Thursday, January 28, 2010

Accomplished


I saw my first 'real' patient today!

You know those days when you feel like your on top of the world? Well today is one of mine.

I had butterflies in my stomach before starting. Now that it's over, I feel like I've really accomplished something here. I try to look at work/school/life in a series of goals- meaning I have a few really big 'end goals' that I want to reach one day, and a lot of smaller goals to reach in the meantime.

This was one of my smaller goals. I saw a patient. I found 2 suspicious areas, and (for the most part) got the correct readings for pocket depths and calculus. I found interesting things for intra and extra-oral exams (including a lateral deviation to the right upon opening) and I made it through the entire assessment portion of the appointment, and I did a good job.

Finally, I'm able to put all the information and facts that I've learned to real use. I can see the meaning of reading countless pages and memorizing information, and now it doesn't seem quite as hard to remember, because I've actually SEEN it and DONE it.

It doesn't mean I don't have lots of room for improvement, but it does mean that I get to celebrate, because I did accomplish something! I've come a long way from that picture above, when I was only working on models.

I love having lots of goals. It means I get to celebrate lots more times. And it makes life lots more exciting!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

YAY!! I think you are officially a hygienist now! I'm sure there will be more learning over the next year and a half - but really a lot of practice and hands on to gain experience! Congrats! I bet that was an amazing experience to put all you've learned in to practice! Keep on reaching those goals!
Love you, mom

BradyH said...

...and it was awesome!

I was so blown away with how professional and knowledgeable tare is already.

Proud of ya T!!

Scottie and Angie said...

Congrats Tare!!! That is so very exciting!!! i am proud of you.

caroline said...

way to go Tare- keep it up! I love your hygiene posts!