White Coat Ceremony USCSD C/O 2015

Today the Class of 2015, friends and family gathered at Bovard Auditorium for the white coat ceremony. I have been waiting for this day to come. As I stood amongst my classmates surrounded by friends and family, I felt proud of my achievements thus far in my life. I felt ready to take on the upcoming four years.  Congratulations USCSD class of 2015, we have taken the oath of an oral health care professional. 

I will dedicate my professional life to regarding each patient as a whole and complex person, promoting health to all people, identifying risk factors and serving as an advocate for disease prevention, using the very best clinical diagnostic strategies, providing the finest clinical treatments and therapeutics, and continuing to learn, revise and enrich my knowledge throughout my career.

I dedicate my life to the health of those whose lives I directly or indirectly touch: my family and friends, the broader community, my individual patients and their families.

I extend to the learned faculty, staff and fellow students my full respect and gratitude which is their due.

I will always practice my profession with the highest integrity, thoughtful judgement, and skills derived from scientific evidence.

I will always conduct myself with conscience, compassion and dignity, with the health and well-being of my patients and community as the first consideration.

I promise to respect the privacy of my patients.

I will maintain by all means in my power the noble traditions of the dental profession.

I will honor my fellow students as professional colleagues, and function in such a fashion as to earn their trust and respect and, together, we will nurture our shared humanity.

I will always provide oral health care without consideration of religion, nationality, race or ethnicity, gender or sexual preference, disabilities, political choices or social and economic standing.

I will always maintain the highest respect for human life.

I make these promises without hesitation, freely, and upon my Honor.

Another one bites the dust

USC dental class of 2015 is now CPR certified!

1) Check for response (a sleeping person would not appreciate being woken up by chest compressions!)

2) begin chest compressions: place heel of one hand on the lower half of the sternum and put other hand on top, lock elbows and start compression at the rate of 100 beats per minute.

     Q: how do you know you are going 100 beats per minute?
     A: you can do your chest compressions to the song staying alive or another one bites the dust!    
     if you are going to sing out loud you should probably sing the first option

3) Open the air way by tilting the head back and lifting the chin.  Pinch of the nose and cover their mouth with yours. The kissy lips dont work here! make a friend!

4) check pulse from coratid artery on the neck!

******if there is only one rescuer perform 5 series of 30 compressions then two breaths. If there are more than one rescuer perform 5 series of 15 compressions to two breaths.

     Q: Can't you break something by performing chest compressions?
     A: Yes you can break ribs and puncture lungs. Its okay cause the other options is death. Plus those
     things can be fixed but that's if they are survive!

     Q: But what if I perform CPR wrong?
     A: Anyone who doesn't have a pulse and is not breathing is dead. He can't get any deader. So there
     is no such thing as bad CPR.

The privilege to climb up the hill

Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC D.D.S. Orientation Day 1

   Three years of taking 24 units per quarter, participating in research at both University of California, Irvine and University of Southern California, shadowing dentists, studying for the dental admissions test, befriending professors for letters of recommendations, and applying to dental school have all lead up to today. I walked into the familiar lobby with a tinge of reluctance, but to my surprise everything felt quite new. A sense of excitement rushed over me and I was surrounded by my peers. I was especially excited to see people that were in my group during my interview back in January. We are very fortunate to be part of the 144 chosen out of 3317 applicants. I looked down at my name tag and chills spread through my spine as I read: Dr. Tiffany Y W.

   My application process was filled with frustration  and little triumphs followed by yet another hardship. After conquering one milestone in the process, the path to the next was tedious and my patience was wearing thin. The frustration grew as the uncertainty of my future loomed over me. All I needed was an answer and until then no matter what I had accomplished I could not feel satisfied or relieved... Then one day in March, I received an email : Congratulations you have been accepted to Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC D.D.S. class of 2015. 

   I called my parents in Taiwan with the exciting news and I got carried away. 

Me: "I am so excited and I worked very hard. It's all down hill from here!!!!"

My father: "You have only just got the privilege to climb up the hill."

   Although being in a learning environment and moving forward in my life excited me, orientation spot-lighted the hardship of the coming year. My father is right and it is a privilege to stand at the bottom of this hill. And I need to prepare myself for the climb that faces hardships that are mentally, physically, and financially challenging. The estimated 500,000 dollars of debt puts quite the damper on the pride and excitement of starting dental school. The unbearable hour that was spent during orientation on debt repayment and how much interest accumulates over the coming years struck fear into our hearts. 

   But regardless of any doubts the journey of D.D.S. class of 2015 has begun and we are equipped with brand new dental supplies (YAY! highspeed handpeices, birs, spatulas, finishing strips, etc.), hope, perseverance, determination, support, the 7 habits of highly effective people and jars of teeth! Fight on!

 

         photograph by Tiffany W.