You probably will only be able to get to library from about half 6/7 until late, unlike previous years where you probably were in library first thing in the morning until late, it will be a lot more tough in this respect. You can't have too many late nights also they will catch up on you if you have clinics the morning after.
Case reports
Get ALL your case reports started to get written up as soon as possible, once you have your treatment plans finalised then the reports can be written up which will take about half an hour. That way you have the bulk of it written up and then photos, charts etc can be added in when they are done. It sounds silly at the start of the year, but from personal experience, I started to write mine up as soon as I could and I felt like I was the only one not stressing!! And for the case patients, keep the treatment plans AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE!! As long as there is 3 disciplines then doesn't really matter what it is. You could have a couple of extractions, perio and a load of fillings. That's a case patient for you, nothing complicated but will definitely do the job.
Presentation cases
Make sure you go over your presentation case with friends and staff so many times that you lose count because the more times you do it, your confidence will increase. It isn't a memory test, remember that, you can take in a copy of the presentation case write up with you and look at that for information throughout so don't be tempted to learn thing all of by heart when there is no need to do such a thing.
Applying for jobs
Out of the 5 years of university, I can safely say this was probably the most stressful two weeks!! The amount of travelling to do is ridiculous at times and you don't get reimbursed (unless you go to Orkney or somewhere) so you have to be aware of that. Make sure that you arrange interviews with a good 1-2 hour gap as you don't know how long one interview will be. And if you are sitting in one interview getting restless because you're late for the next interview, it is going to show through your body language!! Don't just restrict yourself to one area. You have to expand and probably be ready to travel a good 20-30 minutes to the practice every day. When you are putting your choices down for your final 7, you really have to be willing to work for them. Don't just put someone down to fill the gaps. I have friends who got their 6th or 7th choices and they came to me crying and to be honest, I didn't really sympathise with them as they put them down as their choices so the fact they got what they chose was at the end of the day all in their hands.
Enjoy!!!!
Dr M A Samad BDS
Dental Surgeon
Dental Protection is the leading indemnity provider.
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