Kelsey

The University of Bridgeport

Fones School of Dental Hygiene

DHYG 304 – Dental Hygiene Internship

Course Instructor- Laurel L. Risom, RDH, MPH

Student Name: _Kelsey Slonaker

6 Questions to Reflect on for your Internship Experience

1. Describe two (2) criteria you are (were) looking for in your

internship site and what made you select the one you did?

The first criteria I was looking for in my internship site was to be able to learn how an instructor teaches behind the scenes. I wanted to be able to review how the instructors interact with the students. My second criteria was being able to see the clinic environment as well as the classroom. Both were very different learning experiences and I am glad I had the opportunity to observe both. I selected this site because I have always wanted to be an instructor and teach a class. All throughout hygiene school I knew I wanted to complete my bachelor’s degree program right after hygiene school. In hygiene school we had to complete several days of helping the first year clinic and I really enjoyed this experience. After that experience I knew educating is something I would want to be involved in.

2. Did you experience both personal and professional

growth with your internship ? Please explain:

I experienced both personal and professional growth from this internship in many ways. When I was hygiene school it was so easy to be hard on our instructors but having this point of view and seeing how much work goes behind the scenes gives me a whole new appreciation for educators. Watching everything the instructors critique the students for during clinic has made me more observant practicing hygiene. Between body positioning and angulation of the instruments these are all so important to be able to watch as an instructor. As a student I do not think we appreciate all the things the instructors critique us on.

3. Internships are a give and take situation, please explain:

a) What did you give?

b) What did you receive?

I gave the students someone that understands, I was a person the students were able to go to when they had questions they would not ask the instructor. I was able to have a friendly but authoritative relationship with the students.

The internship site gave me so much knowledge on what it takes to be an educator. Teaching is not only a lot of work to complete during the work hours but work goes home with the educators. This internship gave me so much appreciation for any educator.

4. Describe an experience you had during your internship that you did not

expect to have, please explain:

I did not expect for students to ask me as many clinic questions as they did. I had students walking up to me during clinic asking about scaling techniques and questions on paper work. Although I graduated from this program I did not feel up to par on the information to give the students a direct answer. I believe learning how to answering students questions when you may not know the answer were challenging.

5. If you could describe your internship in one word, what would that word

be? Explain why you chose that word.

Challenging- I chose this word because since I graduated from this program last year it was very difficult to be seen as an authoritative figure. I am also young and people always questions how long I have been out in practice. Even though this internship was challenging it has taught me a lot about education and I enjoyed every minutes I spent completing my internship.

6. Describe one of your personal characteristics that had an

impact on your internship and the people you interned with.

I have a lot of confidence is my abilities. I think in an educator’s position one has to have a lot of confidence because it can be easy to be intimidated by students. With me being so young, some of the students I was helping were older than me and it could be easy to get intimidated and not want to talk or answer questions.

The Future of Dental Hygiene

One of the things I find the most interesting about this week’s reading was that the original place a dental hygienist was supposed to work was a school. There was a large emphasis on public health and helping those who needed it the most. I find this very interesting because the dental field has changed so much. Although there are now dental hygienists working in some schools, typically when people think of dental hygienist they think a clinic setting. PPE is something that I think is crazy has changed so much. When hygiene first started hygienist were not wearing gloves. This is crazy to think that hygienist would not be covered and protected from disease or illness.

I think dental hygiene will change a lot in the next 25 years. With all the research being completed on overall health related to oral health I believe this will be something that is being taught more in school. I think more interprofessional care will be incorporated into dental hygiene. There are also still offices that have paper charts, I think in the next 25 years all offices will be digital.

Dental Hygiene Transformation

Stated in the article Critical Issues in Dental Hygiene, compensation may be a reason why there is a staff shortage in dental hygiene programs. I believe this is a huge reason why they have staffing issues. For dental hygienist working in clinical practice, they are being offered up to 15k more a year then the start pays for most instructors at a university. One also needs more education to become an instructor and then to get paid less can be frustrating. Another article “Institutional Responsibilities of DH Faculty” discussed several options to help with the shortage of instructors. One suggestion was to increase the number of baccalaureate degree programs and make a smoother transition between the associate, baccalaureate degree, and the masters. Another option discussed is the master’s programs to focus on preparing future faculty and leaders of the profession. This way the master degree program can focus on improving our educators. These are all things that I think would help improve the future of dental hygiene education. I do support the transformation of the dental hygiene profession because I think it will help improve education, the number of programs around the area, and I think it will help make dental hygiene more well known. Dental hygienist I believe should be seen as a mid-level care provider. If more universities begin to have baccalaureate programs this also allows for more educator positions.

