No patients during residency?

[dent2312]

Have you guys ever heard about a residency program not having enough patients to keep the schedule full? I am a resident at one of the Eastern side university and have a ton of empty schedule. I'm afraid I won't get the level of experience and training I would need for private practice. Any suggestions/opinions of this? Has this ever happened or is this quite common to see?

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[Lemillion]

It can happen and dependent on the location of the program and faculty running it. Ultimately it can affect your experiencing and training for private practice. With where you're at being a resident already, you can't really change the situation aside from maximizing each patient interaction and learning from each case. You could moonlight if they let you to gain further clinical experience and/or review complex cases previous residents/faculty have worked on.

 

[dent2312]

It can happen and dependent on the location of the program and faculty running it. Ultimately it can affect your experiencing and training for private practice. With where you're at being a resident already, you can't really change the situation aside from maximizing each patient interaction and learning from each case. You could moonlight if they let you to gain further clinical experience and/or review complex cases previous residents/faculty have worked on.

Moonlighting really isn't an option for us here. But I agree with your points. Guess I'll have to try and compromise the low clinical part with other aspects of practice.

 

[Lemillion]

Moonlighting really isn't an option for us here. But I agree with your points. Guess I'll have to try and compromise the low clinical part with other aspects of practice.

Yeah it is frustrating feeling when you are not as busy as you can be. Especially when you're there and ready to learn. Hope you find other opportunities to maximize your education! Another point is if you have the flexibility to go shadow private offices when there are no patients scheduled.

 

[dent2312]

Yeah it is frustrating feeling when you are not as busy as you can be. Especially when you're there and ready to learn. Hope you find other opportunities to maximize your education! Another point is if you have the flexibility to go shadow private offices when there are no patients scheduled.

Maybe that's something I can look into! Thank you for your advice.

 

[Lemillion]

Maybe that's something I can look into! Thank you for your advice.

You’re welcome!

 

[Boat on the Chesapeake]

I like the ideas people have mentioned of moonlighting and shadowing if possible.

Another thing is to use your downtime for as much dental education as you can. If your program isn’t teaching you enough, teach yourself what you want to know. I liked Dentaltown when I was a new grad but there are lots of online groups now. Spear online education costs money (maybe split an account with co-residents?) but seems like a great overview of everything I’d have wanted to learn.

 

[Saddleshoes]

One more thing to think about...

All the programs I know of have no problem with the resident/student hustling up their own patients.
--I had a student us a Facebook post in her home town to get many of her best patients.
--I had a resident make a connection at his church that brought in a bunch of patients.
--I have had many students/residents bring in lots of family members.
--One clinic I taught in was in a downtown location, with a bar nextdoor. A notice tacked up on the bulletin board brought in some good exo cases.
--Another clinic was located near the state corrections department half-way house. A phone call to that place brought in lots of good patients.

The point of all these examples, is this...
Don't depend on the program to provide your patients. Get out there and hustle for yourself!!!

 

[dante72]

You can focus on research too, if you want to join the academia life, you need a research background.

 

[OMSDoc]

I may have missed it, but what specialty is this?

 

[InspiredDDS]

You need to start addressing this issue with your program director and document your attempts. Use email. That way if you come to the end of your residency and haven’t met your requirements, they can’t blame you. Or Are your co-residents in the same position? The department can’t ignore problems across the board in their program.

 

[Thehighwind87]

No offense but you should be learning. Have you thought about working weekends? Places around me are hiring dentists at 75-100 an hour. Might as well make use of your free time

 

[ncide]

I may have missed it, but what specialty is this?

Can't be OMFS or endo...

 

[redchesus]

For CODA-accredited programs, I'm quite sure there are minimum number of cases you need to graduate with. If you feel like you're not going to be prepared for practice, that is definitely something to bring up with your program director.

 

[gryffindor]

Is this the Georgia School of Ortho and are you one of the exce$$ive number of residents?

 

[dante72]

Is this the Georgia School of Ortho and are you one of the exce$$ive number of residents?

I heard GSO has lots of patients, they don't charge the patients much, only the students...

 

[emma_m]

Out of curiosity, what specialty are you? Do you also pay a crazy tuition?

 

[D1Bound]

Is this the Georgia School of Ortho and are you one of the exce$$ive number of residents?

-shutters in @BigTimeHoosier-

 

[FutureDent020]

I may have missed it, but what specialty is this?

I was just assuming it was GPR or AEGD. Never heard of a OMFS/Ortho/endo/perio/prosth not having enough patients.

 

[juniordentist]

If you are in a residency program and not seeing enough patients it is simple. You are getting screwed. If the universities want to treat us like consumers and charge ridiculous amounts of debt then we should start acting like consumers. If it's not good enough it's not good enough. Don't start a residency without knowing how much experience you'll get