Dental hygiene is an ever-growing profession of knowledge and wisdom. With advancements in research from products, public health, lifestyle habits of patients, and new ways of classifying disease, there is a never-ending need to keep up to date with the growth of the profession. There are a few ways I plan to keep in tune with changes and ensuring I am continuing to learn:
- Self-discovery and Reflection: As a healthcare professional, I teach my patients every day regarding their oral health and how they can improve themselves overall. I have learned with continuing experience that I have the ability to improve as a clinician, educator, and advocate. I find many sessions with clients that I left wondering about a certain medication, medical condition, product that I have never heard of before. Being a responsible clinician I always will lead myself to discover more about the particular subject of interest and collect literature and reviews about it. Additionally, leaving each session reflections are a large aspect of the dental hygiene degree program. At the end of each clinical session, I write a reflection on the patient I provided dental hygiene services for with areas of improvement, learning, challenges, success, and integrating knowledge. By doing so, I am able to reflect on areas I need to brush up my learning on whether that be local anesthetic, radiology, or medication contraindications. By writing my weaknesses and strengths I am able to know where to improve but also what I am most comfortable with in my practice. I plan to take this into my own practice after graduation, keeping a journal or talking with a co-worker about my experiences in order to obtain feedback from myself and others. I believe it is a good way to know if I am struggling or burning out at all in practice. Finally, I know after four years of the dental hygiene program I have been shaped to be a well rounded dental hygienist. But I am eager to reshape my mind as I head out into the world and build on what may come in the future.
- Courses and Masters Degree: Throughout my journey of the dental hygiene degree program I have valued the countless courses that stimulate different perspectives on patient management and the profession itself. One of the courses I took in the past was the HIV course in the summer which shifted my perspective on immunocompromised individuals and stigma. I saw the value in this course because it allowed me to branch outside of my comfort zone and truly understand how the lives of many people are influenced by others and how this affects their day to day life. Not only this, but I also learned how to go outside of my professional role as a dental hygienist and instead become a friend, advocate, supporter, and put on different caps with pharmacists, dieticians, and nurses. Courses such as these are truly valuable to my career and I plan to continue to find different courses which will expand my wealth of knowledge and reshape my practice even more in the future. Additionally, I hope to find courses that will stimulate an area of interest that I can take to my Master’s Degree in the distant future so that I can help reshape the way people think about compromised patients.
- Conferences and Readings: My first experience at a dental conference was the Pacific Dental Conference (PDC) in Vancouver. This experience was extremely valuable in terms of learning and connecting. I learned a variety of evidence-based literature from representatives of products that I recommend to my clients. Additionally, I was able to learn about new products I would have never thought to recommend to my patients. For example, I learned exactly how Sensodyne and their product Proenamel are better for short term or long term sensitivity relief. I was also able to have hands-on experiences with ClearDent, Tracker, Oral-B oscillating toothbrushes, and Waterpik. With experiences like these, being able to actively participate in these products is equivalent to patients at home who are using these products. It gave me a better sense of how my integration of knowledge of the discipline works with representatives creating new products and determining what types of patients may use them individually. Concurrently, many lectures throughout the conference including cleft lip and palate management, medical emergencies, bone grafting, and many more gave an increased perspective of how to handle complex cases and when to refer outside the dental hygiene scope of practice. Many of the dental professionals at the PDC have a wealth of knowledge, to be able to connect with them is another way of learning and expanding knowledge outside of the box. Partnered with the many professionals at PDC I received a lot of literature to read in my own time. I value the ability to read new studies and reviews regarding dental hygiene and learning more about evidence-based initiatives to improve the profession. I will continue to stay in touch with new studies as I have access to the University of British Columbia Library for the rest of my career.
- Study Clubs: The last way I hope to continue to learn after graduation from the dental hygiene degree program is to have a study club once a month with other dental hygienists. I believe this is a way to keep in tune with my knowledge and continue to build upon it by discussing different experiences with hygienists with different levels of knowledge. As a new graduate, I will have a lot to learn and to truly prepare me for this I believe it is good to learn from others and how they have handled difficult situations. This is also a way to vent, to explain a situation, what emotions and concerns occurred from it, and how an individual learned or changed the way they thought about a situation. It is extremely valuable to share each other’s thoughts and creates connections, support, and life long learning.
Thank you for spending the time to read my e-portfolio! Feel free to connect with me:
Email: janellerumball@shaw.ca or janelle.rumball@alumni.ubc.ca