As I delve deeper into the clinical aspect of dental school, I have a hit a bit of a mental rut. I just have had very little desire to get up in the morning and drag myself to school. Partly due to the depressingly harsh winter and partly due to the overall strain the D-2 year of dental school assumes. Speaking with my colleagues across the country, the general consensus is that the second year just really takes a toll on your mentality. With the changing curriculum, I feel as though the transitory students get caught in the unfortunate disorganization that presents with such drastic changes. As I have mentioned many times, I am still sliding under the closing doors of the traditional curriculum, but even my class has felt some of the stirs of change. The idea of these changes are welcome in my eyes, however, the execution of such change is much easier to talk about behind text and statistics than it is to actually pull off.
We have been getting more and more clinic time each semester as D-2s. Up until now, we have been expected to do what we can in the clinics with no real grading involvement. However, this semester has added the stress of grading to our clinical progress. I wouldn’t mind this so much if it simply wasn’t so stressful to actually get things accomplished in the clinic. It is impossible to standardize such experiences. Some of my classmates have done crown preps, repaired dentures, and extracted teeth. I have yet to get another patient to call me back this semester. It is frustrating as hell. Being completely green and in the clinics is also NOT conducive to asking questions. I feel like everyone is too busy to pester. I have also figured out that asking upperclassmen is the most efficient way to learn.
The fact that we have limited clinic time is also frustrating because we are required to do projects which involve multiple appointments. That is difficult to swing when I have maybe 6 blocks of time a month to schedule patients. Those project due dates are going to come up pretty damn fast.
What is more annoying is that certain classes feel SOOO out of place. Pharmacology feels like biochemistry all over again. I thought we were going to get info on actual drugs that are commonly seen in our patients. But no, we need that time to learn more about pharmacokinetics and doing trivial math problems that no practioner would EVER do. I also hate the transition from 50 minute lectures to 2 hour blocks that occurred last summer. I cannot learn when I have to sit for 2 hours straight – I am not alone.
Another enormous problem I have is with technology taking over in the classrooms. I am all for tech, but it seems like an excuse for teachers to get lazy. I don’t like taking quizzes with a remote control and relying strictly on a computer to store the proof that I was actually in class and that my answers were correct. Call me old fashioned, but what is wrong with pen and paper?
We have so many random odds and ends that need to get accomplished it is just frustrating and stressful as all hell. I just feel utterly and hopelessly discombobulated. Still, despite all of this, I hold on to the best advice given to me by a weary, tired D-4; “Everything works itself out, you just have to be patient and take things one day at a time.” This has to be true; the graduation rate at this school is high enough to make me realize that everything will sort itself out. I will eventually figure out how to get rid of crappy patients and get better options. My instructors will eventually accept me as the new clinic student, and begin ignoring the new D-2s – it has to all work eventually.
It is an organized chaos. Trying to comprehend this only results in futile frustration. Hundreds have come before me, and hundreds will come after. Now if you will excuse me, I need to attempt to call the same patients again that will not want to talk to me or come in.
Bleh. The dog days of D-2 year I suppose. It still is kind of crazy that I will be a D-3 VERY soon.
I am as prepared as I’m going to get at this point. Frightening, no?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The D-2 Experience IV
My break has been enjoyable and lazy thus far, now as I sit here on a quiet evening, I decided to start filling in my weekly planner for next semester. This is my first time using a portable scheduling device and it probably couldn’t have come at a better time. I have tallied a total of 28 opportunities to schedule my own patients. This is about twice as many chances as last semester and I intend to try harder to fill those blocks. Partly because my time won’t be AS consumed with pre-clinical lab work, and partly because I will be treating patients FULL TIME starting in the summer. So yea, a bit freaked out. I only scheduled TWO appointments last semester and one of those failed. Part of this is due to having a very poor patient pool (only 6 or so patients and most of them are VERY unlikely to come in for routine work), but I must admit, I didn’t try contacting everyone multiple times either because passing all my pre-clinical courses took precedence. So now I will have to make a much stronger effort to contact patients straight out of the gates.
As I filled in this planner, I also took a closer gander at the actual classes I will be taking. The semester looks beefier than last (no more half-days), but I refuse to believe that anything could be worse than the fall. Here we go. I will talk about last semester afterwards so skip ahead if you are still interested in that crap. Keep in mind that the semester won’t start for another week, so this is my PRE-game analysis.
Comprehensive Care II – C : 6 credits
-This is largest value comp care has carried since my first D-1 semester. I fear getting an ‘A’ will be EXTREMELY difficult as much of our grade will probably be determined by treating real patients. Unless I get a hefty boost to my current patient pool, I will DEFINITELY struggle to fill my blank schedule. It appears that there is a large implant component with this course. I am pretty sure that we are the first class where placing implants is required to graduate – so with this in mind, we are getting some good exposure to it next semester. I’m not sure if the current D-3’s had an implant course or not – I hope they did, otherwise we will be the inaugural class…and that usually equals unorganized mess. We have the implant module on Mondays. I will have my clinic sessions/rotations on Tuesday afternoons as well as all day on Fridays. While I still get a bunch of open clinic time, I will also be going on a myriad of rotations such as radiology, endo, perio, pedo, ect.
This is my last opportunity to really get used to the clinics before I become a D-3, I hope to take advantage.
Treatment Planning: 2 credits
-We meet on Monday and Thursday mornings for 2 hours. This is a lecture based class that essentially teaches how to treatment plan. I REALLY wish we had gotten this course LAST SUMMER as there have numerous occasions during several courses where knowledge in this area would have been VERY helpful – not to mention it is mandatory before doing any real work on patients. I really hope they finally explain some of the ins and outs on using the axium computer system this school utilizes.
Ortho: 2 credits
-My first experience in orthodontics begins next semester. We have 2 hours of lecture on Tuesday morning and I will be doing the lab portion on Thursday afternoons. Seeing as ortho originally got me interested in dentistry as a child, I am quite interested to see HOW it really works. I don’t see myself specializing in the field, simply because I am not a huge fan of working with kids – but we will see how it goes.
Oral Surgery Lecture: 1 credit
-Pretty much a lecture based class that meets for an hour on Wednesdays. I assume we will be talking about Oral surgery..yea? My first clinical rotation in OS begins in the summer.
Endo Lecture: 1 credit
-Yes endo continues next semester, but only in lecture format. I assume we are to continue learning about endo! Self-explanatory no?
