As the first clinic of term four was about to start, I found my self reflecting on term three. In term three I was a junior Dental Hygiene student at Niagara College.  In order to be successful in completing term three, we had to complete a minimum of two clients. Easy I thought !! right?!, wrong. I struggled all term to complete my two, and met the requirements within the last week of the term. I felt it was because I was very slow and needed at least five appointments for my client’s. My fears, anxieties and lack of confidence greatly affected my clinical performance. Because of my lack of confidence, it would take me a whole appointment just to complete my indices as well as my periodontal assessment.  Human needs were difficult for me to apply and link to client goals and appointment planning.

Now I am senior in the Dental Hygiene program at Niagara College , I am currently almost finished term four and entering my graduating year! This semester I found to be challenging and rewarding. My first challenge was to gain more confidence in my abilities to accurately record my findings during the assessments. It wasn’t until one of our POD teachers had explained during an after-clinic huddle that we were here to learn from our inaccuracies, and that by making the mistakes we will learn through correcting them together. I did feel a little relieved that it wasn’t just me who was struggling with confidence. It was recommended that we look back through our readings to refresh on previously taught theories to aid parts of the appointment that we struggled on.  In the beginning of term four, I was having a hard time balancing being a wife and mother and a student. I was missing classes that had important information pertaining to my success, along with in class assignments that would have helped me with my practice. Once I organized my home life, I was able to then re organize myself at school. It is true when they say you must learn to leave home at home in order to be successful at work or school.

 I started to further utilize the resource room to aid in my time management skills with regards to my documentation. Utilizing the resource room on my own time gave me the sense of better controlling how my appointments would go. It was in this time that I would be able to link my assessments to the client’s human needs deficits, which would then trickle into their goals and the