It's Official (almost)

First off, it's that time of year when students are getting their HPSP acceptances to congrats to you out there that got one!  For those interested, it's never too early to find a recruiter!!! Check out the top of my blog for info on how to get in touch with a recruiter.

Now to the post...

In approximately 6 weeks, I will officially be a 4th year dental student!  That means I will have trudged through 3 grueling years, or 2 grueling years and 1 not-so-grueling year, to make it this far.  I can finally have a legitimate excuse not to study (senioritis of course) and I'll start thinking very seriously about life after dental school.

Of course, my journey is unique, as many of you know.  I'm on the HPSP scholarship, which means I have a secure future and a guaranteed income for the next 4 years (5 if you count AEGD) after I graduate in May of 2014.  But nevertheless it's an exciting and scary time of transition and change when I slowly morph from a student to a doctor.  It truly is a blessing that I've made it this far.  Since about 2008, this is what I wanted to do with my life and I'm so fortunate that things have worked out the way they have.  I got the AF HPSP, got into dental school on my first try, and here I am.  I've "thought" about being a 4th year for so long that it seemed like it would never happen.  Well, it is and it's coming very soon.  My wife and I are both nervous and excited for what lies ahead!

In a way, my mind is already in the 4th year because yesterday we were sent out summer schedules.  Here at OU, the transition between years takes place between spring and summer.  Here's the breakdown of my summer schedule:

*Clinic slots are 3 hours long.  AM = 9am-noon, PM = 1pm-4pm

Monday AM - Clinic

Monday PM - Clinic

Tuesday AM - Clinic

Tuesday PM - Clinic

Wednesday AM - Clinic

Wednesday PM - Clinic

Thursday 8-10am - Endo III, 10-12am - Restorative III

Thursday PM - Clinic

Friday AM - Clinic

Friday PM - Clinic

So... lots and lots and lots of clinic.  Finally!  This is what I signed up for!  For those keeping score, clinic times are in 3 hour blocks.  So that means I have 27 hours of clinic every single week.  Not too bad.  That's approaching a full time job!  I'm very excited about this.  I'm sure the Fall and Spring semesters coming up will be equal or greater than that.

If you've been keeping up with my older posts, our school is transitioning right now.  Dedicated schedulers, re-imagined clinic structures and physical remodeling are transforming OU.  My class is catching the brunt of the changes for better and for worse, but that's life.  We are actually pretty far behind right now in general in terms of our clinical experience, but hopefully we can make it up this coming year. 

I haven't yet received my AEGD packet to apply for that, but when I do I'll be sure to post about it.  No other AF news right now.  I am currently in the middle of my 45 day ADT.  Pay bump, love it!

Also, I've found out we can take NBDE Part II at the end of our summer session (last week of July) and I'm probably going to take it as soon as I'm allowed.  Which means I've already started studying... no!!!  It's true, I'm slowly making my way through First Aid right now.  A neat side note, I'm attempting to go all digital this time.  Basically I won't use any pre-printed notes or books to study.  I make jot my own notes down but I'm using digital versions of all textbooks, dental decks, and old exams to prepare.  I have an iPad and use Dropbox regularly so that's going to be my main mode of study. It's part convenience and part experiment (and part me not wanting to buy anything). So I'll be posting about that and letting you all know how that goes.

That's all for now, as always, email me if you want to chat about dental school or the Air Force HPSP!

1... more... year.

As promised, I'm finally posting again.  I hope to post more regularly.  This semester was a paradox for me.  It was very stress-free.  No boards, no real patient issues, no hard classes, nothing.  Instead of freeing up my schedule, it actually just made me lazier, which seems strange.  However, it was a huge blessing for a number of reasons.  I actually got married in August (thank you) to a beautiful woman who works as a nurse in the NICU at a hospital here in OKC.  She's absolutely wonderful and we're both excited to see where the Air Force journey takes us over the next few years!

Let me quickly do a sweeping recap my Fall 2012.  As for dental school itself, our school went through some major changes.  Not just new faculty or new equipment.  Try, new clinic model, new patient processing system, new x-ray system, new digital charting, new patient schedulers, new (almost) everything.  For Air Force, not much new, but I did speak with some upperclassmen and got some good advice!  I'm sort of just waiting around at this point to apply for AEGD.