Fixed Prosthodontics II: 4 credits
-Bleh, I really did not like this class at all last semester. I suppose it had its good moments, but the director spends no time with us in the pre-clinic – yet she grades all our practicals (really tough by the way). It would be nice if there were a correlation between what our instructors in clinic say is good, versus what the actual course director thinks is good..because believe me..there is variation. I also am just really sick of working with plastic teeth and imperfect dentechs. What is truly terrifying though is that last semester we didn’t even have to temporize for performance exams, and I still averaged a 70.5% on them. I think we have to do a three-unit bridge prep/provisional for the final… I don’t want to think about it anymore right now…moving on. We meet on Wednesdays again.
Pharmacology: 4 credits
-This is a very D-1ish like class in that it is all lecture based. We meet for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I know this will be a tough class that has the potential to really overwhelm even the best student. I intend to keep up with studying, even if there aren’t quizzes. I have proven to myself that lecture based classes are VERY manageable with proper studying – so I would be disappointed if I don’t do well. It will also be nice to finally have at least a rudimentary understanding of all the drugs people seem to be on – especially in our clinics.
Despite the feeling that things will be less stressful, I still doubt I will do much better grade-wise. The subjective nature of the clinics is not worth getting flustered over – as long as I am happy with my own growth and development, I will deal with average arbitrary scores.
So there you have it – the preview of Spring 09’ – My final test before moving on to the proverbial Xanadu that is D-3 year.
Now for the Fall 08’ memorandum.
I can’t say this enough, but the fall semester (or second D-2 semester) is the champion of tough asses in my book. Everyone seemed to struggle a bit – which made it less frustrating of course. I actually did a bit better than my pre-semester prediction. The only true surprise was that I somehow pulled out an ‘A’ in endo. If anyone has actually been keeping up with my haphazard writings, you may recall I saw NO chance of an ‘A’ in that course before we even started. So that definitely took the sting off of my failure as a prosthodontist. I fortunately locked a ‘B’ in fixed prosth despite pretty much failing both performance exams – this is why studying for written exams is ALWAYS important. However, grades aside, I know I am better at crown preps than those grades show – my practice preps were miles ahead of both exams – I just can’t keep botching up when it counts.
I’m not going to rattle off every class grade, but I ended up doing well enough for my own satisfaction. I didn’t burn any bridges in terms of specializing, which has been my goal since day one. I am proud of my work ethic during the last months and hope it carries over into the years to come, making me a better professional as a result.
While this semester was the toughest, that doesn’t make it the worst. That title still goes to the second semester of the D-1 year. At least now, we are working are asses off towards something of merit – and not biochemistry.
Ok, this post has dragged on long enough; I got some more relaxing to do.
Have a fun and safe New Year celebration!
As I filled in this planner, I also took a closer gander at the actual classes I will be taking. The semester looks beefier than last (no more half-days), but I refuse to believe that anything could be worse than the fall. Here we go. I will talk about last semester afterwards so skip ahead if you are still interested in that crap. Keep in mind that the semester won’t start for another week, so this is my PRE-game analysis.
Comprehensive Care II – C : 6 credits
-This is largest value comp care has carried since my first D-1 semester. I fear getting an ‘A’ will be EXTREMELY difficult as much of our grade will probably be determined by treating real patients. Unless I get a hefty boost to my current patient pool, I will DEFINITELY struggle to fill my blank schedule. It appears that there is a large implant component with this course. I am pretty sure that we are the first class where placing implants is required to graduate – so with this in mind, we are getting some good exposure to it next semester. I’m not sure if the current D-3’s had an implant course or not – I hope they did, otherwise we will be the inaugural class…and that usually equals unorganized mess. We have the implant module on Mondays. I will have my clinic sessions/rotations on Tuesday afternoons as well as all day on Fridays. While I still get a bunch of open clinic time, I will also be going on a myriad of rotations such as radiology, endo, perio, pedo, ect.
This is my last opportunity to really get used to the clinics before I become a D-3, I hope to take advantage.
Treatment Planning: 2 credits
-We meet on Monday and Thursday mornings for 2 hours. This is a lecture based class that essentially teaches how to treatment plan. I REALLY wish we had gotten this course LAST SUMMER as there have numerous occasions during several courses where knowledge in this area would have been VERY helpful – not to mention it is mandatory before doing any real work on patients. I really hope they finally explain some of the ins and outs on using the axium computer system this school utilizes.
Ortho: 2 credits
-My first experience in orthodontics begins next semester. We have 2 hours of lecture on Tuesday morning and I will be doing the lab portion on Thursday afternoons. Seeing as ortho originally got me interested in dentistry as a child, I am quite interested to see HOW it really works. I don’t see myself specializing in the field, simply because I am not a huge fan of working with kids – but we will see how it goes.
Oral Surgery Lecture: 1 credit
-Pretty much a lecture based class that meets for an hour on Wednesdays. I assume we will be talking about Oral surgery..yea? My first clinical rotation in OS begins in the summer.
Endo Lecture: 1 credit
-Yes endo continues next semester, but only in lecture format. I assume we are to continue learning about endo! Self-explanatory no?
Fixed Prosthodontics II: 4 credits
-Bleh, I really did not like this class at all last semester. I suppose it had its good moments, but the director spends no time with us in the pre-clinic – yet she grades all our practicals (really tough by the way). It would be nice if there were a correlation between what our instructors in clinic say is good, versus what the actual course director thinks is good..because believe me..there is variation. I also am just really sick of working with plastic teeth and imperfect dentechs. What is truly terrifying though is that last semester we didn’t even have to temporize for performance exams, and I still averaged a 70.5% on them. I think we have to do a three-unit bridge prep/provisional for the final… I don’t want to think about it anymore right now…moving on. We meet on Wednesdays again.
Pharmacology: 4 credits
-This is a very D-1ish like class in that it is all lecture based. We meet for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I know this will be a tough class that has the potential to really overwhelm even the best student. I intend to keep up with studying, even if there aren’t quizzes. I have proven to myself that lecture based classes are VERY manageable with proper studying – so I would be disappointed if I don’t do well. It will also be nice to finally have at least a rudimentary understanding of all the drugs people seem to be on – especially in our clinics.
Despite the feeling that things will be less stressful, I still doubt I will do much better grade-wise. The subjective nature of the clinics is not worth getting flustered over – as long as I am happy with my own growth and development, I will deal with average arbitrary scores.
So there you have it – the preview of Spring 09’ – My final test before moving on to the proverbial Xanadu that is D-3 year.
Now for the Fall 08’ memorandum.
