Frequently Asked Question

You should record any observed/assisted visits on the Portfolio in the same way as you would if you had carried out the procedure as operator i.e. entering all of the actual procedures you Observed/Assisted with. So, for example if you assisted another student to administer an LA, perform a restoration and give some OHE you would enter these treatments individually and select Assisted as the grade for each one.

As you gain more experience the level of detail that you enter for O/A sessions may change - early in the programme you should enter every single procedure, but as your experience grows you may choose to focus on the "main" procedures you observed/assisted with. This will be a judgement for you to make to best support your learning.

Observing and assisting are an important part of the course - watching how other students tackle problems and reflecting on how you would have dealt with the same issue etc. will contribute towards your development. 

To get the most out of these experiences, you can expand the "reflect on this treatment individually" box and enter your thoughts against each treatment here. The Portfolio is then able provide you with a summary of all of your reflections (both as operator and assistant) on a per-procedure basis via the "All Treatments" option in the side menu. Over time this will become a really useful record of your development and help you identify cases for presentations/posters in senior years.

BDS Only: 

In your 2nd year you will have a target and a corresponding procedure of 'Assisting a senior student'. This is a special case whilst you are being introduced to the clinical environment. Once you have your own patients you are expected to enter a detailed record of your observed/assisted visits as described above.