Reflective essay for 1st. semester:
This semester was full of advantageous. I got to learn new things and experience new things in my life. Never thought I be able to clean someone’s mouth within a couple months. When we first start I did not have any idea that we are going to see patient from the first semester. I was really scared and terrified. I have learned some good techniques from my professors and
faculty at VCU, which helped me to overcome the fear. I feel very competent in using instruments for example, explorer and prob. At the beginning it was hard or me to detect calculus but it just take practicing. Measuring the pocket depth was a hard task for me as well since we really had short period to practice before we start seeing patients. I have learned that nothing is hard but it all comes with practice.
As weeks passed, school got harder. The fact that we had classes and labs, in addition to that, in November we start seeing an actual patients. Keep track of everything at the same time was not easy at all. Hygiene school kept me really busy, I felt like I was behind and I was not going not last for long time. However with the encouragement of faculty, my mentor, family and friend, I passed my first semester and I gave the best optimum health care I can give to my patient. Getting a good complement from my patient is all I wanted and made me really happy and made me to be stronger and improve more for the future.
Axiom was one of my weakness and what got me delayed in my work. I admit that I was not fast at all and it took me a while to get used to it. However, I feel a lot better now a day which all came with practicing, and the more I practice the better I can do it faster. Over all I need to be faster in clinic and make fast good decisions.
When I heard about competency test I was just wishing that it was an actual written test that I could have just studied for and pass it. The days of competency has arrived and I had to do it. I was so scared and I remember my hand were shaking the whole time. It was my second comp, but my first comp on instrument using explore and prob. Faculty arrived and I was not really ready for it. She start asking me to do this and that. I started with shaking hands and heart beating so fast. Then I start hearing comments from my faculty saying “that’s beautiful” and “great job”. I looked up and in my head I was like “are u talking to me!” was astonished. Any way test was over and I was waiting for result. I waited a lot to get the result. However, I believe it
worth every single minute. I remember her saying “you passed, you did a good job, and I was not expecting that from you Amna”. I remember that I have meet one of the senior students before I take the test and she was telling me about
her experience with competency tests and how she have passed all her tests from the first attempt. I got so surprised that moment on how she did it. She was my motivation. She told “Amna if you want to pass, work hard for it”. It was two
short sentence and it had its influences on me. Now, I can say that I’m so proud of myself for passing all my comp test from the first attempt and felling so confident of everything that I have learned this semester and for accomplishing
what I have aimed for.
Things that I still to work on is how to be more confident and have a better communication with my patient, Work on axiom and finish procedure on time. Things that I feel I have done successfully passing my competency test from the first attempt and on my personal POH that is very hard to keep up with. In conclusion, special thanks to all my faculty and mentor and friends from being my second family and for all the love they shared with me.
Reflective essay for 2nd semester:
The second semester was a lot harder than the first one. I had to be independent and do all the work by my won. It was difficult and still it is. It was a big change for me because last semester I had another classmates to help me out in case I did not know how to deal with something. However the situation this semester is a lot different. I had to be treat the patient independently. I was not afraid a lot at the beginning because I knew this is what I had to do and I was confident I was doing the right things. Semester did not start very well, I did not had a lot of patient due to the weather. I had only couple of patients before my first subjective evaluation.
The subjective evaluation was not the best I could have done. My adviser explained to me the things that I should be aware of while treating my patient. For example, I remember I had a patient that was taking at least fifteen medications with
supplements. I was not sure that day if I should updated at the moment and before moving to next step or I should wait to the end of the procedure since I was afraid not finishing the treatment. I asked faculty and she explained to me that I should do it ride away and look up everything through axiom. Now that I think about, I should not
even ask and I should have just updated everything before moving to the next
step. The fact that the patient could be in real dangerous if I did not what he is taking and how his medication have effects on my dental treatment that day. Therefore, that was one of the important points that my adviser talked to me about.
