TA

So I figure I need to write about being a TA in first year clinic. I absolutely love it! The students are so much fun, and Ive reviewed so much! I enjoy going around helping to teach and improve thier skill level. It brought back so many memories. I think I am more paranoid about my posture now because we stress that so much! Kristen Hafen especially. Its good. I find myself tweeking a few things when I see pts. Its a good reminder of the basics.

Emergency drill

So I volunteered to be part of a college of health science mock emergency. We had a pt start in DH with a heart attack, transfer to the Emergence Response people then to a fake hospital bed to be worked over by the respiratory therapy, nursing and CLS people. The health administrative students helped plan as well. It was overall a cool thing. I got to be an assistant and administer oxygen as well as act like a distressed family member at the fake hospital. It was fun actually and I learned a lot. Savanna pretended to be the pts wife. She was good. It was pretty funny for the situation. At one point in time she yelled after him "I love you Waldo". It was cool to see how it all worked out. I dont think I would want to watch everything that happens in the hospital on a real family member in the ER.

Tonsils that look like lava

So we had a lab with three different stations. One was the Velscope and oral cancer detection device. It helps you see abnormal cells. I was the pt for part of the time. I was just about recovered from a cold so my tonsils had some pretty fun stuff in them. Apparently they were flaming red and looked like lava! That was kinda cool, as long as I know I dont have oral cancer! The next station was emergency situations. It was a really good review. We role played and I had to pretend like I was convulsing. Not such a great actress with this one I just verbalized it for the most part. The third and final station was wheelchair transfers. We pushed each other around the building. It was pretty sweet. Then we practice transfering each other. I must admit it was fun to be lifted up and put in the other chair. I felt pretty confident about it all. At the end I was practicing on someone and they had Mr. Solomon come in. He is a pretty good sized person. I felt like a fish in a fishbowl as everyone watched me move him from the wheelchair to the dental chair. It wasn't too bad a bit awkward but a good experience overall.

Stain

This entry is about one of my pts who drinks tea all of the time. She had some pretty bad staining. It was neat to see the difference when I was done with her. Its discouraging though when I think about it because I know she is just going to keep drinking tea and get have her stain back in no time! Later when I was helping the first years to learn the air powder polisher I thought about her adn how she would have been a perfect candidate for it.

Small world, looking back

One clinic session I had a returning pt. from first year. She was super nice! I just remember how long it took me to do her OD then and how long it took me a few weeks ago. It was pretty cool! First year it took forever! This time it was done in like 45 minutes. That time could still be improved, but it was encouraging to see my progress. While talking to her during the appt. I found out she knows my roommate. Its just crazy sometimes what a small world it is.

4 for 4

So one week in clinic for both WSU and the VA I had 4 pts. scheduled. Every single pt I had originally scheduled either no showed or cancelled last minute! I know someone was watching out for me because I still saw 4 pts that week. They actually ended up being more of what I needed than the ones I had scheduled. At least one of them was a class III who I gave injections to, and the other ended up being an eaglesoft pt. It was a pretty crazy week, but in the end it all worked out.

Cancellations!

So the afternoon I was supposed to have 2 1A pts come in turned out different than expected. They ended up not being able to come. The same thing happened to Denver! So here we were on our last day of Fall clinic still needing 1A's and had none. We frantically called names off the resource list. One pt. was able to come in for me thank heavens, but she didn't have any luck. She arranged to come in this Thursday in hopes of having patients then. I couldn't do that because I have VA on Thursday. So my one pt. came, and I called a pt Julie knew. They said they would come in but later called reporting a flat tire! What a crazy day! At least I got one in and more PE's. My advice to anyone is dont save requirements you need for the last day of clinic. Plan as far ahead as possible.