UCLA Cardiovascular Patient Simulation

Awesome day today -- I experienced my first patient simulation!

In short, there's this robotic mannequin. But he's no ordinary robotic mannequin. He has a a respiratory rate. A carotid pulse. A dorsalis pedis. A measurable systolic and diastolic blood pressure, a partial pressure of Oxygen, as well as many many other potential readings. He also perspires. And has the ability to undergo a myocardial infarction, and - remarkably - reverse the process and instantaneously recover. He's also connected to a comprehensive screen readout.

In sum, this is a pretty incredible tool for instructors to teach us how to respond and react to real patient scenarios that we may encounter in our future practices.

I was also individually grilled for a couple minutes about drug cocktails (namely beta-blockers and a host of others that I could rattle off descriptions of at the time but can't quite recall right now ...) and their interactions.

It was interesting, and honestly quite exciting. Everyday is a step closer to the real thing!

Cheers,

E

Team photo!

Amalgam Restorations

Hey all!

Here are some pictures of me as well as my first amalgam fillings! Over the past month we've worked on a number of tooth preparations and today we finally filled them!

There are something like 30-some-odd tools that we use for the amalgam fillings alone (cleoid, discoid, beavertail burnisher, etc.) and I can barely get them all straight in my head! And apparently in about a month or so I have my first practical which involves a preparation and subsequent amalgam filling ...

Aka drill and fill.

And not to mention, bill!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm still many quarters away from doing this in the patient clinic on real human beings. :)

On that note, one of my classmates told me in lab today that I looked like a real dentist. It was actually quite reassuring to hear that, and of course I returned the compliment -- always keep your eyes on the prize peeps!

And at your request, I will be posting more pictures of my first year at UCLA Dental School!

Cheers,

E

My first amalgam restorations!

Stressful ... but successful!

Research and Interviews!

Heya folks,

Here are some pictogram updates of one of my teeth research projects! Not a short amount of time was spent mounting and sawing this suspected mandibular first molar for your (or my professor's) viewing pleasure. This was actually a really awesome side-project and was done for more than one reason! A detailed procedure will follow...

In the meantime, this month sees travel to LA, Philly, and short trips around Boston for my first batch of dental school interviews! Wish me luck :)

Cheers,

E

(click to enlarge!)

A timely capture

Complete visualization of prisms and the like!

DONE with the DATs !

For those of you who know me well or have been following my delicious blogging from wherever around the world you may be, today I took my DATs!

The DAT, also known as the Dental Admissions Test, is required for entrance to United States dental schools. There are a total of six sections on the DATs that appear in the order of Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Perceptual Ability, Critical Reading, and Quantitative Reasoning. And to think that you're done with standardized tests after high school :p - sorry, try again folks!

Anyways, the experience was quite nerve-wracking to say the least. I was fingerprinted at least six times at the Prometric Test Center where a whole slew of these American standardized tests are administered, and had a camera happily recording my frantic scribbling on the scratch-boards, my attempts to keep the earplugs that they give you inside my ears, and of course my sacred pre-test rituals.

Above all, the MOST amazing/interesting/frightening thing about the DATs - unlike the MCATs - is that your scores are instantaneous. That's right folks. The scores are INSTANTANEOUS! For better or for worse, you'll find out your numeric scores as well as your scored percentiles a mere few moments after you click the final submit. Crazy right? The fact that the scoring comes out ASAP and that you leave the test center with an official print-out of your scores further contributes to the anxiety that comes with months of preparation for a five-hour test. It's quite the experience. It's not meant for the faint of heart, or for those who are prone to anxiety attacks.

For those of you who want to know how I did ... that's NOT important (well, the scores are important, but that's besides the point :p )! Although I felt that I could have done better on one of the sections (which ironically I aced on all of my practice tests beforehand), I am plenty happy with my performance.

Now I can officially begin my dental school applications, and also go out for a round of drinks !!

Best of luck to all of you who still need to take your DATs, MCATs, GREs, SATs, or whatever test it may be. And trust me on this - study hard and don't lose focus! Set high goals - this is your future we're talking about!

Eric