Basically my clinical evaluation was not so good. I was really sad and depressed and I thought I was not going to last in the dental hygiene program for long time. It was very tough time and I learned to be strong and independent and not to give up on my dream. My only dream is dental hygiene school. I stood up on my feet and did the best I can. I start taking notes spending hours and hours looking at my patient history documentation and history to understand each patient situation ahead of time. I
started calling my patients and I update their medical and dental history from on the phone if I had the chance. My adviser offered to help me by assigning different faculties every day to help me and grade me based on my clinical preparation and performance for every day.
I start getting different feedback from different faculty positive and negative. However, what got my attention the most the fact that one of the faculty had gave me zero on of my clinical performance. However, after the subjective evaluation, I had her again and she told me that I had progressed and I am doing a lot better than before, she told I did a good job in my competency and she passed me to. At the end of the clinic day, I received 2 and 3 on my clinical performance from her. That made my hard work worth it.
My second evaluation with my adviser was a lot better, I was able to thank her for this opportunity that she offered me. I was able to get improved because she opened my eyes to the real world. I have learned that it is okay to have ups and down in life but not to do the same mistake again. I really appreciate all the faculty that spend a lot of time showing me and advising me to do the right thing.
Even though, there was some down this semester, but there was some good part to. I was able to receive a scholarship award from the Sigma Phi Alpha for presenting the best bored presentation this semester. Therefore, even if all doors can close at the same time sometimes but there will be always a window to look up from.
Reflective essay for 3rd semester:
Third semester was one of the most challenging semesters in VCU school of Dentistry. It was the busiest semester ever. the key to be successful of this semester was to stay organized and on time. What made it challenging and different than any other semesters because it was the first semester where I had to travel to outside of Richmond and experience places that I have never been to before. The Dental Hygiene program required us to complete a set of hours outside rotation to provide community service to low income communities for free. In addition to that, I was a full time hygiene student. it was very difficult at the beginning especially that I did not really drive at all before outside the Richmond area unless I was on vacation with my family or friend.
This is why the VCU dental hygiene program is the best choice I had made in my life because VCU got me prepared and ready to everything. Going to these external rotation made me more confident about myself and more independent. I have became more strong person and able to achieve my goals by myself rather than depending on other people.
I truly enjoyed the third semester in school, proving free community service is one of the reason that I chosed to become a dental hygienist. I believe there are many people who are willing to improve their oral hygiene but they are lacking the funds to do so. It make me really sad knowing that there is people out there that have not had cleaning their entire life due to low income or lack of transportation.
going to these external rotation made me realize that I have made the best choice to be a hygienist and appreciate what VCU is giving us. This opportunity worth a million and I would not change it for nothing. Not just that, I actually became faster, more organized in clinic and efficient at the same time. In VCU dental hygiene clinic we tend to spend three hours in one appointment. However, when I attended these external rotation the average time for one appointment is 60-90 minutes which make the appointment very challenging. That is exactly half the time that we actually tend to spend with the patient in VCU dental clinic.
Reflective essay for 4th semester:
What was really unique about the last semester in dental hygiene program is that it prepares me for the real world. It is was a lot different than any other previous semesters. One of the most important is being prepared for clinical and written bored. This semester was full of excitement. Finding a bored patient was not as easy as I thought it would be. The reason why is because most of the patient that I was seeing, they just needed a regular prophylaxis treatment or periodontal maintenance treatment which made it difficult. The patient that would qualify for clinical bored should have at least one quad that qualify for scaling and root planning.
It took an effort of two months to actually find a patient from outside the school. That is actually one thing that I wished of the school had provided us with. By proving us with different screening patients once a week to see if they qualify for bored. All we needed as a dental hygiene students is new screening patients which had made things easier on us.
