Familias Unidas --- Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Amazing Dr. Stanley and Dr. Gardner

It was hard to believe that it had already been a year since the last Familias Unidas clinic. The most memorable event from the previous year was the amount of gratitude and love we received, especially when indulged with latin songs from a grateful host/patient as we gathered into a circle before saying our goodbyes.  This yr’s clinic was also met with much graciousness , and the Familias Unidas  team  was very hospitable and helpful in providing us with food and helping us run our clinic more efficiently that day.

This was my first time as clinic director, but I learned to adapt very quickly to the responsibilities and pressures even before clinic started.  Although ~60 volunteers signed up for clinic that day, only ~40 were present.  In addition, only one senior was there.  Despite the shortage of seasoned operators, the 3rd years stepped it up, with 2014s as their assistants.  Over the past few clinics we have implemented more 3rd yrs as operators, and with growing experience and school rotations… it is evident that it helped prepare them for the demands of clinic that day.  There were a lot of dental hygienists present, and with their help we were able to do a lot of Sc/RP.  This might have been the most dental hygienists we’ve had in a very long time, which couldn’t have come at a better time since Familias Unidas clinics tend to have more adult patients (more potential for calculus patients).  I also made sure that the 2014s had the opportunity to practice their scaling on patients with the dental hygienists, as this also helped prepare them for Soph Perio Block. 

One improvement to continue working on in the future is the proper documentation in our patient forms including doctor/student/patient signatures and recording of clinical tx/anesthesia etc. Because we were short on help and slightly slower in treatment, I believe there was a stronger urgency to get the patient in and out without properly documenting paperwork. I have learned from this experience, and will make a conscious effort to make sure everyone understands nextime what proper documentation is. Thanks to Bridger, we also included a new sheet that served as concise indication as to the treatment of the patient.  I think the concept is great, and once put into more practice it should help simplify documentation. 

As every clinic has its own challenges and obstacles—we are always compelled to fight on and as Trojan dentists and dental/hygiene students I believe we definitely tasted victory at the day’s end.  We were able to treat and screen over a hundred patients, which had not been done at a local clinic since April of 2009!  I am proud to have had the opportunity to direct this clinic, and look forward to doing more in the future.

DevDe’jon Ellis- Class of 2013