I can’t say this enough, but the fall semester (or second D-2 semester) is the champion of tough asses in my book. Everyone seemed to struggle a bit – which made it less frustrating of course. I actually did a bit better than my pre-semester prediction. The only true surprise was that I somehow pulled out an ‘A’ in endo. If anyone has actually been keeping up with my haphazard writings, you may recall I saw NO chance of an ‘A’ in that course before we even started. So that definitely took the sting off of my failure as a prosthodontist. I fortunately locked a ‘B’ in fixed prosth despite pretty much failing both performance exams – this is why studying for written exams is ALWAYS important. However, grades aside, I know I am better at crown preps than those grades show – my practice preps were miles ahead of both exams – I just can’t keep botching up when it counts.
I’m not going to rattle off every class grade, but I ended up doing well enough for my own satisfaction. I didn’t burn any bridges in terms of specializing, which has been my goal since day one. I am proud of my work ethic during the last months and hope it carries over into the years to come, making me a better professional as a result.
While this semester was the toughest, that doesn’t make it the worst. That title still goes to the second semester of the D-1 year. At least now, we are working are asses off towards something of merit – and not biochemistry.
Ok, this post has dragged on long enough; I got some more relaxing to do.
Have a fun and safe New Year celebration!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Eve of Another Finish
At around 11:00 in the morning tomorrow I will have completed the most arduous academic semester of my lifetime. Words cannot begin to express how much I actually learned this semester and how much I worked my proverbial tail off. I spent time in the school every weekend this semester. This is not an exaggeration. Granted, this time would not have been unnecessary if I stayed super late on a few weekdays each week, but I think that would have been even harder. 8-5 is more than enough for me.
So while things were definitely more hectic, I found this to be one of the ‘better’ semesters in terms of feeling like I am finally progressing as a future dentist. The first year is so very difficult to associate with clinical dentistry because we spent so little time learning dentistry. So yea, it is quite refreshing to finally be a dental student. Again, the volume of dental skills I have picked up this semester is more than all three previous semesters combined. I honestly feel like I could do procedures on REAL people at this point. Really though, that is what I need to be doing now, plastic teeth and ‘ideal’ preps really aren’t doing it for me anymore. I still have one more semester as a D-2 and I hear it is a bit lighter than the current beast I am about to finish. Unfortunately I will be jammed in the lecture halls a bit more with courses like pharmacology and treatment planning, but I will get to the schedule at a later date.
Basically I am procrastinating from studying for my final tests tomorrow. My last exam was on Tuesday and I unfortunately have somewhat slipped into vacation mode already. This happens to me EVERY time during finals…I just run out of gas. I of course WILL study more tonight…lest I fail dentures, but at this point, I just want to pass and get the hell on with the next wave of classes. This entire fall routine has gotten very old.
My GPA will definitely take a hit this semester..but that is all relative, barring a terrible showing tomorrow, I won’t get any ‘C’s which is my bottom-line goal. The only course where I seemed to excel above average was endo, but I still am happy with my progress in the other courses. Fixed prosth was the only course I would consider a bit of a failure this semester. I nearly failed the second performance exam despite the fact that my previous two practice preps were near perfect, I just wasn’t bringing my ‘A’ game for the exams (I had to remediate the first). Luckily I destroyed the final written exam which allowed me to secure a ‘B’ despite the sloppy performance exams. Only one remediation all semester really isn’t that bad either considering how tough some of these classes were – but it would have been sweet to get through un-scratched.
I also didn’t do so hot in the restorative portion of comp care which is a bit disheartening as these are the procedures I should be good at by now – but again, what you do on a given day on plastic teeth seems a bit variable depending on WHO actually looks at your work. A ‘C’ from one teacher could very well be an ‘A’ from another. What matters is how YOU feel about your work. I feel pretty good about things at this point – but I obviously have a LONG way to go.
I can tell this semester has sucked because my right eye has been twitching uncontrollably at random intervals throughout finals..it is time for a BREAK.
I have my wireless internet hooked up, my PS3 raring for some usage, my bottle of JW blue label just waiting to be sipped, a fireplace yearning to be sat by while it snows; old friends needing some hang-out times, Christmas cookies to devour, New Year’s champagne to toast, and most importantly - zero time in the dental school for 16 days. How’s that for a run-on?
Good to go folks, good to go.
So while things were definitely more hectic, I found this to be one of the ‘better’ semesters in terms of feeling like I am finally progressing as a future dentist. The first year is so very difficult to associate with clinical dentistry because we spent so little time learning dentistry. So yea, it is quite refreshing to finally be a dental student. Again, the volume of dental skills I have picked up this semester is more than all three previous semesters combined. I honestly feel like I could do procedures on REAL people at this point. Really though, that is what I need to be doing now, plastic teeth and ‘ideal’ preps really aren’t doing it for me anymore. I still have one more semester as a D-2 and I hear it is a bit lighter than the current beast I am about to finish. Unfortunately I will be jammed in the lecture halls a bit more with courses like pharmacology and treatment planning, but I will get to the schedule at a later date.
Basically I am procrastinating from studying for my final tests tomorrow. My last exam was on Tuesday and I unfortunately have somewhat slipped into vacation mode already. This happens to me EVERY time during finals…I just run out of gas. I of course WILL study more tonight…lest I fail dentures, but at this point, I just want to pass and get the hell on with the next wave of classes. This entire fall routine has gotten very old.
My GPA will definitely take a hit this semester..but that is all relative, barring a terrible showing tomorrow, I won’t get any ‘C’s which is my bottom-line goal. The only course where I seemed to excel above average was endo, but I still am happy with my progress in the other courses. Fixed prosth was the only course I would consider a bit of a failure this semester. I nearly failed the second performance exam despite the fact that my previous two practice preps were near perfect, I just wasn’t bringing my ‘A’ game for the exams (I had to remediate the first). Luckily I destroyed the final written exam which allowed me to secure a ‘B’ despite the sloppy performance exams. Only one remediation all semester really isn’t that bad either considering how tough some of these classes were – but it would have been sweet to get through un-scratched.
I also didn’t do so hot in the restorative portion of comp care which is a bit disheartening as these are the procedures I should be good at by now – but again, what you do on a given day on plastic teeth seems a bit variable depending on WHO actually looks at your work. A ‘C’ from one teacher could very well be an ‘A’ from another. What matters is how YOU feel about your work. I feel pretty good about things at this point – but I obviously have a LONG way to go.
I can tell this semester has sucked because my right eye has been twitching uncontrollably at random intervals throughout finals..it is time for a BREAK.