Later on when I found my bored patient, I asked him if he can come in to complete one of his quad after his initial visit. The reason why, because I wanted to practice on him before my actual bored. Therefore, I attempted to do a scaling and root planning competency on him. That day, I was very confident that I would pass my clinical exam. After completing the assessment form and the depridment I asked the faculty for final check. Unfortunately, that day was not my lucky day. The dental hygiene faculty stated that the cleaning was very good, but my perio and calculus detection assessment were un accurate. I was very upset that day and the faculty told me that I need to practice a lot on assessment. In another word, she told me that I would fail my clinical bored if I did not do better on assessment. That was very devastating moment in my life. The fact that I worked so hard and never failed this competency before and other reason thinking that I may fail my bored exam which I had spend a lot of effort on by finding a patient and a lot of money as well.
The most important thing is I did not give up and did not let this to affect me. I worked harder and spend a lot of time in clinic working on to improve my assessment on every patient that I had in clinic. The good news, I completed my clinical bored with a very successful grade and I truly appreciate the faculty advice to me that day. I believe that if she was not hard enough on me, I would have passed my clinical bored exam.
Later on, I wanted to attempt my clinical competency again since I am required to completed it before graduation. What was scaring me that day, I had the same faculty that I failed with her my first attempt. Of course that made me nervous and unsecured that I might fail it even though I passed my clinical exam. I had no choice but to attempt it that day and be over with it. Therefore, I started with completing the assessment and started depridment after numbing the patient. At the end of the appointment, the faculty arrived for final check. She compared my assessment and her assessment and then looked at me saying " I have never had this much perfection in assessment, all of your calculus detection and periodontal charting match mine 100%". I was very surprised myself but happy at the same time. Then, the hygiene faculty checked my depridemnt and could not find any calculus left in any where in that specific quadrant that I was working on. She looked at my patient and told him "She did a great job". That sentence made my day goes great. That day, I truly understood why she was tough on me the first time, she wanted me to me competent on what am doing. The dental hygiene faculty at the VCU school of Dentistry are not easy but they want their student to graduate competent out of their program.
Therefore, some of the things that I learned from the last semester is to be professional and competent on what I am doing. Accepting advice from faulty even it hurt, but just knowing that they want the best for us, makes me feel a lot better and take it in a way that could help improving myself. As a final word, I just wanted to say thank you to all the dental hygiene faculties that worked with us so hard during the past two years. We all appreciate your hard work with us and for making us the way we are now.
service learning reflective essay:
Lynchburg Rotation: Fall semester
The fall of 2014 has been one of the most valuable semesters of the past two years. For the past year and a half, I have learned many things whether in clinic or in classes. However, the most beneficial external rotation was the one with free services in Lynchburg free clinic. This rotation really thought me how to be independent in making clinical-based decisions. It really made me realize how real practical life is going to be.
What was really difficult about it is that I had to treat and complete the patients in very short time. Each appointment was done in an hour or an hour and a half. This is basically half the time that we have at the VCU School of dentistry. I was not really sure how I was going to be able to finish the procedure on time. It was one of the most challenging experiences that I had this semester. Taking x-ray and learn how to expose it manually in red light was not easy. It took me couple of times to practice first in order to build up an x-ray in the right way.
Determining clinical decisions independently is an important aspect in the field of dental hygiene. Making the right choice is very important. One of the patients that I had presented to the clinic with a health history of a recent heart attack and he was taking the anticoagulant medication (Coumadin). I explained to the patient that the American heart association recommends that dental hygienists are not able to treat patients who had a recent heart attack until a 6 months period pass by in addition to a medical consult from their cardiologist physician. What shocked me the most is the fact that the dentist seemed unaware about this critical information and he did not even know what the INR test mean. The dentist asked me “what does INR mean?” I had to explain to the dentist that the patient is taking Coumadin and he have to measure his INR, which is the international normalized ratio to measure the blood coagulation level and the effectiveness of the anticoagulant Coumadin medication. I also informed the dentist the fact that we have to have a medical consult from the patient’s cardiologist. It is important to know the patient health status before any dental treatment or procedure. The six months waiting period, the INR exam within 48 hours from the dental procedure, and the amount of anesthesia that is recommended and allowed at that point are very important practices when the patient is taking Coumadin. The dentist agreed with me and therefore, I wrote a medical consult and I explained everything to the patient. For the first time I realized that I can depends on myself on making a clinical based decisions.
