So today was technically my first clinic day at the VA but just yesterday I was the CA for the VA so I was already pretty familiar with the workings at that clinic and things went really smoothly. I learned how to work the computer system and break down/set up rooms yesterday at the orientation so today they let me skip some and take the patient that had to come in at 9:00AM instead of 9:30 when they wanted us to start.
He was such a neat patient, really friendly and fun and I was able to probe, take a pano and 4 BWX, get a Doctor's exam, and complete 2 quads of a class III and 2 Quads of a class V and get him in and out in less than an hour and a half and I only missed one spot that Professor Hanson didn't want to count because she wasn't ready to do a scale check. The coolest part is that I hardly had to use hand instruments because apparently I was pretty effective with the ultrasonic. Then I went around and helped the other students and Jess (the CA) to finish everything up and let us all go to lunch.
My afternoon patient was also very nice and lots of fun to work on. He only had 2 quads to clean and they counted for a class V again but it was good practice to work around implants and I had never actually seen a fixed full denture before so that was really neat. Once again, I got him finished in an hour and missed no spots! I've started out strong but I hope I can keep it up. However, Professor Hanson did point out to me today that I've been fulcruming on the wrong finger the whole time! I'm supposed to be using the ring finger but instead my middle finger has been my fulcrum for over a year now! Aack!!!
Still an overall productive and very positive day!
