Mary Jacks is imagining things in a perfect world. She has some good points, but also some very far-fetched ideas. She focuses a lot on the difference between ‘seasoned and slow’ vs. ‘new and fast’. This is definitely a problem in the clinics, and i’ve noticed it as a student. I do tend to enjoy working more with the ‘new and fast’ intructors, especially now that I’m graduating. I am working at a quicker pace and keep my appointments moving, and I appreciate faculty who can facilitate that. I had a ‘seasoned and slow’ instructor just last week that I had to go tooth by tooth and give her recession levels and she asked if I tested the integrity of the sulcular lining with air. We went slower like this in our first semester when we were still learning to measure recession and test the lining, but now I am confident in my ability to measure recession and I checked the integrity of the sulcular lining with the probe during assessments. I appreciate when I can point out areas of interest to the instructor, discuss them and have them assess the areas as well, and move on. I do notice I ask the ‘new and fast’ instructors to check my scaling.
Looking at her article, Mary Jacks wants every instructor to use the same instrument, seating position, and sequence. To me, that is just ridiculous and impossible. Some schools do not even teach certain explorers, like Ohio State and the pigtail. I’d never heard of it until I started studying for boards. The same seating position? Operators sit where they are most comfortable and have the best access. The same sequence? No way. I don’t know how that would be helpful in calibrating, as long as every surface of every tooth is explored.
I agree that sometimes students need to watch and observe to learn visually. However, there is little need for a student (especially one in the later days of the program) to watch every move in the mouth by the instructor. If they instructor finds a missed spot or several spots of calculus, then it could be valuable to pull over the student so they can watch, then switch positions. If the student just needs to be checked out and is confident in their scaling on the patient, they can be using this time more wisely, such as writing progress notes.
Her final point also hit a nerve: “when students are happy, everyone in the clinic is happy..” This doesn’t sit well with me. Isn’t the focus of clinic on the patients? Small sentence but it just stuck out to me.
It is nice to have an instructor take the time to reassure you that you know what you are doing. My problem is that, I feel that the newer faculty members can do that as well. Why does ‘seasoned and slow’ have to be different that ‘new and fast’? As long as the instructor is educating the student, and helping them when a problem occurs, I really don’t see any problem as to the way the instructor came about finding the problem. I totally agree that there is no way a school will get all of the instructors to sit the same or go in the same sequence! It’s not about the instructor, it’s about the student. And as long as the instructors are all on board about grading, and teaching, that’s all that matters. Great blog!
Your right why does one instructor have to be better? They both have their good qualities. I too find myself asking the faster and newer instructors to check me out quicker. They make me feel more confident, knowing that I will be out in private practice in a few months.
I like how you bring up that the clinic should be focused on the patients. This is a VERY important point. I also agree that the article generalizes faculty. Sometimes there are times where I can quickly check out a student because the patient was healthy and there were minimal treatment needs, other times it takes me a long while to just check in assessments. The needs of each patient and student are very different. As far as using the same sequence that is tough one- I use a slightly different sequence than I was taught in school and I generally don’t explore the entire mouth all at once, I break it up into quadrants or sextants. I cover every area, but maybe in a different pattern than someone else. You bring up some excellent points.
I agree that when I was in school it was very annoying to have slower instructors as I got closer to graduation. It felt as if it was unneeded. I realize now that it was very valuable just to keep you in check every now and then because there were times when things were skipped because I was trying to move too fast. Also, I don’t think as students we realize how much we are learning from the instructors just by watching the things they do. You bring up some great points and I agree that the author does generalize the faculty too much and I agree that not every instructor can practice all the same seating positions and sequencing the same every time. This would be very difficult. I think there are some aspects that can help to be calibrated such as the papers and grading scales used for evaluations but controlling actions such as these would be near impossible.
I like what you said about seating positions. Mary would like to live in a perfect world, wouldn’t she? I also think her suggestions are impractical and generally unnecessary. The students should be exposed to different techniques during their schooling so that they can learn to appreciate the differences in practice and realize that just because someone completes a task in a slightly different way doesn’t mean that it’s incorrect or not as good. I think if every instructor practiced the same, it would actually hurt the students by depriving them of varied experiences.