Another accomplishment that I made during this external rotation is by writing an actual prescription to the patients. One patient presented to clinic with left knee replacement within the past 6 months and was not giving any advice from the physician on how to take precautions prior to dental treatment. Therefore, I called the patient’s physician and he stated that the patient needs to take an antibiotic an hour prior to the treatment. Therefore, I wrote the actual prescription and I had it signed by the dentist.
I really enjoyed giving free cleaning to these patients. Providing free services for two weeks in a raw was very helpful not just for the patients but for me as well. I learned how to manage my time, be an independent worker and also be more organized. Making comprehensive clinical decisions based on what we mostly learned for the past year and half especially what we learned from medical compromised lectures was also one of the things that I felt I achieved. Lastly being more competent on how, when and where to treat the patient was very essential. This community service was very successful and our group had many complements from the dentists and the patient themselves. I was very proud to be part of VCU dental hygiene program and being able to provide free cleaning and education to the community. Therefore, I believe it is important to stay involved in the community because I will be able to provide free cleaning, and get better clinical experience as well.
Goochland Rotation: Spring semester
Spring semester of 2015 has been very challenging and valuable at the same time, comparing to the past two years. During the past two years attending the VCU dental hygiene program, I have learned so much from being in clinic and rotations. The challenging part was being on external rotation to provide free services to people who lack funds to get dental treatment. It was difficult at the beginning because when we used to practice in clinic, as dental hygiene students, we always got help from our faculty when we encountered complicated patients or difficult situations. However, when I went to the external rotation I learned how important it is to be independent and organized in addition to be able to make critical thinking decisions and feel motivated at the same time. Therefore, when I attended Goochland clinic, I learned so much new things that I have never learned in any other rotation.
What made me amazed is that I really did not like Goochland clinic when I first got there because the clinic environment was not helpful. It is an old clinic with very small cubicles and old equipment. In addition to that, we are always short on some of the instruments in the hygiene kits. However, when I started giving services there, I learned that giving free clinic services was more important than where and how the clinic condition was. The dentist and the assistants were very nice and helpful in teaching us different skills that I never got to experience back in school.
I remember when I was there, I had a patient with scaling and root planning and the patient required an inferior alveolar block and mental block. I informed the dentist I was going to administer local anesthesia to the patient and the dentist gave me his approval. Therefore, I injected my patient, but the patient did not feel numb all the way. I decided to inform the dentist and what truly impressed me is that he told me that I am going to give my patient the second inferior alveolar injection. He told me if I do not give it to her myself, I will not learn it the right way. The dentist explained to me clearly where I should aim for the injection. I felt very confident after that day and I learned that mistakes can happen but it is important to accept them, learn from them and try to avoid them by practicing.
Another thing that I encountered was treating a patient who was diagnosed with type II diabetes. Patient arrived to clinic without having breakfast in the morning and stated that “he was not able to take his medication since he did not eat”. Patient did not measure his blood sugar that morning. The last time he took it was the day before, and it was 125. Patient did not know his HbA1c level and was not aware about it at all. He was upset that he never heard about it before from his primary doctor. I informed the patient that before any dental visit, he needs to have his breakfast, take his medication, and measure his blood sugar. Also, he needs to get his HbA1c level every 3 months by his primary doctor. I informed my patient that an HbA1c level is to measure his average blood sugar over a period of weeks/months and HbA1c level should not be higher than 7. Patient was very satisfied and happy that I was concerned about his overall health. I explained to him the fact that his oral and systemic health are very much related and one could affect the other. That is why it is important to take a good care of both of our systemic and our oral health. I was also able to practice how to do impression on this patient after a whole year with no practicing which made me more confident in doing it later with my future patients.
As dental hygienists, we are able to provide an oral health education to our patients to prevent them from having future decay, gum diseases and infections. We are also able to educate our patients about their systemic health and provide them with nutritional counseling and smoking cessation.
