First day

 Today was my first day at a new private practice job. I am now part time public, part time private and looks like I will be working 1 day a week tutoring at the university clinics starting later in the month. It was a good welcome to the practice and everyone is very accommodating but I have had the same feeling I have had previously when starting a new job: there's a lot that I would want to change here. Mostly there's things that I would want to train the staff about in terms of procedures, clinical workflow assisting but I also have an urge to clean out the massive stockpile of expired goods that are just put in a dusty storage area and left alone. 

It is important to realise that there are many dental practices and they will all do things very differently. Most of them will sit within the framework of standards such as guidelines for infection control but some will not and it is each practitioners responsibility to ensure that the standards are upheld to their expectations. When push comes to shove, we cannot delegate blame to the dental assistants, practice manager or practice owner. We and we alone are responsible for the safe treatment of our patients.

So one teething issue I had was the appointment timings. The current owner has 30 minute appointments for everything and although this is probably achievable for me, it is difficult when I have trouble with things like operating the dental chair, handpieces and dental management software. Also, lack of awareness of the layout of the surgery and lack of experience working with a new dental assistant makes every single action twice as slow. Even once I figure out these aspects of the new job, I don't think that the appointment times will allow me to communicate and do dentistry the way I want to do it. Perhaps I should keep this in mind when it comes to teaching students. Potentially every procedure they do and every clinical session will feel as awkward and foreign as I did today. Patience is something that I will have to work on. Luckily the staff are very understanding here and the boss seems very flexible and will allow me to run my days as I like. 

Initially I wasn't thinking of asking for a job here, but on meeting the boss there were several agreeable things he said about the position that convinced me it was a good place to work:

-It doesn't matter how much money I make, just do good work

-Ambition is necessary at this point in my career, either practice ownership, specialisation or some form of progression

-Put the patients first, charging them extra won't make us millionaires but making things affordable for them by working ethically will mean a lot to them

-Don't slag off other dentists. You may see bad work come through the door but you don't know the situation because you weren't there. Maybe they did the best they could at the time

Rationally, today went well and it will only continue to improve. I have permission to provide as much feedback as I can to the practice owner and it will be appreciated by him because anything that will help the practice is welcomed. 

A lesson to myself from the past is to pick my battles, even with the directive to provide feedback, change can be slow and overwhelming the practice with the tirade of changes you would like can lead to fatigue in the most accommodating of practices. Start with the basics, suggest changes that are the most necessary and slowly go from there once you're rooted in the practice.

I appreciate the work environment that has been created for me and it will be important for me to remember to give back and be part of the positive culture.

It is vital that I remember this day and remember the confusion and lack of ease with which my day went. Using this should allow me to empathise with students and younger colleagues and remove assumptions that they know what I know and can do what I do. Instead, I should be acting as a role model and a guide to improve their own skills and awareness.