Our school got a major revamp, as we are now using axiUm, a digital patient management software system, for all our patient needs.  It's been a learning process for sure, and mostly for the faculty at the school having to give up the paper they so dearly love (yes, that was a bit snarky).  For the most part, things went very well!  We also hired PSC (Patient Service Coordinators) to call and schedule our patients.  This has been a lifesaver.  We are still the main contact point for the patient, but gone are the days of coming home, or staying late at school, and calling patients trying to get them booked in open chairs before a classmate.  Competitive scheduling has vanished in a big way, as each student is guaranteed an appointment in at least 1 discipline each clinic session.  As a 4th year, students will do any procedure they wish in any clinic period.  As a 3rd year, like me, we have certain times we can do certain things.  It works well enough and certainly better than what we had. To cut to the chase, the technical changes at the school have all but occurred in full.  We're probably 85% there.  We will be doing physical renovations over the next 2 years and if the computer models are accurate at all, this place is going to look absolutely amazing!  I'm really excited for the future of the OU College of Dentistry, something I honestly wouldn't have said last year before this all started rolling.  This place is transforming into something amazing, really.

Like I said with the Air Force stuff, there's not much new.  In fact, there hasn't been much "new" stuff for about a year and a half it seems like.  Which, for those considering the scholarship, should come as a sigh of relief.  I've had no problems, no hiccups, no roadblocks, no nothing. Last year, I got a sheet to give my preference for when my ADT was to take place.  This year, instead of options, I was sent a sheet that basically asked me to give them a 45 day window that worked.  So that was new I suppose.  I choose to do March 1 - April 15 in case something funky happens with taxes I'll have some extra money.  Last year I got a lot back from the state (OK) and I expect to this year as well.

P.S. I'm posting at the end of 2012, but let's pretend it's 2013 already.  That means I graduate next year in 2014 (hence the title of the post).  Yikes!  This is flying by!  I know it will be bittersweet, but for now I'm just happy that 1st and 2nd year are over and I'm actually doing dentistry.  As always, email, tweet, or comment below if you have questions!

It's summer break (again)!

My 2nd summer break is finally here!  We have 3 weeks off after Spring Semester, and then 3 weeks off after our 8 week Summer Semester.  Also, I'll be getting married on August 11 and I very excited to open that new chapter in my life as well.  She'll be a nurse, the perfect occupation to come travel with me in the Air Force for a few years (at least) after I graduate.

Our school is going through some massive changes right now.  I just got trained taking digital radiographs last week, as our dark room was completely removed to make room for a brand new computer lab to view digital x-rays.  It looks amazing!  We are also dumping our paper charts in favor of axiUm, a digital record keeping software that will be the new lifeblood of our school.  The patient's x-rays, charting, treatment plan, financial information, etc. will all be in axiUm.  Each operatory will be getting a computer (presumably by the time we come back in August) where we can input this information.  This will dramatically change the look and feel of the way we deliver treatment.  My biggest concern is the faculty members that are not too excited about the introduction of new technology.  I think most of them see it as an obstacle rather than an opportunity.  It's unfortunate, but I think most of the students are very excited about getting rid of these paper records and get more in tune with how dentistry is done in the real world.  After all, most practices that my classmates will start or buy into will be using digital records of some kind so I think it's invaluable to learn dentistry using these kinds of technologies now.

On the Air Force front, not much is new.  Just bought some health insurance again for the new year and will be submitting a reimbursement for that soon.  Also, my LES (for my stipend) has been going to my old address and I've been trying to sort that out.  They come every 2 weeks so here in a couple days I'll see if my latest address change efforts will get them going where they need to be, to my new house!

On a side note, school is slowing down a lot now.  I'm excited because hopefully I can start getting back in the gym and get my body in shape for COT.  I played sports in high school and recreationally in college, and I even play basketball quite a bit now, so it's not like I'm out of shape by any means.  I can pull off about 9:40 on my 1.5 mile run which puts me near the high end of the Air Force PT scoring.  Having said that, I want to prepare myself in the best way possible and I'm looking forward to trimming that time even more and getting stronger for COT in the summer of 2014.

I think that's all for now, lots of personal changes and changes at school.  Things are getting easy which means I have more time to do the things I want to do.  It feels like the big hurdles have been overcome and now I just need to buckle in and keep doing what needs to be done and in 2 short years, I'll be a dentist!

It's also that time of year again when people are starting school and I'm getting more and more emails.  Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions about the program and check out the tabs at the top for more information!