This semester was full of advantageous. I got to learn new things and experience new things in my life. Never thought I be able to clean someone’s mouth within a couple months. When we first start I did not have any idea that we are going to see patient from the first semester. I was really scared and terrified. I have learned some good techniques from my professors and
faculty at VCU, which helped me to overcome the fear. I feel very competent in using instruments for example, explorer and prob. At the beginning it was hard or me to detect calculus but it just take practicing. Measuring the pocket depth was a hard task for me as well since we really had short period to practice before we start seeing patients. I have learned that nothing is hard but it all comes with practice.
As weeks passed, school got harder. The fact that we had classes and labs, in addition to that, in November we start seeing an actual patients. Keep track of everything at the same time was not easy at all. Hygiene school kept me really busy, I felt like I was behind and I was not going not last for long time. However with the encouragement of faculty, my mentor, family and friend, I passed my first semester and I gave the best optimum health care I can give to my patient. Getting a good complement from my patient is all I wanted and made me really happy and made me to be stronger and improve more for the future.
Axiom was one of my weakness and what got me delayed in my work. I admit that I was not fast at all and it took me a while to get used to it. However, I feel a lot better now a day which all came with practicing, and the more I practice the better I can do it faster. Over all I need to be faster in clinic and make fast good decisions.
When I heard about competency test I was just wishing that it was an actual written test that I could have just studied for and pass it. The days of competency has arrived and I had to do it. I was so scared and I remember my hand were shaking the whole time. It was my second comp, but my first comp on instrument using explore and prob. Faculty arrived and I was not really ready for it. She start asking me to do this and that. I started with shaking hands and heart beating so fast. Then I start hearing comments from my faculty saying “that’s beautiful” and “great job”. I looked up and in my head I was like “are u talking to me!” was astonished. Any way test was over and I was waiting for result. I waited a lot to get the result. However, I believe it
worth every single minute. I remember her saying “you passed, you did a good job, and I was not expecting that from you Amna”. I remember that I have meet one of the senior students before I take the test and she was telling me about
her experience with competency tests and how she have passed all her tests from the first attempt. I got so surprised that moment on how she did it. She was my motivation. She told “Amna if you want to pass, work hard for it”. It was two
short sentence and it had its influences on me. Now, I can say that I’m so proud of myself for passing all my comp test from the first attempt and felling so confident of everything that I have learned this semester and for accomplishing
what I have aimed for.
Things that I still to work on is how to be more confident and have a better communication with my patient, Work on axiom and finish procedure on time. Things that I feel I have done successfully passing my competency test from the first attempt and on my personal POH that is very hard to keep up with. In conclusion, special thanks to all my faculty and mentor and friends from being my second family and for all the love they shared with me.
Reflective essay for 2nd semester:
The second semester was a lot harder than the first one. I had to be independent and do all the work by my won. It was difficult and still it is. It was a big change for me because last semester I had another classmates to help me out in case I did not know how to deal with something. However the situation this semester is a lot different. I had to be treat the patient independently. I was not afraid a lot at the beginning because I knew this is what I had to do and I was confident I was doing the right things. Semester did not start very well, I did not had a lot of patient due to the weather. I had only couple of patients before my first subjective evaluation.
The subjective evaluation was not the best I could have done. My adviser explained to me the things that I should be aware of while treating my patient. For example, I remember I had a patient that was taking at least fifteen medications with
supplements. I was not sure that day if I should updated at the moment and before moving to next step or I should wait to the end of the procedure since I was afraid not finishing the treatment. I asked faculty and she explained to me that I should do it ride away and look up everything through axiom. Now that I think about, I should not
even ask and I should have just updated everything before moving to the next
step. The fact that the patient could be in real dangerous if I did not what he is taking and how his medication have effects on my dental treatment that day. Therefore, that was one of the important points that my adviser talked to me about.
