Sept. 30, 2009

I was pretty proud of myself in clinic today. I passed off two PE's when really there was probably only time for one. Clinic went way fast today! Same with Monday. Usually it seems like they drag on forever. I guess I've just been staying busy. And look, I remembered to write in my blog today right after clinic. Today for the first time, I experienced my goggles fogging up. I think it was because it was snowing outside!!! It wasn't really all that cold, but I guess it was cold enough. I really don't feel like I have much to write today. I think I did alright today. My goal for next time is to pass off the probe PE and hopefully the explorer one as well. I'm just doing alright!

Sept. 29, 2009

Wow, I have done really bad at my blog lately! But I guess we only need 25 of them total. I hope I'll have enough at the end of the semester. I don't really see why I do this blog anyway. I never read any from anyone else and nobody ever reads mine. I don't know how to put cool pictures on or change the template. This blog really is kind of useless. Clinic has been really fun lately! This week we have had the chance to probe and explore our pod partners mouth! Kind of scary. I think both me and Sarah were shaking the first time we put the explorer under the gum line. I actually thought exploring was a lot less painful than probing! I think I actually fell asleep in the chair while Sarah was exploring my mouth! Probing however is more of a poke then a sliding motion, so you kind of feel that one more. Over the weekend my new perioptic loopes came in the mail! I was as giddy as a school girl! It felt like Christmas! I got to bring them to clinic with me for the first time yesterday. They are so awesome! I love it. I wish I had had them to practice probing on Sarah. I brought my typodont, my loopes, and my instruments home to practice. That will be the best part of homework I'm sure! Well, I really think that is it. My obvious goal is to remember to write in my blog everyday. Once I get that down I will comment on other blogs (if I can figure out how) and then I will feel like this thing is worth my time. It is just, I don't even like checking my email if it is my best friend, why would I want to look on someone else's blog? We talk enough about clinic to one another to know what the other one would write. All well, I'm done venting about it. Everything else in my life is fabulous, so why should I complain? Tell I write again.

Sept. 16, 2009

It's kind of silly that I am writing these when nobody looks at it but me. I guess I should look at and respond to other blogs. Today in clinic we need extra oral exams and they felt sooooo good!!! I'll volunteer as a patient for those any day. I kind of want to go home and practice them on people now. I'm going to have to work on all the names of the objects that I am palpating. I remember what they are called from Anatomy when I hear them, but anatomy was a long time ago and I have forgotten many of the names. We also got to practice using the mirror in our pod partners mouth! That was fun, but I really have no idea what I'm doing. I know what the mirror is used for, but I'm struggling with where to put a folcrum. The TA reasures me that such know-how comes with practice. I forgot to clock in today until just know, so I'm going to have to ask the front desk if that is okay. I'm not sure if clocking in is for the purpose of just showing that we were here or if it is to show how long we were here. I will ask Dr. Solomon to be sure. I passed off two PE's today. I got done with my vitals and positioning. Next Monday the Health History is due. I'm kind of nervous about that one since it is so long. I'm going to take it home and work on it over the weekend. I hope I remember everything I'm supposed to do. I've done enough practice with it you'd think I'd be confident, but there is just too much to mess up on. Well, that is all. It has been a good, fun, and productive day and I'm loving every minute of it!

Sept. 14, 2009

Wow! Today I am tired. But it is still a good day. We have been practicing taking vitals and doing health histories. I think I'm getting the hang of it. I was way excited when I was finally able to hear out of my sphygmomanometer! I've never been able to hear out of it before, but I just switched ends and there you go. I think it is so fun to practice! I feel so official! There is a lot to remember on these PE's though! I'm going to have to take them home and really study them. That will be hard since we have so much to do this week. We have a quiz tomorrow in Anatomy and a test in radiology and dental hygiene. There is so much to study and so little time to study. This week is going to be tough. I really hope I find time to do all the things I need to do in order to be ready for class and the exams. I'll be staying up all hours of the night for the next week I am sure. Bring it on! Here we go! I'm just going to hit the ground with both feet running and keep going until it is finished. That's really all. It is actually the middle of clinic right now and we are waiting to check how we did on our health histories. Hope I did okay. We'll see. I have a new goal. Study over the weekends, get enough sleep, and come to clinic more enthusiastic and awake than I have been. I'll try to remember to follow up on how those goals went. Well, that is all. Have a good one!
Sharli

9/9/09

Wow! I'm finally writting my blog right after clinic. I usually get it done the day after but today I'm still in the clinic. We did Health Histories to day and right now we just have a lot of time to get PE's done, but I already did most of mine last week, so I'm good to go. I was kind of worried about doing health histories. It all seemed so confusing. I was stressing because I thought there would be a lot more to remember. Well, there still is a lot to remember, but it isn't as bad as I thought. I think I'll be all right. I still make a lot of mistakes, but I'm learning from those mistakes. I got to open a new bag of gloves today and guess what?! They are pink! Yeah, I love pink gloves. I'm going to only wear pink gloves when I get out into the real world. I love them! Well, not much to do today. I think we are going to get done a little early. That's all. I guess my goal for next time is to practice my positions PE and maybe get that passed off. That's all!

Sept. 2, 2009

Hey Everybody! Well, anybody that reads this. Today's clinic was interesting. I quite enjoyed it! We got to learn all the positions for viewing a patients mouth as well as how to fill out a health history. We also got our own charts. I decided today that there is a lot to remember. I also decided that I'm not going to stress about it because I'll get it all down eventually. I accomplished two of my goals from last time. One was to write on this blog day of clinic and the second to make use of the extra assistance I get on Monday's with the TA's. As I said, both goals accomplished. I was able to pass off three PE's today, almost four, and as you can see I am writing this blog on a Wednesday rather than a Thursday. Excellent! I really appreciated our lesson about posture. I have pretty poor posture, but I'm trying to break the bad habits. I'm a sloucher for sure. I'm not so sure about getting the magnifying glasses. Oh, I guess you class them loops. Anyway, that is a huge expense and I'm not sure if I need them yet or not. I think they are a good idea, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much money on them. I'll think about it I guess. I'll have to talk to other people and see what they plan on doing. I'll have to take a good look at them when I go to conferences. To sum it up, I felt pretty good about clinic today. I feel like I got a lot done as well as learned a lot and as always, it was a blast!
Sharli

Sept. 1, 2009

I'm late yet again. I am making a new goal, get blog done day of clinic. I think I will remember what I did in clinic and how I felt if I record right after. Anyway, Monday clinic was good. I got to pass off my first PE (eaglesoft) and passed with all fours. I'm sure the next PE's won't be quite as easy, but I'll practice. I noticed that it is more difficult to get help on Monday. There are less instructors and TA's so I'm going to have to really take advantage of that on Wednesday. I just had to wait a long time to get my Eaglesoft done, which is probably why I mastered it, I spent so much time going over it while waiting for my turn. I feel bad for the girls in the "forgotten pod". They only have 1 instructor looking at the 8 of them while I feel like I got 1 to 4. Anyway, I'm just going to have to really study models at home so that I'm ready to pass them off first thing when I get the chance. I still love clinic though! I got rinse out my pod partners mouth, which included splashing her face all over and vacuuming her cheek. Handling the equipment is going to take a while to get used to. Overall I feel good about my lab experience.