For more clarification from my last blog post, I am interning at the Sun Smile Dental Group in San Marcos with their owner (and one of their dentists) Dr. Robert Lin. Because I can't exactly work with the patients or do anything as a normal college intern could, I'm stuck in a dilemma of figuring out my place in the work space.
I have yet to really establish a substantial project within this internship but during my career day, I was advised to do my best to research and observe what could be improved. Whether it's with patient's welfare/service, the materials used in dental procedures, etc., I believe this is a challenge that I will struggle with but I hope to leave a lasting impact by the time I leave in June. I'm excited to be in a work space for a specialty area of the career field that I want to go in. It's a rare opportunity that not many high schoolers get to experience and I don't want to let my school or my mentor down. I also hope to make a lot of good memories with the professionals as well as the patients in the dentist office, but it all depends on how I can handle myself in an environment where I can't do much outside of observing. I might need to communicate better with my mentor as well as past junior interns to get an idea of what I should do for my project.
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On May 2nd, 2019, I had my career day with my internship mentor Dr. Robert Lin from the Sun Smile Dental Group in San Marcos.
At first I thought a typical work day here would be repetitive and tedious but at the same time hectic. I wasn't necessarily wrong but the thing that I believe makes it so special or different is that every patient is so memorable in their own way. I was able to observe two patients in particular and revolve a bit within the dentists, dental assistants, and hygienist. It is a small business though, they deal with general dentistry with less than 10 staff embers and the hours are long with sometimes periods of empty office hours. Depending on what people need with their teeth and/or gums, the procedures and switch off between assistant and dentist could change, but I didn't get to really see much because my day there was slow. I never really had a chance to ask during my time in Sum Smile but from what I had observed or can conclude they're is a lot of 'free' time in their work days. I would think that employees are free to take breaks in between waiting for appointments, if they're already done with prepping, cleaning, filing, setting up appointments, etc. It was very quiet in that sense but in this time, the employees themselves could also do work on each other if a member of their team for that job was available (I got to see my mentor get a filling done by another dentist in the office named Dr. Murphy! It was wild). It also seems like appointments are a priority so anything that happens while waiting is up to the employee as long as it's relevant and professional. The dress code itself was very clean. It was mostly hospital/nurse scrubs with the exception of the lead dentist, my mentor, who wore a physician's lab coat and a business casual collar, tie, and slacks. I also got to wear a lab coat, so that was pretty exciting! I would think the purpose of their dress code is to appear professional and sanitary while being very practical for constant movement as well as easy visibility of staff versus patient. They also have a lot of special equipment that helps them access and fix teeth, such as surgical masks, goggles with magnified qualities (that bug out like mad scientist eye goggles), latex gloves, etc. It's pretty standard like as in hospitals or doctor's offices without the excess machinery. When I was at the office, Thursday is usually their late day so from 11 am to (an early excused leave at) 5 pm, I was able to explore their semi-small office and see a lot of cool aspects of a dentist's office. They had four cubicles? or rooms for patients with two offices (one for consultations), a waiting room, a reception desk, and a very tiny staff room. It was pretty awkward at first because I couldn't do anything without it being illegal and I didn't know that many people at the office. Everyone was so nice, the patients were really cool people and they had funny reactions to the numbing medicine, and the employees were very welcoming in answering my questions and asking me questions. Today, as I mentioned briefly before, it was pretty empty and everyone was weaving in and out between lunch, appointments, etc. I hope that for the rest of my internship, I can figure out my role in Sun Smile. I expect the professional world in there to be somewhat as I described a typical work day to be like but with the extra training and procedures that normal, day-to-day patients don't normally see. There is a lot that goes into the medical/dental field, they need to learn a lot of skills outside of their intended purposes in science studies, such as strong oral communication, stamina, flexibility, empathy, etc. This does fall into the skills I learn at HTHNC that might be useful in the future, such as: -Public speaking/Oral communication -Organizational skills -Work Ethic/Teamwork -Creativity in the work space ...and so much more. These skills I'd feel like would be very helpful in communicating with and reassuring patients with their consultations and procedures, connecting and working with my co-workers, etc. I hope to engage myself further into this kind of environment, I feel like it will be a good learning opportunity. |