I have my wireless internet hooked up, my PS3 raring for some usage, my bottle of JW blue label just waiting to be sipped, a fireplace yearning to be sat by while it snows; old friends needing some hang-out times, Christmas cookies to devour, New Year’s champagne to toast, and most importantly - zero time in the dental school for 16 days. How’s that for a run-on?
Good to go folks, good to go.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
I'm Not Dead...Yet
Missed an entire month..oops. Things have been horribly busy and stressful and frustrating and fun all at once.
Since I still am getting plowed by school, I will sum it up real fast.
1. Had to remediate my first performance exam ever (crown prep)
2. Succesfully finished my last endo performance exam and would have had a near perfect score if my x-ray didn't get destroyed in the grading bag prior to evaluation. Regardless, I did not have to remediate any endo exams which is great. In all honesty, I find this specialty to be the most interesting so far.
3. Had my first patient appointment for a recall exam (and she showed up!) It went about as perfectly as one could hope. She was young and clearly had been taking great care of her teeth..so there really wasn't much work for me to do! I unfortunately was unable to get any other patients in this semester...oh well, next semester will provide even more opportunities before hitting the clincs full time as a D-3.
4. Finished my first gold crown...it is purty
5. I've decided that dental materials is the most drab topic ever to grace a power point presentation. Maybe if I wasn't expected to cram so much other crap into my head while learning a million new clinical skills I could find some of it useful..or interesting...well...probably not.
6. Lots of other random things, but those were the major events of november...the month that flew by.
2.5 weeks left to this hell of a semester before I get a real vacation. Today was a looooong day..tomorrow should be better aside from the oral path final.
This semester is without question, the hardest academic semester of my existance.
I enjoy it more than D-1 year though, because it is practical to my career.
Now I'm off to watch top chef with my lady and not study because my brain refuses to allow one more sentence of pathology inside.
OFF!
Since I still am getting plowed by school, I will sum it up real fast.
1. Had to remediate my first performance exam ever (crown prep)
2. Succesfully finished my last endo performance exam and would have had a near perfect score if my x-ray didn't get destroyed in the grading bag prior to evaluation. Regardless, I did not have to remediate any endo exams which is great. In all honesty, I find this specialty to be the most interesting so far.
3. Had my first patient appointment for a recall exam (and she showed up!) It went about as perfectly as one could hope. She was young and clearly had been taking great care of her teeth..so there really wasn't much work for me to do! I unfortunately was unable to get any other patients in this semester...oh well, next semester will provide even more opportunities before hitting the clincs full time as a D-3.
4. Finished my first gold crown...it is purty
5. I've decided that dental materials is the most drab topic ever to grace a power point presentation. Maybe if I wasn't expected to cram so much other crap into my head while learning a million new clinical skills I could find some of it useful..or interesting...well...probably not.
6. Lots of other random things, but those were the major events of november...the month that flew by.
2.5 weeks left to this hell of a semester before I get a real vacation. Today was a looooong day..tomorrow should be better aside from the oral path final.
This semester is without question, the hardest academic semester of my existance.
I enjoy it more than D-1 year though, because it is practical to my career.
Now I'm off to watch top chef with my lady and not study because my brain refuses to allow one more sentence of pathology inside.
OFF!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The D-2 Experience III
While I find time extremely stretched thin at this point, I have had two remarkably relaxed days in a row. I decided to add another chunk of thoughts towards the second year of dental school. This week began as an utter pile of feces. Monday was absolutely the worst day of the semester, by far. Based on my interactions with other classmates, I would venture to guess that I am not alone in this sentiment. It opened with a performance exam in RPD (removable partial dentures). We had to prep rest seats on plastic teeth. These seats essentially help the RPD stay in place and help resist forces. The preps themselves are not too difficult – however, we had to prep four of them with guiding planes in about an hour AND evaluate everything. For those not in the know, a guiding plane is established by shaving the sides of the teeth a bit so that the RPD can fit better and not lock into place in some sort of undercut. So I basically just ran low on time and had to speed through the last prep – which ended up looking pretty damn crappy. I still don’t know how to ‘evaluate’ a guiding plane on plastic teeth without surveying them, but whatever. The director says he is going to go easy on us, but we will see. I smell my first remediation.
So we get all cleaned up around 12:45. We have to be back for restorative at 1:30. Now here is where things begin to suck. I have already vented enough with my peers, so I will avoid becoming immature in my writing, but simply put – Monday afternoon was poor form. I was specifically told the week before, that our most recent project would be turned in NEXT week. I was also told that Monday’s work would be an all-ceramic crown prep and provisional. So what happens? We are told that EVERYTHING is due by 4:00 and that we are doing a VENEER prep and COMPOSITE provisional (something I very vaguely remember doing back in May). So I had zero time to prepare for this change in events, and a lot of my other work was still unfinished because I assumed we had more time because I was TOLD that we did have another week. So ok, they want to simulate the ‘clinic’ and how we are going to be evaluated. I can tell you right now, I won’t be jammed back in a tiny corner about 1 mile away from any materials when I am in the clinic. I won’t need to climb over about 25 units with classmates blocking the isles to get to materials that aren’t even out when I’m in the clinic.
The disorganization was absolutely terrible. And the best part is that if we didn’t finish in time, our grade is automatically a ‘C.’ Incredible. I get that they wanted to try something ‘new.’ But leaving me horribly uninformed about events is not fair considering how much money I pay for this education. It also is a disservice to my own morale as I felt like a horrible excuse for a dental student because everything turned out like crap. This is completely understandable, given the circumstances and simple lack of materials compounded by that horrible excuse for a pre-clinic. The class feels unorganized in general. I hate not knowing what I need to do. I also hate being rushed. Yea I get it, speed is important, but let me freaking get the basics down before you start shoving me to hurry up. If I don’t learn to do it right slowly, how the hell am I ever going to get good at doing it fast?
The grade impact isn’t all that significant, but that’s not the point. My confidence was completely and unnecessarily obliterated by an unorganized and attempt to scare the shit out of us.
Everyone hates pop-quizzes….but pop-performance exams?
So naturally, Monday left me a bit pissed off. Fortunately, the last two days have been complete cake-walks and I have been home by 2:00 each day. I finished up my first full crown wax-up for a #18 FGC. It actually looked pretty good. We sent them off to the lab and they will come back as shiny gold. I am not really doing much school work at home these last few days. I am just trying to relax and mentally prepare for the next big hurdle – endo performance exam #2 on Friday. We are doing full root canal therapy on one maxillary pre-molar that has TWO canals. I am looking forward to working on ONE tooth for a change and putting all three steps (access, cleaning/shaping, obturation) together at once. My only concern is that two-rooted pre-molars seem bit fragile and extracted teeth aren’t the sturdiest of things. So I am a little worried about the crown breaking. Luckily, I have a back-up..so even the worst-case scenario should be manageable.
