really hard calculus areas that took me a long time but I finally got her all finished up.

New Patient

2010-01-25T11:12:00.001-08:00

I have a patient today that I got off of the recall list I am really worried that he might not show up. I called him a couple of days ago to see if he was coming and he said he would be here. He better show up because I don't know what I will do if he doesn't show up. I am so nervous because I am worried he is going to want his entire cleaning finished today and he may have to come back and I hope he will come back.

2010-01-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

Today I did Morgan, Natalies daughter, I was able to do her whole appt in one day so they was good. She was in a lot of pain though so I feel bad. I hope Monday goes well because I don't know my patient.

2010-01-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

Brock was my patient today and he kept gagging so I had to retake his x-rays and when I tried to probe his molars he really gagged a lot . He had a very overactive tongue either that or it is really big. Who's kid is this anyway, Ha Ha.

Full mouth x-ray

2010-01-06T10:29:00.001-08:00

I got a full mouth x-ray done today and that was fun, I learned some new helpful things on making it so the film doesn't hurt the patient. I am excited to finish his appt.

Spring Semester

2010-01-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

First clinic of spring semester and we worked more with our ultra sonics which I love. I love the power they have. Randy is my patient wednesday hopefully he still loves me after I am done with him.

Last day of clinic this semester!!!

2009-11-30T14:31:00.000-08:00

I took my radiology practical exam and my clinic manual test. What a relief, I feel like I can finally breath for the first time this semester. I hope my christmas vacation goes on and on and seems like a long time.

First patient Day!

2009-11-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

Today was my first real patient, Chase came in for me and was great. I was able to do his whole appointment which was great. I made Chase bleed a lot so I feel bad but he said it didn't really hurt, he is a trooper. I am looking forward to my next patient.

Mock patient day 2

2009-11-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

Today was my second student patient, I felt a little better today. I stumbled through my sealant pe. I knew how to do a sealant but I couldn't answer all of her questions. I am excited to be a patient and sit back and relax.

Mock Patient Day

2009-11-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

Wow! I have been sick for days worrying about today... and I made it through. I am so glad I can spend the next couple of days studying anatomy and DH. I also get to go to Hooperville on Tuesday night so I will probably enjoy it more not worrying about Wed. Clinic.

2009-11-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

I learned to sharpen an instrument today, one of the few things I wasn't shaking while I did. Then I passed off air/powder polishing and flouride. I was so nervous and come to find out I didn't even have the salt part on so my patient was happy because it didn't irritate her mouth.

My first Sealant

2009-11-02T15:06:00.000-08:00

Ashlee gave me my first sealant. When I was a kid they didn't do sealants, I wish they had. I then passed off selective polishing and learned how to give flouride in a tray it was fun today.

Airpowder!

2009-10-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

We learned how to use the airpowder polisher today and I was partnered with Marliyn and I was testing the tip and sprayed her right in the face. I feel so bad I am so uncoordinated, not only do I have to know how to use both hands at the same time but use feet to.

2009-10-26T15:17:00.001-07:00

We did ultra sonic today it made me so nervous. I still feel uncomfortable using a probe. I will be happy when we work on a real patient from start to finish and learn how to do everything in order.

2009-10-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Today was so crazy I didn't even come close to getting all the things done that I needed to get done today. I learned a lot. Hopefully it gets better next time.

Scaling

2009-10-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

I passed off anterior scaling today. I hope I did well because all of the practicing I had been doing I actually did wrong. I am so mad I am getting another cold sore, my second one in a week. This is such a stressful time for me and it is causing me to get these annoying sores. I need my husband to get me some more medication. I hope I clear up soon.

Dental Charting

2009-10-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

I learned so much today. I was so clueless on how to chart for a patient and today I had so many of my questions answered. I passed off instrument identification which I wasn't very worried about but then it was pretty hard. I got asked a lot of questions that made me really have to think.

Exploring

2009-10-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

Passed off exploring today, so happy! I had a cold sore that was healing so nobody could work on me today, that sucked because they did the disclosing agent. I really wanted to see if my brushing and flossing was good or if I am missing a lot of places. My feet are killing today because I have mostly stood all day.

Probing PE

2009-10-07T10:30:00.001-07:00

Passed off PE on probing today, I feel so bad for Lauren. I made her bleed on #18 and I got a 2. Then the instructor pushed really hard in the same spot and got a 4 and really hurt her, I don't know yet what she gave me for passing it off because I was off by 2mm. I feel so awkward on my fulcruming on all the lingual surfaces. I hope this becomes second nature soon!

