April 17th

I finished my 1A's today with my little nephew Logan. He was way cute and was a really good patient. I then tried to see the class four from last week but his blood pressure was too high this week to be seen. I was able to take some x-rays for him but that was all. He was a lot nicer to me this week. I could tell that I had gained his respect. I was dissapointed that I couldn't clean him today but not very disappointed because he was so hard to clean. I hope that next year he will want to be cleaned by another girl so his disease state can be under control. I am done with all of my requirements and I am now just working on getting extra quads. I can't believe this semester is almost over!

April 10th

Today was our last mockboard exam before the real board exam. I was nervous for this one because I wanted to be sure that I got the paperwork right and everything in the right order. My patient was the patient who had canceled last minute last week and I was just hoping and praying that he would work out for the exam. I couldn't even find his chart with his x-rays at first but after a lot of searching I found it and there was only one quad good enough to clean. My patient came late and he couldn't even speak english. Pretty much this was a horrible experience but in the end I guess I did learn something. He was a class 4 and didn't want me to touch his gums when I was cleaning him. How can you not touch their gums!?! It was a very difficult quad to clean and I pretty much just ultrasoniced the whole time. although it was hard and exhausting, i learned a lot. Unfortunatley for me though, he is not complete and I have to see him next week.

April 3rd

I really need 1B's! How funny is that? I am glad that that is the classification I am having trouble with because they are a dime a dozen. I had my sister in law come in and she was a 1B of course. I then cleaned a class 5 in the afternoon because my other patient cancelled last minute. I was so frustrated at the end of this day because my scaling time is crap! I should be so much faster by now but I am not and it is making me crazy! I think my main problem is that I am so used to cleaning harder classifications now that it am used to going back into a pocket numerous times to get all of the deposit. With easier classifications I don't need to go back in. My first stroke should have been effective enough. My goal now is to get faster at scaling easier patients. At this speed right now I wont be able to survive in private practice.

March 27th

Nothing too exciting still. Just more cleaning of class 3's. I did have my board patient in again to clean the absess and another quad that won't be able to be used for boards. I feel like this experience cleaning him was a little easier than cleaning him for mockboards because I knew what to expect with his calculus load and how hard it was to get off. i also timed myself to see how long it would take me to clean a quad. It took me about an hour so I feel that I will be able to do a good job in the time I have at the WREB board. I hope that the absess will clear up so it doesn't bother anything during the exam.

March 20th

Now that I have found my board patient I don't need to OD as many patients so now I am focusing on getting my requirements done and also keeping up my skills for WREB. I had two class threes come in today and I was able to do more injections as well. Not too much to say but I do feel that my skills are very much improved from just the start of the semester. I sm glad I have these patients to get in to clean because they are similar to my board patient and they will give me the best experience in cleaning. One thing I need to work on now is my PE's. Goal: Do more PE's because the end of the semester is coming fast!!

March 13th

ANESTHSIA BOARD EXAM!! I PASSED!!!!!! It was the hardest thing I have ever done! Holy cow it was so stressful and scary but I did it and I am still alive to tell about it. What a relief to have it all over with!

March 6th

Today I had my board patient come in to do a thorough OD and to get all of the x-rays needed for WREB. It was exciting to get all of this done knowing that it is a huge step in completed my education by having a board patient. My patient is such a sweet guy who is so willing to help. I am getting a little nervous because he has some sort of periodontal absess that is in the quad i will be cleaning for boards. I will get him back and clean those two teeth to help it heal and I will just have to submit extra teeth for the exam. I also saw my board patient's wife in the afternoon. I was able to give her an injection which is good because real anesthesia boards are coming up!! My goal is to practice injections as much as I can so I feel more prepared for the real boards because I would really love to pass!

Feb. 28th

Anesthesia Mockboard Day!!! I was way nervous for this day because I have only given a few injections since learning how to do them last semester. I just had my peer pal come in and gave them on her. I failed the PSA and passed the IA. I have the hardest time with the PSA!! In the afternoon my patient no showed so I decided rather than getting in a quick 1B it would be more beneficial for my time to practice injections so I am more prepared for the real anesthesia board exam coming up in two weeks. I practiced on a peer and instructor P. helped us out. He explained the injections in such a way that I was able to understand them more easily and I feel more confident and prepared to take the real board exam. I understand them so well now that I feel I will be able to give injections on anyone in my chair now. I am so happy I decided to use my time that way because I am ok with my requirements and it is more important to pass the anesthesia board exam than to get extra quads. I feel relieved after today but my goal is to go home and practice the angles on my hubby with a cotton tipped applicator so I can make sure I get the angles right on him since he will be my patient in the real thing.