I haven’t really practiced, but they have us doing SO much homework and lab-work in that class that I feel like I could get by ok. Still, as with most performance exams, I can feel my nerves slowly creeping up on me.
If I make it through Friday, next week will be a completely breeze.
So enough on current events. I have gotten positive feedback for the class-by-class breakdowns, so I will give a mid-semester update on the fall D-2 curriculum here.
Comprehensive Care IIb
-The grading distribution in this course is a bit confusing, and as always – there are SEVERAL modules.
a) Restorative - 37.5%
-well from my earlier rant, I’m sure you can guess how I may feel about this course. This would be a little off though, because I have enjoyed this module for the most part. It has essentially been mock cases that we work out on our dentechs – applying techniques previously learned and attempting to get them done quickly. Again though, I don’t feel ready to get ‘rushed’ just yet – and sometimes, this is VERY detrimental to my learning. We have done a lot of composite work, as well as some crown preps. Made some models, mounted them, and created custom trays. Nothing really new, just more practice (which is always a GOOD thing in dental school). Aside from last Monday, I have liked the pacing and cases. We had to write an Evidence based-dentistry paper, but aside from that – the grades are based on lab work.
b) Clinics – 12.5%
-this is interesting because we are the first class to get in the clinics with our own patients so early. I would be willing to wager that the current D-1s may get their own patients in the summer rather than just shadow like we did. It is very intimidating to get a list of patients that you are responsible for calling and arranging appointments. Seeing as I am only in the clinics on Thursdays, communication with patients calling in gets cumbersome. For example, one of my patients called and left a message for me. It said “please call back.” So I called back and got the ol’ voicemail. Patient called back AGAIN the next day, left ANOTHER message: “call back in PM.” So I called back…VOICEMAIL! I have called this patient about five times now and she has NEVER picked up her damn phone. I left her my email address last time praying she might attempt another avenue at communication…nope. I will call her once more tonight, but after that, she’s on her own. She is young too, so I’m sure she knows how to use email. Who knows. Thankfully I have gotten ONE appointment for next week. However, from my observations, there is a 50% chance she will cancel. Days we aren’t in the general clinic are spent on rotation. I have had urgent care, radiology, and pediatrics already. Pedo was awesome because we essentially got hopped up on nitrous the whole time. One of us would learn how to set everything up and adjust the gas while the other would enjoy its effects. I am convinced that nitrous SLOWS DOWN TIME.
We also have some random assignments to turn in regarding Medicaid and how we plan on being ‘organized students’ as D-3s.
c) Communications - P/F
-I enjoyed this brief module. The information was quite relevant and while some aspects were a bit drawn out, I did learn a few good techniques towards communicating better. We had to attend all the classes and I still have a paper to write about my first patient interview (even though I have already done this in Urgent Care a few times).
d) Periodontics - 50%
-The grade savior of comp care. Although I fear that this semester’s exams will be tough in comparison to previous semesters. We had to find our own patients to come in back in September for the basic perio exam with prophylaxis (cleaning). Once we wrapped that up, we have been doing lectures on Tuesdays for 2 hours every week. Not much else to add.
Ok..enough comp care already…
Removable Partial Dentures
-This class is pretty good. The mid-term was not as easy as I would have liked, but by no means was it unfair. The practical was not horrible, but I definitely didn’t do that well. You basically started out confused as hell during the first month. Then eventually, everything starts to make sense and come together. I feel pretty good about this class so far, but who knows (especially if you didn’t skip the early portion of this post…ugh).
Oral Pathology
-Pathology has been a part of my life since last January. I am ready to part ways. Thankfully, the information this semester is relevant to dentistry.
Fixed Prosthodontics I
-Frustrating at times, ‘ok’ at others. If it wasn’t for provisionals, I truly wouldn’t mind this class. HOWEVER, I think I may have finally got the timing down with the acrylic so that they are beginning to turn out a LOT better. I still need practice of course. My only concern is how bottom-heavy the grading is. We have only had TWO quizzes all semester. There is no mid-term, and only two performance exams packed in late November and early December. Our row instructors are grading our weekly work, but this amounts to very little of the full course grade. The final exam is going to be insane. We have an average of two lectures every week. Some of them are DRY as hell (dental materials). So we are looking at around 30 some lectures to study for the final exam.
Endodontics
-I like that I am learning..A LOT. But I don’t like how long it takes to set up the unit, how annoying teeth are to allocate, x-ray, mount, x-ray again…THAN work. It is VERY tedious..which is appropriate, given how tedious endo is in general. However, I have enjoyed the work more than most courses (namely because working on real teeth feels far more beneficial). Doomsday is this Friday though..I am really fearing that something out of my control will go wrong. I got through the first one unscathed, but I feel like I am due for a catastrophe. Damn I am negative.
Complete Dentures
-This class is simply not organized. That is really all I can say. I don’t feel comfortable doing pretty much anything and everything related to dentures. Your learning experience seems based on two factors out of your control. The instructor you get, and the patient you get. I feel like I get the big picture, and a lot of the lab stuff makes complete sense to me when I see it. However, do I see myself remembering all of these little things when it is my turn to make them? Probably not. The only saving grace is that we have plenty of outside resources and reading to refer to. So I shouldn’t be completely lost. I bet my first patient that isn’t on recall will need complete dentures. Throw me in the fire!
OK, that is it. I figure the bigger the post, the more off-time I am allowed. Fair? I think so.
I do have a pretty good story of my first urgent care experience last week, but I will save it for another time. I got some relaxing to do.
Break.
So we get all cleaned up around 12:45. We have to be back for restorative at 1:30. Now here is where things begin to suck. I have already vented enough with my peers, so I will avoid becoming immature in my writing, but simply put – Monday afternoon was poor form. I was specifically told the week before, that our most recent project would be turned in NEXT week. I was also told that Monday’s work would be an all-ceramic crown prep and provisional. So what happens? We are told that EVERYTHING is due by 4:00 and that we are doing a VENEER prep and COMPOSITE provisional (something I very vaguely remember doing back in May). So I had zero time to prepare for this change in events, and a lot of my other work was still unfinished because I assumed we had more time because I was TOLD that we did have another week. So ok, they want to simulate the ‘clinic’ and how we are going to be evaluated. I can tell you right now, I won’t be jammed back in a tiny corner about 1 mile away from any materials when I am in the clinic. I won’t need to climb over about 25 units with classmates blocking the isles to get to materials that aren’t even out when I’m in the clinic.