Basically my clinical evaluation was not so good. I was really sad and depressed and I thought I was not going to last in the dental hygiene program for long time. It was very tough time and I learned to be strong and independent and not to give up on my dream. My only dream is dental hygiene school. I stood up on my feet and did the best I can. I start taking notes spending hours and hours looking at my patient history documentation and history to understand each patient situation ahead of time. I
started calling my patients and I update their medical and dental history from on the phone if I had the chance. My adviser offered to help me by assigning different faculties every day to help me and grade me based on my clinical preparation and performance for every day.
I start getting different feedback from different faculty positive and negative. However, what got my attention the most the fact that one of the faculty had gave me zero on of my clinical performance. However, after the subjective evaluation, I had her again and she told me that I had progressed and I am doing a lot better than before, she told I did a good job in my competency and she passed me to. At the end of the clinic day, I received 2 and 3 on my clinical performance from her. That made my hard work worth it.
My second evaluation with my adviser was a lot better, I was able to thank her for this opportunity that she offered me. I was able to get improved because she opened my eyes to the real world. I have learned that it is okay to have ups and down in life but not to do the same mistake again. I really appreciate all the faculty that spend a lot of time showing me and advising me to do the right thing.
Even though, there was some down this semester, but there was some good part to. I was able to receive a scholarship award from the Sigma Phi Alpha for presenting the best bored presentation this semester. Therefore, even if all doors can close at the same time sometimes but there will be always a window to look up from.
Reflective essay for 3rd semester:
Third semester was one of the most challenging semesters in VCU school of Dentistry. It was the busiest semester ever. the key to be successful of this semester was to stay organized and on time. What made it challenging and different than any other semesters because it was the first semester where I had to travel to outside of Richmond and experience places that I have never been to before. The Dental Hygiene program required us to complete a set of hours outside rotation to provide community service to low income communities for free. In addition to that, I was a full time hygiene student. it was very difficult at the beginning especially that I did not really drive at all before outside the Richmond area unless I was on vacation with my family or friend.
This is why the VCU dental hygiene program is the best choice I had made in my life because VCU got me prepared and ready to everything. Going to these external rotation made me more confident about myself and more independent. I have became more strong person and able to achieve my goals by myself rather than depending on other people.
I truly enjoyed the third semester in school, proving free community service is one of the reason that I chosed to become a dental hygienist. I believe there are many people who are willing to improve their oral hygiene but they are lacking the funds to do so. It make me really sad knowing that there is people out there that have not had cleaning their entire life due to low income or lack of transportation.
going to these external rotation made me realize that I have made the best choice to be a hygienist and appreciate what VCU is giving us. This opportunity worth a million and I would not change it for nothing. Not just that, I actually became faster, more organized in clinic and efficient at the same time. In VCU dental hygiene clinic we tend to spend three hours in one appointment. However, when I attended these external rotation the average time for one appointment is 60-90 minutes which make the appointment very challenging. That is exactly half the time that we actually tend to spend with the patient in VCU dental clinic.
Reflective essay for 4th semester:
What was really unique about the last semester in dental hygiene program is that it prepares me for the real world. It is was a lot different than any other previous semesters. One of the most important is being prepared for clinical and written bored. This semester was full of excitement. Finding a bored patient was not as easy as I thought it would be. The reason why is because most of the patient that I was seeing, they just needed a regular prophylaxis treatment or periodontal maintenance treatment which made it difficult. The patient that would qualify for clinical bored should have at least one quad that qualify for scaling and root planning.
It took an effort of two months to actually find a patient from outside the school. That is actually one thing that I wished of the school had provided us with. By proving us with different screening patients once a week to see if they qualify for bored. All we needed as a dental hygiene students is new screening patients which had made things easier on us.
