Optometry Reflection

For three days this week, I shadowed Dr. Paul Mormon, Dr. Brandon Walley, and the two final-year optometry school externs, David Haba and Catherine Hogan.  I sat in on regular examinations, emergency visits, and different diagnosis methods, seeing over 30 patients.  While I had been to the optometrist once before, I had limited prior knowledge, so I learned a lot of new information.  Eyes have always fascinated me, and I absolutely loved seeing how they work, what they are composed of, and the many things that can go wrong.

The most common diagnoses and problems were cataracts, near/farsightedness, diabetes, and typical issues that arise with old age.  I also saw some uncommon things like people who are color blind, have Duane’s disease, and got a corneal abrasion (that has turned into a scar).  I thought that I would just be watching a doctor find people’s glasses/contacts prescriptions for 9 hours every day, but there are so many more factors that go into optometry.  Here is my final list of pros and cons:

Pros

•          Helping people be able to see
•         Diagnosing problems early on (you can see if someone has diabetes by the blood vessels inside the eye)
•         Eyes are just super-duper cool
•        Developing close relationships with patients—unlike dentistry where their mouths are full, optometry patients can actually talk to you during the appointment
•         Everyone’s eyes are different, so it’s like a solving a puzzle to find what is wrong
•         Flexible hours
•         Can be in different settings (hospital, private practice, etc.) or go on to minor surgeries (one of the externs wanted to do Lasik eye surgery)
•         Very quick way to solve a difficult problem

Cons

•         Might get routine if there’s nothing major going on
•         Have to also rely on the retail market, because much of the income is from selling glasses and contacts
•         Insurance trickiness
•         Lots of paperwork/charts (of course)

Going along with my plan to focus on the body’s strengths and weaknesses for my choreography, I discovered that there are three components in each field that directly relate or affect the body: age, genetics, and environment. I plan to elaborate on these for my choreography.  Age was a definite factor in each of the three fields, as your body breaks down as you get older.  Genetics also played a large part, because some people are naturally born with advantages or disadvantages that can determine their quality of life.  Environment is also vital because it governs your injuries, diseases, or lack of resources.  I like being able to have certain “key words” to inspire movement, and these will greatly help in the development of my choreography.

Dentistry Reflection

For one day this week, I shadowed Dr. Charlyn Wilson at Wilson Dental Care.  Honestly, I was rather cautious about shadowing a dentist because I am very sensitive to weird noises; I assumed I would be uncomfortable with the drilling sounds, but they didn’t bother me one bit and I had a really great time!

 I watched Dr. Wilson and her dental assistants put in crowns, fill cavities, pull teeth, and do a couple biannual checkups.  As I am not doing these internships for the sole purpose of choreographing but to also to determine what I want to do with my life, I asked around about what these professionals love and hate about their jobs: unsurprisingly, many of the dental professionals said that you really need to love dental care to do well in this profession, but they had very little negatives about the job itself.  Their main dislikes were performing root canal surgeries, uncooperative patients, and the physical strain dentistry puts on your body (from leaning over all day and gnarling your fingers). However, they all said that the positives outweigh the negatives.  Here is a list of my own positives and negatives for your viewing pleasure: 

·        Pros

o   Being able to develop close relationships with patients

o   Not boring because you get to do something very challenging everyday

o   Able to branch out into other fields (cosmetic, pediatric, periodontic, oral and maxillofacial)

o   Flexible hours

o   Enabling people to feel confident in their smiles.  One of Dr. Wilson’s patients had really bad teeth and other dentists/orthodontists had messed them up in the past, so he never smiled.  Dr. Wilson fixed them and he says he finally feels confident in his smile.

o   Immediate return in your work

·        Cons

o   Repetitive surgeries

o   Funky sounds/smells

o   Physically taxing on neck/shoulders/wrists/fingers

o   Annoying patients (we didn’t have any the day I shadowed, but she said she is extremely lucky to have good patients)

o   Most people don’t like going to the dentist…I don’t want to be disliked!

o   Dealing with insurance/paperwork (but I’m beginning to see this is a trend in the medical field)

o   Career is growing in popularity, so it will be more competitive for schools/jobs

Having already shadowed an optometrist for one day at this point, I have decided that I am sticking with body strength/weakness idea for my choreography.  I love how each of these fields have “quick fixes” to the body’s weaknesses.  The idea that we all have different bodies with different imperfections is mind blowing, and I think it’s amazing that technology has gotten us to the point where we can fix most problems.  I have begun the search for music for the piece, and I really want something that has “layers” so I can portray both weaknesses and strengths.  I am stoked that I am halfway through the fellowship and am excited to have two more days with the optometrist!