The disorganization was absolutely terrible. And the best part is that if we didn’t finish in time, our grade is automatically a ‘C.’ Incredible. I get that they wanted to try something ‘new.’ But leaving me horribly uninformed about events is not fair considering how much money I pay for this education. It also is a disservice to my own morale as I felt like a horrible excuse for a dental student because everything turned out like crap. This is completely understandable, given the circumstances and simple lack of materials compounded by that horrible excuse for a pre-clinic. The class feels unorganized in general. I hate not knowing what I need to do. I also hate being rushed. Yea I get it, speed is important, but let me freaking get the basics down before you start shoving me to hurry up. If I don’t learn to do it right slowly, how the hell am I ever going to get good at doing it fast?
The grade impact isn’t all that significant, but that’s not the point. My confidence was completely and unnecessarily obliterated by an unorganized and attempt to scare the shit out of us.
Everyone hates pop-quizzes….but pop-performance exams?
So naturally, Monday left me a bit pissed off. Fortunately, the last two days have been complete cake-walks and I have been home by 2:00 each day. I finished up my first full crown wax-up for a #18 FGC. It actually looked pretty good. We sent them off to the lab and they will come back as shiny gold. I am not really doing much school work at home these last few days. I am just trying to relax and mentally prepare for the next big hurdle – endo performance exam #2 on Friday. We are doing full root canal therapy on one maxillary pre-molar that has TWO canals. I am looking forward to working on ONE tooth for a change and putting all three steps (access, cleaning/shaping, obturation) together at once. My only concern is that two-rooted pre-molars seem bit fragile and extracted teeth aren’t the sturdiest of things. So I am a little worried about the crown breaking. Luckily, I have a back-up..so even the worst-case scenario should be manageable.
I haven’t really practiced, but they have us doing SO much homework and lab-work in that class that I feel like I could get by ok. Still, as with most performance exams, I can feel my nerves slowly creeping up on me.
If I make it through Friday, next week will be a completely breeze.
So enough on current events. I have gotten positive feedback for the class-by-class breakdowns, so I will give a mid-semester update on the fall D-2 curriculum here.
Comprehensive Care IIb
-The grading distribution in this course is a bit confusing, and as always – there are SEVERAL modules.
a) Restorative - 37.5%
-well from my earlier rant, I’m sure you can guess how I may feel about this course. This would be a little off though, because I have enjoyed this module for the most part. It has essentially been mock cases that we work out on our dentechs – applying techniques previously learned and attempting to get them done quickly. Again though, I don’t feel ready to get ‘rushed’ just yet – and sometimes, this is VERY detrimental to my learning. We have done a lot of composite work, as well as some crown preps. Made some models, mounted them, and created custom trays. Nothing really new, just more practice (which is always a GOOD thing in dental school). Aside from last Monday, I have liked the pacing and cases. We had to write an Evidence based-dentistry paper, but aside from that – the grades are based on lab work.
b) Clinics – 12.5%
-this is interesting because we are the first class to get in the clinics with our own patients so early. I would be willing to wager that the current D-1s may get their own patients in the summer rather than just shadow like we did. It is very intimidating to get a list of patients that you are responsible for calling and arranging appointments. Seeing as I am only in the clinics on Thursdays, communication with patients calling in gets cumbersome. For example, one of my patients called and left a message for me. It said “please call back.” So I called back and got the ol’ voicemail. Patient called back AGAIN the next day, left ANOTHER message: “call back in PM.” So I called back…VOICEMAIL! I have called this patient about five times now and she has NEVER picked up her damn phone. I left her my email address last time praying she might attempt another avenue at communication…nope. I will call her once more tonight, but after that, she’s on her own. She is young too, so I’m sure she knows how to use email. Who knows. Thankfully I have gotten ONE appointment for next week. However, from my observations, there is a 50% chance she will cancel. Days we aren’t in the general clinic are spent on rotation. I have had urgent care, radiology, and pediatrics already. Pedo was awesome because we essentially got hopped up on nitrous the whole time. One of us would learn how to set everything up and adjust the gas while the other would enjoy its effects. I am convinced that nitrous SLOWS DOWN TIME.
We also have some random assignments to turn in regarding Medicaid and how we plan on being ‘organized students’ as D-3s.
c) Communications - P/F
-I enjoyed this brief module. The information was quite relevant and while some aspects were a bit drawn out, I did learn a few good techniques towards communicating better. We had to attend all the classes and I still have a paper to write about my first patient interview (even though I have already done this in Urgent Care a few times).
d) Periodontics - 50%
-The grade savior of comp care. Although I fear that this semester’s exams will be tough in comparison to previous semesters. We had to find our own patients to come in back in September for the basic perio exam with prophylaxis (cleaning). Once we wrapped that up, we have been doing lectures on Tuesdays for 2 hours every week. Not much else to add.
Ok..enough comp care already…
Removable Partial Dentures
-This class is pretty good. The mid-term was not as easy as I would have liked, but by no means was it unfair. The practical was not horrible, but I definitely didn’t do that well. You basically started out confused as hell during the first month. Then eventually, everything starts to make sense and come together. I feel pretty good about this class so far, but who knows (especially if you didn’t skip the early portion of this post…ugh).
Oral Pathology
-Pathology has been a part of my life since last January. I am ready to part ways. Thankfully, the information this semester is relevant to dentistry.
Fixed Prosthodontics I
-Frustrating at times, ‘ok’ at others. If it wasn’t for provisionals, I truly wouldn’t mind this class. HOWEVER, I think I may have finally got the timing down with the acrylic so that they are beginning to turn out a LOT better. I still need practice of course. My only concern is how bottom-heavy the grading is. We have only had TWO quizzes all semester. There is no mid-term, and only two performance exams packed in late November and early December. Our row instructors are grading our weekly work, but this amounts to very little of the full course grade. The final exam is going to be insane. We have an average of two lectures every week. Some of them are DRY as hell (dental materials). So we are looking at around 30 some lectures to study for the final exam.
Endodontics
-I like that I am learning..A LOT. But I don’t like how long it takes to set up the unit, how annoying teeth are to allocate, x-ray, mount, x-ray again…THAN work. It is VERY tedious..which is appropriate, given how tedious endo is in general. However, I have enjoyed the work more than most courses (namely because working on real teeth feels far more beneficial). Doomsday is this Friday though..I am really fearing that something out of my control will go wrong. I got through the first one unscathed, but I feel like I am due for a catastrophe. Damn I am negative.
