WHAT?!?!
Our school curriculum requires, among other things, that we choose a 2 week selective to complete during our summer break. I'm a little offended at the name "selective," mostly because I don't think selective is a real word. I do appreciate that they didn't call it an "elective" because no one would "elect" to do extra work in the summer, but then again, making up a nicer word doesn't make the pain go away. Just like calling pain "discomfort" at the dental office doesn't make it hurt less.
Anyway, I "selected/elected" to do a rotation in oral surgery. I used to like oral surgery, or at least I used to before the last three days.
Day 1--My patient had a 5 alarm, flopping around in the chair like a fish, oxygen tank requiring, panic attack. What horrible thing did I do to him to make him have this amount of anxiety? Put on topical anesthetic. For those of you who haven't been tortured through 3 years of dental school, let me explain what that is...topical anesthetic is that numbing gel that the dentist puts on with a Q-tip before giving an injection. Essentially, my patient is so afraid of dentists that Q-tips put raise his blood pressure so high that he requires medical assistance.
Day 2--My patient whined through her entire extraction of a tooth that was so loose she could have taken it out herself with a strong sneeze. Then she asked for a trash can and as I held it over toward her, she threw up in it. Vomit was approximately 1 inch from my fingers.
Day 3--94 year old wheels into my operatory in a wheelchair carrying a bad of at least 4000 medications. Considering my record of medical emergencies this week, I almost started hyperventilating when I saw how many complications awaited this patient. Luckily, I was bailed out because the man takes blood thinners and we couldn't work on him until he takes a few days off from his blood thinning meds. Phew!
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