Later on when I found my bored patient, I asked him if he can come in to complete one of his quad after his initial visit. The reason why, because I wanted to practice on him before my actual bored. Therefore, I attempted to do a scaling and root planning competency on him. That day, I was very confident that I would pass my clinical exam. After completing the assessment form and the depridment I asked the faculty for final check. Unfortunately, that day was not my lucky day. The dental hygiene faculty stated that the cleaning was very good, but my perio and calculus detection assessment were un accurate. I was very upset that day and the faculty told me that I need to practice a lot on assessment. In another word, she told me that I would fail my clinical bored if I did not do better on assessment. That was very devastating moment in my life. The fact that I worked so hard and never failed this competency before and other reason thinking that I may fail my bored exam which I had spend a lot of effort on by finding a patient and a lot of money as well.
The most important thing is I did not give up and did not let this to affect me. I worked harder and spend a lot of time in clinic working on to improve my assessment on every patient that I had in clinic. The good news, I completed my clinical bored with a very successful grade and I truly appreciate the faculty advice to me that day. I believe that if she was not hard enough on me, I would have passed my clinical bored exam.
Later on, I wanted to attempt my clinical competency again since I am required to completed it before graduation. What was scaring me that day, I had the same faculty that I failed with her my first attempt. Of course that made me nervous and unsecured that I might fail it even though I passed my clinical exam. I had no choice but to attempt it that day and be over with it. Therefore, I started with completing the assessment and started depridment after numbing the patient. At the end of the appointment, the faculty arrived for final check. She compared my assessment and her assessment and then looked at me saying " I have never had this much perfection in assessment, all of your calculus detection and periodontal charting match mine 100%". I was very surprised myself but happy at the same time. Then, the hygiene faculty checked my depridemnt and could not find any calculus left in any where in that specific quadrant that I was working on. She looked at my patient and told him "She did a great job". That sentence made my day goes great. That day, I truly understood why she was tough on me the first time, she wanted me to me competent on what am doing. The dental hygiene faculty at the VCU school of Dentistry are not easy but they want their student to graduate competent out of their program.
Therefore, some of the things that I learned from the last semester is to be professional and competent on what I am doing. Accepting advice from faulty even it hurt, but just knowing that they want the best for us, makes me feel a lot better and take it in a way that could help improving myself. As a final word, I just wanted to say thank you to all the dental hygiene faculties that worked with us so hard during the past two years. We all appreciate your hard work with us and for making us the way we are now.
service learning reflective essay:
Lynchburg Rotation: Fall semester
The fall of 2014 has been one of the most valuable semesters of the past two years. For the past year and a half, I have learned many things whether in clinic or in classes. However, the most beneficial external rotation was the one with free services in Lynchburg free clinic. This rotation really thought me how to be independent in making clinical-based decisions. It really made me realize how real practical life is going to be.
What was really difficult about it is that I had to treat and complete the patients in very short time. Each appointment was done in an hour or an hour and a half. This is basically half the time that we have at the VCU School of dentistry. I was not really sure how I was going to be able to finish the procedure on time. It was one of the most challenging experiences that I had this semester. Taking x-ray and learn how to expose it manually in red light was not easy. It took me couple of times to practice first in order to build up an x-ray in the right way.
Determining clinical decisions independently is an important aspect in the field of dental hygiene. Making the right choice is very important. One of the patients that I had presented to the clinic with a health history of a recent heart attack and he was taking the anticoagulant medication (Coumadin). I explained to the patient that the American heart association recommends that dental hygienists are not able to treat patients who had a recent heart attack until a 6 months period pass by in addition to a medical consult from their cardiologist physician. What shocked me the most is the fact that the dentist seemed unaware about this critical information and he did not even know what the INR test mean. The dentist asked me “what does INR mean?” I had to explain to the dentist that the patient is taking Coumadin and he have to measure his INR, which is the international normalized ratio to measure the blood coagulation level and the effectiveness of the anticoagulant Coumadin medication. I also informed the dentist the fact that we have to have a medical consult from the patient’s cardiologist. It is important to know the patient health status before any dental treatment or procedure. The six months waiting period, the INR exam within 48 hours from the dental procedure, and the amount of anesthesia that is recommended and allowed at that point are very important practices when the patient is taking Coumadin. The dentist agreed with me and therefore, I wrote a medical consult and I explained everything to the patient. For the first time I realized that I can depends on myself on making a clinical based decisions.
