REFLECTION 5: PEER MENTORING 23 February, 2021

On February 23rd the senior class shadowed the juniors on their first day of seeing

patients. The nerves were high as my little Natalie was seeing a patient she had not met before.

She prepared for the patient’s appointment by having most of her chart filled out in advance. She

had the patient’s medications, primary care physician and emergency contact, and medical and

dental history form complete and uploaded into the chart. Upon getting vitals, Natalie noticed

that the patient’s blood pressure was reading unusually high since the patient did not present with

any diagnosis of hypertension, so she opted to use the electric blood pressure machine to verify

the reading. After obtaining a second high reading, she asked the patient what her blood pressure

typically read at. The patient mentioned she had never had any blood pressure problems so

Natalie was unsure of the cause and turned to me for help. I mentioned that a reading can be

increased from physical activity such as walking quickly from the parking lot up to the second

floor clinic, caffeine, or stress. I questioned the patient about her morning, and she disclosed that

her and her husband got in a big fight that morning. I told Natalie to record the first reading, but

to take a new reading in 15 minutes to see if it has lowered. By the time we took her blood

pressure reading again at the 1:00 appointment, it was fully back to normal. I’m glad Natalie was

able to understand the importance of asking questions because information can be disclosed that

is pertinent to the dental visit.

As the appointment continued, I noticed time management will be the biggest issue

starting out. Natalie made sure to make her patient feel comfortable and explain each step to her,

but should understand that these appointments go much faster than you would think and that as

much as possible should be accomplished during the visit. Natalie had a few overlapping

contacts and one cone cut error on her FMX, but Mrs. Quiros was able to show her a few

techniques that will hopefully minimize the need for retakes in the future. During the IOEO
REFLECTION 5: PEER MENTORING 23 February, 2021

exam I let Natalie make her notes first, then I pointed out some additional things to add that

could be pertinent information to her oral health. Natalie did very well with her IOEO exam and

even discovered a scar on the patient’s neck that the patient reported was from a past abusive

relationship. I was also impressed with how quickly the junior class went through dental charting

and it was apparent they had been practicing charting restorations up until this point. One thing

that can definitely be improved upon is the speed at which she recorded her probing numbers. I

emphasized that next time, she won’t have us to enter the numbers so it will take twice as long.

Even though time management seemed to be an issue, I think it’s something that can easily be

worked on as the semester progresses. Overall, the juniors seemed to have a good understanding

of the appointment process and I think they will pick up speed quickly as they continue to see

patients.