excusing patients

So this afternoon I had my mock board come in to complete her other 2 quads, but she was excused because she had a cold sore on next to her nose. I almost didn't notice it I thought originally it was a sore from rubbing the nose when you get a cold. I called another patient who got here in less than fifteen minutes, she too was excused, not because she had a cold sore but because she had uncontrolled diabetes. I had to test her blood glucose and it was 286, and we can only treat patients who are under 200 so today was an unlucky day.

CA

My CA day was almost more stressful than actually having a patient. I know it shouldn't be that way, but I felt like I was doing everything wrong and it was so stressful. I felt like I couldn't go help out my fellow students because I got in trouble for not being at the front desk to check patients out, but I was trying to help out other student chart and clean up their chairs for another patient. I'm probably the only person who feels that way though.

Mock board exam

Today I completed my first mock board exam. It was a really good experience and was a good practice for me for the real one. I forgot to fill things out and made stupid little mistakes which hopefully with practice I won't make anymore. I am excited to have gotten it done this semester and I even passed with an 80%. I know I'll be much more stressed out for the real board exam, because this exam I was just happy that I found a patient to qualify the week before. I heard one of the instructors saying when she was in school they didn't get practice and I couldn't imagine going into my boards not knowing what to do so it was really great to experience for the first time even with the stress of trying to find a patient.

yay!

I found my mock board today, at the last minute and I am so excited. I hope they work out, they had tons of calculus. My patient was a class III and hadn't had their teeth cleaned in 12 years and her breath wasn't very good. This is a load off of my back if she shows up next week and really does qualify.

VA

I'm kinda frustrated with the VA. I hear other students telling me that they get really great patients there and that they have gotten lots of requirements and have even found mock board patients there. Other than the first day, I haven't seen perio really and most of us these last couple of weeks haven't gotten any perio from there at all. I think it's great that we don't have to find our own patients, but I just don't think it's worth driving or riding the frontrunner to salt lake if I'm just going to get class V and Class IB patients. We have also had someone everyday we've gone have one of their patients cancel and so that's obviously not worth our drive when that happens either.

cancellations

My patient called me an hour before her appointment. This is the third time just this semester that this has happened. Luckily Tori had someone just barely call in to see if we had any cancellations. This is getting pretty ridiculous, i don't understand how people can be such slackers. Anyways, enough with my venting, I got a FM set of x-rays this morning so that made me feel alittle bit better about my day. I just really hope I can find a mock board patient today or else I only have one more day and I'm probably gonna lose those points :( That is my only requirement that I'm worried about, all of the other ones should slip into place at least I'm hoping so because once other people start finishing their requirements, they can just give them away to people who really need them.

Late

My patient is late yet again. I swear none of them can show up on time. It's so frustrating waiting to see if they are going to show up at all. I called my patient and he said he was on his way. I'm hoping that since he's a new patient who hasn't been in in awhile that he is at least a class 2, but we'll see how lucky I get. I hate hoping that my patients have bone loss, but what else are we supposed to do to get all of our requirements. The VA so far has only been my success in the perio department. It would make me feel better if I saw some here. All my new patients have been class 5's or 1B's.