I think there is a light somewhere??? It seems like I get everything in order to go for my patients and scheduling, and then somebody doesn't show up, or they show up and they are a totally different classification then I need, or they have full ortho and I was hoping to do a pano on them... I really wish we could just do the best treatment for each patient and not have to worry about the requirements that we need to accomplish. We are so worried about getting a certain amount of quads, getting all of the right classifications, passing of PE's and taking xrays that I think the patient's sometimes fall by the wayside. Something that really bugs me is how patients are passed around according to their classification and then they end up with 1 or 2 quads that don't get completed this semester because somebody didn't need them. I don't like that our requirements trump patient care. I completely understand that we need to have experiences with different types of mouths and that we can't see the same type of mouth the whole time, but to turn somebody away for another 5-6 months because they aren't a class III seems pretty ridiculous. I have to remember that this is a learning institution and that when I get out in the real world I will do my best to make sure this doesn't happen in the practice I work in. There is my soapbox for the day!
Goals in clinic (for you Marianne)
1. Be better at communicating if I am sharing the patient for requirements
2. Be faster, stop chatting so much, they really don't care what you have to say, they just want their teeth cleaned.
3. Keep cool, we are all going to make it through this semester and become seniors together!
Amen Sista! I am loving your blog, because I used the light at the end of the tunnel phrase in my blog just now too! Also, SO SO SO TRUE about the patients getting the shaft in terms of their oral health needs. So frustrating. Also, I haven't been doing goals on my blog lately . . . maybe I should start that back up for you. :) See you tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I rushed on my class II patient yesterday. There was no way I was leaving him with part of his mouth unclean when he has never had a cleaning in his entire life. So I rushed to clean all of his mouth in one appointment. Yes I missed spots, and I do feel bad for that, but I would have felt worse telling him I didn't have any other openings the rest of the semester and would finish him in approximately 4-5 months.
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