February 28, 2008

Today was anesthesia mockboards. They were in the morning and I wasn't too nervous until I walked into the locker room this morning and then it hit me. I got really bad butterflies and my hands started shaking. I was at 8:20 so I just got in there and got it done. Luckily I passed both injections, but barely. On the IA I was off at the penetration site with my angles, but she had me go in and try it again and I did it just fine. On the PSA I did okay. My 45 angle from the midline was great, but my 45 angle from the occlusal plane was just barely acceptable. I was really shaky but I did it! I felt good about how I did, especially because I don't feel like I have enough experience to really take the board.

February 21, 2008

Today was not a good day. I don't feel good which reflected in my performance. I had Laura's patient who is a class 2 come back for me to scale for my exam. It didn't go well. I missed a lot of places. Her calculus was very tenacious. I was getting extremely frustrated because I feel like I missed more places today than the entire semester combined. At least I learned that I am not as good as I sometimes think I am. I learned a couple of new techniques in scaling and I got my class 2 done. Yeah!

My afternoon patient cancelled well into the appointment. That is also frustrating. It is just not a good day and I want to go home and go to bed.

Real Date: February 7, 2008

Today was mockboard day. I wasn't nearly as nervous for this one as I was for the one last semester. I think I just felt a little more comfortable with what I was doing and I was more familiar with the paperwork and the entire process. I went in the morning which was nice because I got it done with and I didn't have to worry about it all day. I felt frustrated because I missed 3 places, but I still passed. Overall it went well. I am glad it is over. In the afternoon I felt more confident as a student examiner. I think I am getting a lot better at being able to feel calculus. That made me feel good.

Real Date: January 31, 2008

Today was a productive day! In the morning I had my prospective board patient come in to do an OD and take x-rays. Everything looks great and I am going to be able to use him for my mockboard and for my real board. He is such a nice guy and very cooperative and he seems to be dependable which is very important! It is a relief to have my board patient found. That has always been a huge worry for me!

My afternoon patient was my Class 4 patient who was returning for me to finish her last 2 quads. She is quite the talker, so it took longer than it should have, but I finished. These lower quads were more difficult than the upper quads. I was glad to finish her and to have my class fours completely done. That is another thing that I have worried about. It feels good to check those off the list.