Sept. 4, 2012 - First Day at WSU... First No Show :/

Well, you have to have your first "no-show" sometime right? Why not your first day of clinic? ;) I am convinced I jinxed myself this morning. In my pod, me and the other girls were talking about not looking forward to dealing with "no-shows", and I HAD to make the comment that I had NEVER had a "no-show" thus far. Well, joke was on me! 8:00, 8:10, 8:15 rolled by and my patient still hadn't showed up so I called my Mom and, being the AWESOME lady that she is, she came in so I'd have a patient. I was proud of myself for not panicking and keeping my emotions in check. Because I was able to keep a level head, I successfully completed 4 PAs and all 4 quads. I tried to take my own advice and focus on the positives today and it seemed to help. I know I still have a long way to go, but at least I am taking steps in the right direction! My afternoon pt. showed up (yay) and I was able to classify her as a CL II. A lot of my patients this year are Spanish-speaking, including my afternoon patient today. Having this language barrier and realizing the issues it presented, I became very motivated to learn at least some Spanish to be able to communicate with all of my patients effectively. One of my top priorities in clinic has been to make sure all of my patients have a positive experience at their appointment. I think this speaks volumes as it pertains to their future OH behavior and likelihood to continue care. Through my afternoon appointment, I learned the necessity of effective communication. So, looks like "Learn Spanish ASAP" just got added to the "To Do" list. :)