Another accomplishment that I made during this external rotation is by writing an actual prescription to the patients. One patient presented to clinic with left knee replacement within the past 6 months and was not giving any advice from the physician on how to take precautions prior to dental treatment. Therefore, I called the patient’s physician and he stated that the patient needs to take an antibiotic an hour prior to the treatment. Therefore, I wrote the actual prescription and I had it signed by the dentist.
I really enjoyed giving free cleaning to these patients. Providing free services for two weeks in a raw was very helpful not just for the patients but for me as well. I learned how to manage my time, be an independent worker and also be more organized. Making comprehensive clinical decisions based on what we mostly learned for the past year and half especially what we learned from medical compromised lectures was also one of the things that I felt I achieved. Lastly being more competent on how, when and where to treat the patient was very essential. This community service was very successful and our group had many complements from the dentists and the patient themselves. I was very proud to be part of VCU dental hygiene program and being able to provide free cleaning and education to the community. Therefore, I believe it is important to stay involved in the community because I will be able to provide free cleaning, and get better clinical experience as well.
Goochland Rotation: Spring semester
Spring semester of 2015 has been very challenging and valuable at the same time, comparing to the past two years. During the past two years attending the VCU dental hygiene program, I have learned so much from being in clinic and rotations. The challenging part was being on external rotation to provide free services to people who lack funds to get dental treatment. It was difficult at the beginning because when we used to practice in clinic, as dental hygiene students, we always got help from our faculty when we encountered complicated patients or difficult situations. However, when I went to the external rotation I learned how important it is to be independent and organized in addition to be able to make critical thinking decisions and feel motivated at the same time. Therefore, when I attended Goochland clinic, I learned so much new things that I have never learned in any other rotation.
What made me amazed is that I really did not like Goochland clinic when I first got there because the clinic environment was not helpful. It is an old clinic with very small cubicles and old equipment. In addition to that, we are always short on some of the instruments in the hygiene kits. However, when I started giving services there, I learned that giving free clinic services was more important than where and how the clinic condition was. The dentist and the assistants were very nice and helpful in teaching us different skills that I never got to experience back in school.
I remember when I was there, I had a patient with scaling and root planning and the patient required an inferior alveolar block and mental block. I informed the dentist I was going to administer local anesthesia to the patient and the dentist gave me his approval. Therefore, I injected my patient, but the patient did not feel numb all the way. I decided to inform the dentist and what truly impressed me is that he told me that I am going to give my patient the second inferior alveolar injection. He told me if I do not give it to her myself, I will not learn it the right way. The dentist explained to me clearly where I should aim for the injection. I felt very confident after that day and I learned that mistakes can happen but it is important to accept them, learn from them and try to avoid them by practicing.
Another thing that I encountered was treating a patient who was diagnosed with type II diabetes. Patient arrived to clinic without having breakfast in the morning and stated that “he was not able to take his medication since he did not eat”. Patient did not measure his blood sugar that morning. The last time he took it was the day before, and it was 125. Patient did not know his HbA1c level and was not aware about it at all. He was upset that he never heard about it before from his primary doctor. I informed the patient that before any dental visit, he needs to have his breakfast, take his medication, and measure his blood sugar. Also, he needs to get his HbA1c level every 3 months by his primary doctor. I informed my patient that an HbA1c level is to measure his average blood sugar over a period of weeks/months and HbA1c level should not be higher than 7. Patient was very satisfied and happy that I was concerned about his overall health. I explained to him the fact that his oral and systemic health are very much related and one could affect the other. That is why it is important to take a good care of both of our systemic and our oral health. I was also able to practice how to do impression on this patient after a whole year with no practicing which made me more confident in doing it later with my future patients.
As dental hygienists, we are able to provide an oral health education to our patients to prevent them from having future decay, gum diseases and infections. We are also able to educate our patients about their systemic health and provide them with nutritional counseling and smoking cessation.