It pays to have a low car when going through all these hilly curves! I love them but there's no shoulders and I feel that if i blink for a second, I'ma go off the edge. The weather is just right to roll my windows down (how i dry my hair in the morning before i get to the clinic). I'm staying in Elkin which is about 35 min away from the Wilkes County Health Department. Right now it's super green and pretty! I wake up at 6am and leave at 7am. I"m supposed to report for duty at 7:45am before patients are seated at 8am. The people here are all really super nice and polite. I'm spending 2 weeks in the adult clinic and two weeks in the kiddie clinic; both clinics are connected by a hallway. I heard the most powerful crying yesterday, thought the kid was going to rupture his lungs. Making me kinda scared to start that section.
One nice thing about this rotation is that in Eaglesoft, the dentist has two columns of patients that he manages throughout the day and I get my own little column. The most I've seen is 6 in a day, all fillings and extractions. My first patient was this middle-aged lady who started crying after the assistant gave her topical. She started to cry even more after i went in with the needle. As soon as she started moving her arms, I just injected fast and got out quickly. Fortunately, the tooth came out pretty fast. I felt bad that she was crying throughout the whole thing but apparently, this is the best she's behaved from an extraction.
Oh, and I've realized that the assistants do about 95% of the work including progress notes, health history, prescription writing. Basically everything minus the handpiece, forceps or anesthesia. I felt guilty and offered to help them but they say they're used to doing everything. They even do laundry every day because we all wear these white coats that are washed daily.
Going to bed for a morning filled with my arch nemesis: Class II preps.
I guess it would be nice to know who wrote this blog. Sounds like fun!
ReplyDeleteHoda
To Whoever this is (who is it?? Perez?), the idea of having assistants help out so much gives me the strength I need to continue down this painful, wretched path of lunchless dental school days!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you dreaded the kiddie section, but still got a teary eyed grown up. Sounds like you did a good job though!
So it's taken me about 2 hours to log back in to say that it was me. It's been interesting; yesterday we got that lady that attempted to steal a baby in some hospital nearby. Apparently, she faked a pregnancy, covered a baby doll in blood, and said it was a miscarriage. Then, she went to a doctor's office, stole some urine, had it tested as hers, and got an official pregnancy document which she used to get medicaid. Apparently, she had a hysterectomy way back in the day and never told her husband who's since left her. Now she's getting married again. This story was all over the news and there's someone who's gonna marry her? Hard not to judge when she's sitting on that chair.
ReplyDeleteOh, there's lots of meth mouth cases here. Negative two seconds after i left the clinic, a young girl approached me and asked me for money so she could get home to her 'baby girl'. I gave her a five since she was following me to my car and i just wanted her to leave me alone. Can't believe i probably helped support her meth habit. Ugh....
Linda, it is so freakin' awesome. Can't wait for the real world!
-Elizabeth Perez