References

Collins in J of Dental Education, 11-2007 “Institutional Responsibilities of DH Faculty”.

Carr in JDH, Fall-2010 ” Critical Issues in Dental Hygiene : The dental hygiene faculty shortage: causes, solutions and recruitment tactics.” mart Link;

Mission Statement

“It is the Harrisburg Area Community College Dental Hygiene Program to graduate students who possess the knowledge, skills, and the ethical and professional behaviors necessary to provide the current standard of care within the dental hygiene profession.”

“A caring, comprehensive, team approach is utilized in providing oral hygiene education and treatment to all clients in the community without discrimination. The student-centered curriculum adheres to the standard of accreditation and the licensing requirements of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, utilizing state of the art technology and evidence based research.”

Leadership in Dental Hygiene

I believe a leader must be well spoken. Knowing when to be a friend and knowing when to be serious is important. No one wants to listen to a “dictator” people want to feel important and as a leader it is important to make sure we are making those around us feel appreciated. Leadership is being a role model to those that around us. It is important for the leader to be confident and determined. I am able to incorporate this into my daily routine. I can be understanding but also know when to be serious and get things done. As a dental hygienist we should have confidence in our abilities but also be willing to receive feedback from others. Not one person knows everything and being open to new ideas and continuing to grow and learn says a lot about a leader.

Dental hygiene is my passion because it is something I feel strongly about. I love being able to provide patients with care and being able to be considered a provider. My WHY can inspire patients because I am passionate about this career field and I want to motivate my patients to feel the way I do about this topic. I believe my WHY can also inspire my colleagues because there are people that do not continue to grow and learn. There are dental professionals that get out of school and do not want to continue to learn and strictly go by the knowledge they obtain in school and that is a disservice to their patients. I do believe I lead with my WHY because it is all based on my values.

I loved listening to Simon Sinek Ted talk. He used a lot of terms that were easy to relate too. I always wanted to make a difference in my career.

Drew Dudley’s video was also very good video to watch. I could tell Drew was very passionate about what he was talking about. He wants a leader to care for others and speaking out when it is needed. Changing one person’s mind can make it all worth it.

Introduction To My Internship

I chose to complete my internship at Harrisburg Area Community College. I chose this because my end goal is to become an instructor for a dental hygiene program. I have always had passion for teaching. I love helping students and helping them understands a specific topic. I completed my student observations when I was a second year for the first year clinic and I knew it was something I would be interested in doing once I graduated.

Dental Hygiene Research

Dental hygiene research is very important to the dental field. Education is very powerful and things continue to change every day. It is important that we continue to develop and learn. Research has provided many things for the dental community. For example, the correlation between diabetes and heart disease related to periodontal disease. Without this knowledge that we have today, many patients would be losing their teeth more quickly. People are able to keep their teeth longer today than they were 50 years ago. Research has not only helped the health providers but it has helped the patients experience. Without continuing research local anesthesia may not have ever been developed. Research is very important in order to continue to improve our practices.

I use evidence based research when creating treatment plans and also when recommending products for my patients. Keeping current with this information is a great way to give our patients the most useful information.

Access of Care

There is definitely an access to care issue in the Pennsylvania area. Many children go years without ever seeing a dentist. Many times this is due to their insurance not being covered by offices in the area. They have developed many head start programs that give children the opportunity to see a dentist at no charge. Although this is helpful parents are still not being educated on the oral hygiene practices they should have with their children. Not only is this effecting children but many disabled patients are not able to receive care due to not being able to drive. There are in some areas transportation but many times they do not take to specific places, one must find a driver or be able to walk the rest of the way. Unfortunately this continues to be a growing problem in the community.

Pennsylvania is ranked number 36 with dental habits being a 46 and oral health being 24. In Pennsylvania we do currently have a dental hygiene practitioner. This has helped the access to care in many ways. One example is at the head start programs the dentist does not have to be on site when the hygienist is there completing their services. This way the dentist can come in one day of the week and complete restorative procedures. Although it does help access to care there is still problems when transportation and insurance.