- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
- Messages
- 1
Hello,
I'm a spouse of a dental hygiene student who is about to take the clinical board exam and I'm a bit perplexed and confused about the process of finding a board patient who meets the criteria (significant calculus). My wife went to local food kitchens and homeless shelters and looked into the mouths of many strangers until she found one that she feels confident meets the criteria. Because we don't live in a large city, she will have to drive about 2 1/2 hours to take the exam and was originally planning on driving the patient alone in her car. Also, she is required to attend an orientation the day before, so she was going to put this patient in a hotel room, then pick him up the following morning for the actual exam - all expenses paid by her (the student), including giving him $200 after the exam. I insisted on driving the patient myself on the day of the exam and then driving him back. I'm just wondering if the governing board understands the potential perils of putting many of the students at risk by having to go to such extremes in order to satisfy the criteria for a qualifying patient? To me, it seems a bit absurd and dangerous, even for those students living closer to the exam location, particularly since a high percentage of dental hygiene students are women. I realize that there are other ways to find patients, but after exhausting the list of friends and family, she felt there was no other alternative but to look for someone who most likely has severely neglected their teeth.
I'm a spouse of a dental hygiene student who is about to take the clinical board exam and I'm a bit perplexed and confused about the process of finding a board patient who meets the criteria (significant calculus). My wife went to local food kitchens and homeless shelters and looked into the mouths of many strangers until she found one that she feels confident meets the criteria. Because we don't live in a large city, she will have to drive about 2 1/2 hours to take the exam and was originally planning on driving the patient alone in her car. Also, she is required to attend an orientation the day before, so she was going to put this patient in a hotel room, then pick him up the following morning for the actual exam - all expenses paid by her (the student), including giving him $200 after the exam. I insisted on driving the patient myself on the day of the exam and then driving him back. I'm just wondering if the governing board understands the potential perils of putting many of the students at risk by having to go to such extremes in order to satisfy the criteria for a qualifying patient? To me, it seems a bit absurd and dangerous, even for those students living closer to the exam location, particularly since a high percentage of dental hygiene students are women. I realize that there are other ways to find patients, but after exhausting the list of friends and family, she felt there was no other alternative but to look for someone who most likely has severely neglected their teeth.
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