Etiquette for correcting while assisting

[CESDental]

What is the proper etiquette for correcting a fellow classmate or upper classmate while assisting?

How would you want to be approached while a patient is in your chair?

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[theleatherwalle]

I would advise you to do it very calmly or not do it at all.

It will shake someone concentration. The first few times doing anything on an actual living person can be very taxing.

I'd rather someone not do it. I remember this girl. I shall simply call her a "photo girl"

She kept wanting to take pictures whenever dental students were practicing on each other or a patient. It would get on my nerves quite a bit.

Don't do it. Unless it is a massive i mean massive mess up.

 

[djeffreyt]

Tactfully. The best way is to talk ahead of time to any doctor or student and figure out a way to give messages to each other that the patient should not hear.

Always keep a pen handy and if you have a sticky pad too, that helps. When my assistants need to give me a message they write it on a sticky pad and put it behind the patient and say, "Doctor, you have a message." When I hear that, I know it means I have to stop and look at the message cause they don't say it unless it's something that needs my attention and can't be said in front of the patient. If it's something that needs to be discussed away from the patient, the assistant will write "Message" and that means I need to excuse myself away from the patient and the assistant will follow shortly and tell me what is going on.

If my assistants hands are occupied and they see me about to make a mistake, they will say something like, "Doctor, are we working on tooth 4 or tooth 6 today?" Most patients won't really think anything much about this, but it usually means I need to check what tooth I'm about to prepare. Only had this happen once or twice...but it's always good to have keen assistants.

 

[DrJeff]

Tactfully. The best way is to talk ahead of time to any doctor or student and figure out a way to give messages to each other that the patient should not hear.

Always keep a pen handy and if you have a sticky pad too, that helps. When my assistants need to give me a message they write it on a sticky pad and put it behind the patient and say, "Doctor, you have a message." When I hear that, I know it means I have to stop and look at the message cause they don't say it unless it's something that needs my attention and can't be said in front of the patient. If it's something that needs to be discussed away from the patient, the assistant will write "Message" and that means I need to excuse myself away from the patient and the assistant will follow shortly and tell me what is going on.

If my assistants hands are occupied and they see me about to make a mistake, they will say something like, "Doctor, are we working on tooth 4 or tooth 6 today?" Most patients won't really think anything much about this, but it usually means I need to check what tooth I'm about to prepare. Only had this happen once or twice...but it's always good to have keen assistants.

Sound advice that I use too. Sometimes also my assistant might say something to me like "It looks from my side of the chair like there still might be a corner/edge where you can't see that Mrs. Smith's tongue will probably find pretty soon!"

Often it depends a bit on the rapport and experience one has with their assistant and also how the patient's personality is - for example if you have a "nervous Nellie" type patient in the chair, my assistant is more than likely to communicate in a non verbal fashion to me. If we've got an out going patient in the chair who I regularly joke with, then my assistant will be vocal. Heck, sometimes I even ask my assistant if an edge looks "smooth" from her side of the chair if I can't see over there, even with a mirror, too well. The more eyes, the better sometimes!