Job Shadowing....

Yesterday I had the privilege of shadowing a local hygienist. She graduated from WSU about 25 years ago and has pretty much been working full time since then. I can’t really say that I was excited to watch her scale for 2 hours…but I was a little surprised at some of the other things that she did.

I found it really strange that instead of changing the barriers on the chair…she just flipped them around. Okay, maybe they are just trying to save .0001 cent! But then she wasn’t changing her gloves! Seriously this is not a matter of saving money—have ya ever heard of OSHA?!? She would just rinse her gloves off with water (no soap) then dry them off and go on with whatever she was doing---digging in her drawers, handling the patients chart, touching things at the front desk, etc. This patient’s mouth was spread all over the whole office. YUCK. I can understand that after you are out of school for a while—maybe we won’t be checking pulse and respirations anymore, but for heavens sake—change your gloves! There are some things that you just can’t skimp on!

Also, I realized that I would never want to work in this office. No one was talking (I was talking more to the patients than the hygienist), there was no music in the background…just the hygienist and her hand scalers (NOT EVEN AN ULTRASONIC) in a little room that you couldn’t even move around the patients head. When I start looking for a job I will be asking the DDS…how much are you going to pay me….do you have an ultrasonic…and is it possible to have a little bit of fun in your office? That’s all I need!

I hope that I not only pass my boards, but am able to find a great job afterwards. I am also hoping that the dentist that I work for will also allow Crystal and Jami to work there with me! We are kind of a package deal! Ha ha ha They just make my day go by much faster/better.