Complete Dentures
-This class is simply not organized. That is really all I can say. I don’t feel comfortable doing pretty much anything and everything related to dentures. Your learning experience seems based on two factors out of your control. The instructor you get, and the patient you get. I feel like I get the big picture, and a lot of the lab stuff makes complete sense to me when I see it. However, do I see myself remembering all of these little things when it is my turn to make them? Probably not. The only saving grace is that we have plenty of outside resources and reading to refer to. So I shouldn’t be completely lost. I bet my first patient that isn’t on recall will need complete dentures. Throw me in the fire!
OK, that is it. I figure the bigger the post, the more off-time I am allowed. Fair? I think so.
I do have a pretty good story of my first urgent care experience last week, but I will save it for another time. I got some relaxing to do.
Break.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Patients Ahoy
Done deal, I have officially scheduled my very first patient. While I am overwhelmed with the heaping pile of work that the D-2 year is, I am glad they throw us into the clinics so early. Granted, I am not expected to do much outside of recall exams, but my group practice manager said if the patient needs work done, we will be doing it. There are plenty of procedures I could attempt competently on a live patient. However, obviously there is plenty I can’t do yet either. Mainly prosthodontic business. I could also do ½ a root canal (haven’t learned obturation yet).
Basically, the school is trying to ‘get our feet wet’ early so that we aren’t as awkward with patients once we hit the D-3 year. So we only have Thursdays this semester to see patients. We also have rotations through radiology, pediatrics, perio, and urgent care. So there really aren’t even that many opportunities to see real patients. There is only so much we can do though because we don’t have the treatment planning course until NEXT semester. This limits us to recall patients.
So come November 6th, at 2pm – I will be examining my very own LIVE PERSON…whoooo. I hope to schedule a few more as well but we will see.
In other news:
Endo has actually turned into a good class. For all of my griping leading up to it – I have learned a pretty good deal and feel pretty damn comfortable with the basic concepts. The worst part was the mounting of teeth (which mainly occurs during the first month). I still spend a LOT of time doing homework teeth and practicing, but things are going smoothly.
Fixed prosthodontics is giving me trouble. The crown preps are coming along just fine, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make a provisional successfully. I spend hours and hours and they always end up looking like crap.
Dentures also sucks big (mainly because I feel lost trying to set teeth).
All the other classes are going fine. Now by fine, I am not implying that I am going to be busting out A’s in every class, but I am learning SO much more than I did last year. The things that I am learning are also relevant and PRACTICAL towards what I am doing with my life. And as I’ve mentioned previously, the grade feels less important to me at this point. I am plenty competitive for GPRs which is what I see myself doing in 2.5 years.
The work is hard, I am far busier, but I am enjoying WHAT I am doing so much more. This is a good sign.
This semester is blazing by. I am going to be a D-3 before I even realize it.
Hell, I’m going to be a dentist sooner than I think.
Scary right?
Basically, the school is trying to ‘get our feet wet’ early so that we aren’t as awkward with patients once we hit the D-3 year. So we only have Thursdays this semester to see patients. We also have rotations through radiology, pediatrics, perio, and urgent care. So there really aren’t even that many opportunities to see real patients. There is only so much we can do though because we don’t have the treatment planning course until NEXT semester. This limits us to recall patients.
So come November 6th, at 2pm – I will be examining my very own LIVE PERSON…whoooo. I hope to schedule a few more as well but we will see.
In other news:
Endo has actually turned into a good class. For all of my griping leading up to it – I have learned a pretty good deal and feel pretty damn comfortable with the basic concepts. The worst part was the mounting of teeth (which mainly occurs during the first month). I still spend a LOT of time doing homework teeth and practicing, but things are going smoothly.
Fixed prosthodontics is giving me trouble. The crown preps are coming along just fine, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make a provisional successfully. I spend hours and hours and they always end up looking like crap.
Dentures also sucks big (mainly because I feel lost trying to set teeth).
All the other classes are going fine. Now by fine, I am not implying that I am going to be busting out A’s in every class, but I am learning SO much more than I did last year. The things that I am learning are also relevant and PRACTICAL towards what I am doing with my life. And as I’ve mentioned previously, the grade feels less important to me at this point. I am plenty competitive for GPRs which is what I see myself doing in 2.5 years.
The work is hard, I am far busier, but I am enjoying WHAT I am doing so much more. This is a good sign.
This semester is blazing by. I am going to be a D-3 before I even realize it.
Hell, I’m going to be a dentist sooner than I think.
Scary right?
Monday, September 29, 2008
Making the Transition While Returning to Kindergarten
I have finally reached the point where the arbitrary letter grade assigned to me at the end of the semester takes a backseat to actually learning and growing as a student. Freaking out about missing one question on a quiz is completely unnecessary and holds no outcome on my professional future. I am also thoroughly convinced that if I simply relax a little, and try to learn rather than memorize – my grades probably won’t change all that much.
There is just too much going on to fret over everything. Far too many projects, with very subjective grading coupled with the actual need to KNOW most of this stuff. I’ve also been assigned my first batch of patients and I have to call and make appointments with them. All while taking endo, fixed, complete dentures, RPD, oral path, restorative, and perio. C’mon now. Granted, we aren’t getting our ‘own’ fresh patients. These are all from the ‘recall’ pool and all we need to do is give them their ‘periodic oral evaluation’ (poe). Still, the stress of entering the unknown world of the clinics is not a welcome addition to this semester. Not to mention how difficult it will be to convince any patient to come in for a simple exam. The demographic we serve is not the type to come see the dentist unless they are in pain or want something done.
I have also decided that this semester blows away all previous semesters in terms of stress and work. Five weeks in, and I have contemplated hurling myself from the school’s roof on several occasions. With that said, I enjoy what I am doing for the most part. Endo has actually become one of my favorite classes despite all the annoying busy work. We had our first performance exam last friday– access/working length on both an anterior tooth and a premolar as well as an access only on a molar. I was pretty stressed out about this exam simply because I really had nothing to practice with. Not to mention the workload was pretty hefty for 2hrs and 45 mins. So essentially, I just jumped in with the little experience I garnered in class. Thankfully, no major disasters occurred. Many of my classmates had issues with their teeth popping out of the mounting stone. A few had burs break off in the canals, and there were also many perforations – so I feel very fortunate to have had a little luck. This exam is weighted 70% self-evaluation and 30% product. So you really can butcher the hell out of the teeth and still do pretty well. I ended up doing ok, nothing to write home about, but no remediation means it was good enough to work in a real person – and that is the real goal nowadays.
