Dental/dental hygiene trainees discuss dental training/education. (2023)
So my first semester in clinic, I had a patient come in pain and he spoke a language that… We have the LanguageLine in clinic that if you don’t speak their same language you can use, and have a translator. And he spoke a very specific language, I don’t remember what it was now, but there was only one translator available. And that translator was busy so we had to wait about 45 minutes to an hour, for the translator to work with us. And the faculty that I was working with at the time said, “We should just send him home, it’s going to be too long.” And a red flag went off in my head, we need to treat this patient regardless of how long it takes to get the translator. We shouldn’t take the easy road and say, “We can’t do it right now, so we might as well just not do it at all.” So I think that was one of the people that I realized I maybe shouldn’t go to if I have a question. I usually go to my Clinic Director, he has a really good experience, has worked with a lot of people and done a lot of things. So, I usually go to him if I have a situation like that.