Feb. 21st

I am kind of a slacker when it comes to finding patients. No one off my list wants to come in and it seems that L. is having a hard time calling all of our patients. I think she is a little overwhelmed because both us and the first years are seeing patients now and she has so many on her list to call so I feel bad. Other than my list I really don't have any people to call so I am just getting easy patients back. This morning I brought in a 1B and breezed through him. My afternoon was promising. My board patients wife came in and I was hoping to screen her for another potential board patient but she didn't qualify. She was still four quads of a class three and so it was good requirements for me. I didn't get to scaling today but I got her OD done. She was a little bit of a talker and I also just want to get her back since she needs to be numb. The more times she comes back that more anesthesia experiences I get!! Woohoo!

Feb. 14th

Today was UDA. Not too exciting but always fun to get free stuff. It was good to have a break from clinic though.

Feb. 7th

Today was my birthday!! How lame that I had to do the Mockboard exam on this day. I was so stressed out about getting a patient and then a small miracle happened. I was given a name by the clinic and I just decided to call the patient and see if he could come in for some x-rays before thursday. He came in on Tuesday and I only had time to do x-rays because he had to leave but he had radiographic calculus inbetween each tooth. It was great! He qualified and I almost past the exam but I didn't have all the x-rays I needed so I lost 4 points and was bumped .25 of a point under passing. Frustrating but I was ok with it because I learned so much! I will use him as my board patient and now I know how his calculus is and how I need to get it off. It was hard but in such big chunks that it came off in big pieces. I also only missed two spots so I know that if I have the x-rays done right then I have a good chance of passing. I am so releaved! I was able to cross two things off of my list: My mockboard patient and my board patient! I also got to do some LA. I got such a big positive aspiration but I still did a good job. I can't beleive how much I have learned since I started school. If I had seen this patient a year ago I would have cried and not known what to do but today I was able to do a good job. It feels good to see my improvement and to know that I am not that bad of a clinician after all.

Jan. 31st

I had an OD today! It was the wife of H.'s board patient so I had high hopes for her! I was hoping to use her for mockboards next week and for the board exam as well. Unfortunately she didn't qualify even for mockboards so all I did was the OD and she will come back for 4 quads of a 2. I also had an OD on the patient that cancelled on me last week. I knew deep down I shouldn't have rescheduled him but I was desperate. Anyways, he cancelled last minute with a lame excuse and I once again was left patient less. Luckily another classmate came to the rescue and had a patient I could call. She was 4 quads of a 2 and I was able to finish her all at once and even had a decent scaling time. At least I am improving my times somewhat. So now I am practically done with my class 2's but have no mockboard for next week. I am pretty stressed about it! I don't even have a patient OD'd who doesn't qualify to come in for the mockboard. I am not sure what to do but I guess I need to figue out something. My goal for next week.... FIND A MOCK BOARD PATIENT!! Easier said than done!

Jan. 24th

Today was kind of a bust of a day but I did make the most of it. My morning patient no showed me, he forgot about his appointment (he didn't get the message I left the night before) and he couldn't come in when I called because he was already at work. Lucky for me a sweet friend had two children scheduled for the morning and let me see one of them. I was able to get a 1A and take a PANO. It was a pretty good morning and I had been excited to see my afternoon patient because he was a new patient but then he called and cancelled last minute. I couldn't find anyone to come in but another friend of mine was having her sister come in to pass off PE's so she said I could pass them off on her sister as well. I was able to pass off so many PE's! I did sealants, air powder polisher, caries risk assessment and desensitization. I also was able to get both of my sealant requirements done as well because another child needed sealants and I was able to do some one him. It was a pretty good day but still no OD's to be found. I need to find a board patient, a mock board patient, and get LA experiences! I need to get into gear!

Jan. 17th

So much for my getting in harder classifications! I tried so hard to get a hold of patients I had gotten from the midtown screenings but no one wants to come in. I tried and tried but to no avail. I had to last minute call a class 5 I saw first year and a class three that I didn't get to finish last semester. It was still a productive day because I finished a class 5 exam and got a quad of a three. I even got my first of the fifteen experiences needed to LA. It was a left PSA and I had no idea what I was doing but Professor Alexander was a huge help and me and my patient survived. I wish I was able to OD some patients. I realize I am now searching for a board patient so the more new patients I see the better. It is harder to have L. call spanish speaking patients for me because now clinic is on thursday and I am only up at Weber on monday for a short time and then I have to rush off to get my daughter. I feel like I am starting the semester out crawling and I should be running! I already feel so behind and it is so frustrating! Hopefully soon I can get the hang of doing all this with a small baby around!

Jan. 10th

Today was the first day back at clinic since the Christmas break. I was excited to start this semester because the sooner it starts the sooner we are done!! Today I tried to get in new patients to do OD's so I could start out with the harder classifications. I had a midtown patient come in and she was four quads of a 2 and a friend come in who was also four quads of a class 2. One of my main goals this semster is to speed up. I was able to get both of these patients done in the time I had. I was so excited to leave clinic with 8 quads of a two done! I hope I can keep getting good classifications. In the weeks to come though I need to start working on more PE's. I am about halfway done with the PE's so I need to get everything into gear so I can finish all of my requirements before I graduate!