Scaling

2009-10-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

This was so fun on the dexter but really scary on the real person. I was scared the whole time I was going to make Lauren bleed. I didn't so I'm glad. I don't think I was scaling hard enough though. I want to go home and practice scaling even more. I hope she gives us a lot more time in clinic to practice scaling.

2009-09-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Today we learned the name and a little about all the functions of our instruments. I then passed off my intra oral exam which was really hard because there are so many things to remember when doing it. I still passed even though I forgot to mention two things. I am looking forward to this weekend to practice my handling of instruments.

2009-09-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

Exploring was scary today, I need a lot of practice with that and indirect vision. The frustrating part of today was radiology. We ran out of time and I felt like I got left behind.

Probing

2009-09-23T10:18:00.001-07:00

Today we got to probe on our pod partner. I thought it was fun doing it on Eric but not as much fun having him probe my teeth. My mandibular molar is sore now. I want a lot more practice on probing and fulcruming because I still feel awkward but not as frustrated as last time. So I hope I am getting better.

Uuuugh!

2009-09-21T14:38:00.001-07:00

I cannot get the fulcruming down. My hands feel so awkward. Kind of like dancing with two left feet. I am so uncoordinated. I have been practicing at home on my topadaunt but I need more work. I am so relieved though because I passed off my Health History today. I also took my DH exam and so tonight I can just focus on my anatomy test tomorrow and reading for DH. I will be so glad to get home it has been a very long day.

Mirror

2009-09-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Learned how to look at the different views of the mouth with the mirror using indirect light and illumination. I felt so akward doing it, this is where the assistants and non-assistants will stand out. I am feeling really overwhelmed and stressed right now. I hope I will start to feel more sure of myself soon.

Vitals

2009-09-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

Learn how to do vitals today, bp, pulse and respirations. Pulse was easy, to me respirations were really hard. I had a hard time watching the clock and chest rise at the same time. I had a hard time with blood pressure until I had pointed out to me that I had the ear pieces in wrong, which is why I didn't hear anything. Once I turned them around it wasn't so hard. I thought taking vitals were really cool. We are still working on learning how to do a health history and that is still hard to me because there is so much to put in the HH and so many things to remember. Class tomorrow and an anatomy test that I hope I do really well on. Until Wed. I will be studying a lot!!!

Health History

2009-09-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

Today was so much information on filling out a health history. We did it for our pod partner which wasn't hard because my partner had "no" on every question. I wish he would have had some "yes" to learn better how to mark everything I needed to mark. Still full of a lot today. I will be studying HH a lot tonight. Passed off two more PE's I was so nervous, I don't know why, but by the end I was shaking. I passed so I am happy.

Health History

2009-09-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Today we learned how to fill out our health history. I can tell I need to read over my clinic manual on this. A lot to remember and very important stuff. Mess up this and it could be very bad for the patient. We also learned the positions to have our chair, I think I have that down, just need to make sure I know which teeth I am looking at in each position. We have a great TA that is so patient and very helpful. She is a second year so she totally gets how we feel and how overwhelming learning so much each day is like.

2009-08-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

Today was my third day of clinic, before clinic I had radiology lab and got to take 8 bitewings, I had to redo 2 of them. It was good to see how they can be taken correctly and uncorrectly. In clinic we did set up and break down of our pods, really informative to me to see all of the precautions taken to protect me and my patients. I have learned so much in the last week. A week ago I knew nothing about the role as a dental hygienist and I feel like each day I learn a million new things that are exciting and new to me. I am so excited for the choice I made in careers, I look forward to every day with what new terms and procedures I will learn. I think the professors are all awesome and so helpful as well as their TA's. I have fun going home and sharing my new knowledge with my husband and kids.

2009-08-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Learned how to rinse and suction that was really fun since I have never done it before. I like learning all the ppe, how important it is to keep ourselves and our patients safe from infections. I am definately going to review everything I learned today so I can pass my pe with flying colors.

First Clinic Day!!

2009-08-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day of clinic. I loved doing the scavanger hunt because it helped me to learn what a lot of the items are in the clinic. Eaglesoft was fun but a little confusing. I can tell I need to practice a lot more with it to fully understand. I love clinic so far, it went so fast and was a great learning experience for me today.

2009-08-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Today is orientation, I feel so overwhelmed. It was fun going through all of our instruments even though at this point I don't know what everything is going to be used for. After orientation I will be buying scrubs and finding shoes that are allowed and buy my remaining books. My husband is going to flip out when he sees his Visa bill.