Last Friday was a bit of an anomaly. We had the performance exam until 12:15, and we were next expected to attend a dentures lecture during our lunch break. I mean, that is a TERRIBLE idea. We are all drained and stressed from hauling through a long PE, and are now forced to miss the one break we get during the entire day? Poor choice. It was a good lecture too, but our focus was non-existent. After this lecture, we were all piled into the wet lab and expected to mount our anterior denture teeth. Needless to say, I left at this point – with no guilt either (a rarity for someone who goes to essentially every class).
So now for today’s fun news:
This morning we had our RPD lecture interrupted by one of the head honcho’s of our school. He proceeded to scold the entire class about how filthy we have been leaving the pre-clinic. After he leaves, all the professors started acting pretty snotty towards us as well and essentially treating us like little kids. We all go down to help clean up, and another ‘power’ enters the room screaming at us that THIS CLINIC IS CLOSED!!! Somebody explained that we were told to enter and clean and he quickly replied with “oh, OK!”
Let me preface this gripe with a simple statement: I completely agree with the administration that the pre-clinic is disgusting. Yes, it shouldn’t have gotten that bad – but NO, chewing out the entire class is the wrong approach. The mess is created by probably 25% of the class – the people who didn’t have mother’s that taught them the values of ‘cleaning up after yourself.’ Also, they are telling us how patients won’t stand for this mess. They are right, but this is NOT a clinic. The pre-clinic at this school is an architectural nightmare. The room is crammed, has only one real entrance, and 2 trash cans located in the same spot. What the hell do they expect?
I hope to be a sterile-friendly student in the real clinics. I try my best in the mess they call a pre-clinic – but I don’t need to be talked down to because other individuals can’t clean their own crap. How difficult would it be for instructors to take notes on who actually cleans their units after a class? It is pretty easy to narrow down the resident pigpens. No, it is much easier to blame everyone and alienate the people that actually follow your rules.
But hey, they did what they needed to do to get the room clean. Hopefully it will stay that way because I still have another 8 months of crap to do in there.
I’m not really that churned up either, I just found it a ‘different’ experience and was truly reminded of being in grade school again. I know several friends in other schools that have had similar experiences. I guess it is just part of the process.
The white sox have now forced a one game tie-breaker with Minnesota. I will not be studying tomorrow night..that’s for sure.
Out I go.
There is just too much going on to fret over everything. Far too many projects, with very subjective grading coupled with the actual need to KNOW most of this stuff. I’ve also been assigned my first batch of patients and I have to call and make appointments with them. All while taking endo, fixed, complete dentures, RPD, oral path, restorative, and perio. C’mon now. Granted, we aren’t getting our ‘own’ fresh patients. These are all from the ‘recall’ pool and all we need to do is give them their ‘periodic oral evaluation’ (poe). Still, the stress of entering the unknown world of the clinics is not a welcome addition to this semester. Not to mention how difficult it will be to convince any patient to come in for a simple exam. The demographic we serve is not the type to come see the dentist unless they are in pain or want something done.
I have also decided that this semester blows away all previous semesters in terms of stress and work. Five weeks in, and I have contemplated hurling myself from the school’s roof on several occasions. With that said, I enjoy what I am doing for the most part. Endo has actually become one of my favorite classes despite all the annoying busy work. We had our first performance exam last friday– access/working length on both an anterior tooth and a premolar as well as an access only on a molar. I was pretty stressed out about this exam simply because I really had nothing to practice with. Not to mention the workload was pretty hefty for 2hrs and 45 mins. So essentially, I just jumped in with the little experience I garnered in class. Thankfully, no major disasters occurred. Many of my classmates had issues with their teeth popping out of the mounting stone. A few had burs break off in the canals, and there were also many perforations – so I feel very fortunate to have had a little luck. This exam is weighted 70% self-evaluation and 30% product. So you really can butcher the hell out of the teeth and still do pretty well. I ended up doing ok, nothing to write home about, but no remediation means it was good enough to work in a real person – and that is the real goal nowadays.
Last Friday was a bit of an anomaly. We had the performance exam until 12:15, and we were next expected to attend a dentures lecture during our lunch break. I mean, that is a TERRIBLE idea. We are all drained and stressed from hauling through a long PE, and are now forced to miss the one break we get during the entire day? Poor choice. It was a good lecture too, but our focus was non-existent. After this lecture, we were all piled into the wet lab and expected to mount our anterior denture teeth. Needless to say, I left at this point – with no guilt either (a rarity for someone who goes to essentially every class).
So now for today’s fun news:
This morning we had our RPD lecture interrupted by one of the head honcho’s of our school. He proceeded to scold the entire class about how filthy we have been leaving the pre-clinic. After he leaves, all the professors started acting pretty snotty towards us as well and essentially treating us like little kids. We all go down to help clean up, and another ‘power’ enters the room screaming at us that THIS CLINIC IS CLOSED!!! Somebody explained that we were told to enter and clean and he quickly replied with “oh, OK!”
Let me preface this gripe with a simple statement: I completely agree with the administration that the pre-clinic is disgusting. Yes, it shouldn’t have gotten that bad – but NO, chewing out the entire class is the wrong approach. The mess is created by probably 25% of the class – the people who didn’t have mother’s that taught them the values of ‘cleaning up after yourself.’ Also, they are telling us how patients won’t stand for this mess. They are right, but this is NOT a clinic. The pre-clinic at this school is an architectural nightmare. The room is crammed, has only one real entrance, and 2 trash cans located in the same spot. What the hell do they expect?
I hope to be a sterile-friendly student in the real clinics. I try my best in the mess they call a pre-clinic – but I don’t need to be talked down to because other individuals can’t clean their own crap. How difficult would it be for instructors to take notes on who actually cleans their units after a class? It is pretty easy to narrow down the resident pigpens. No, it is much easier to blame everyone and alienate the people that actually follow your rules.
But hey, they did what they needed to do to get the room clean. Hopefully it will stay that way because I still have another 8 months of crap to do in there.
I’m not really that churned up either, I just found it a ‘different’ experience and was truly reminded of being in grade school again. I know several friends in other schools that have had similar experiences. I guess it is just part of the process.
The white sox have now forced a one game tie-breaker with Minnesota. I will not be studying tomorrow night..that’s for sure.
Out I go.
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