GETTING TO KNOW YOU Flashcards
What’s Your Greatest Strength?
Introduction:
Strength: Attention to detail
Why? A lot of my hobbies involve a keen eye for detail and precision
Why is it a strength?
Allows a diligent and thorough approach to tasks
Often excel in noticing details that others my overlook
Ensures accuracy, quality and precision.
Link to Dentistry:
Crucial in dental procedures , diagnosis and treatment planning successes
e.g examining and assessing oral conditions, interpret diagnostic images and exectute procedures with meticulous precision
Ensures patient safety which links to dental ethics of non-maleficence
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Strength: Resilient
Why? Doing my a-levels and taking this gap year required a great amount of resilience and self-discipline
Why is it a strength?
Demonstrates ability to bounce back from challenges, set backs and difficult situation
Maintaining positive mindset and adapting to changes in face of difficulties
Tend to be more reflective of their experience, allowing room for growth and remain focused on their goals despite obstacles
Link to Dentistry:
Crucial for managing demanding academic and professional challenges
Allows to persevere through tough challenges and learn from setbacks instead of letting negative experiences affect their perception of themselves which can lead to burnout, something that affects dentists
resilient = high quality patient care
Conclusion:
With strengths in attention to detail and resilience, I am prepared to offer diligent and reliable dental-care
What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
Introduction:
Weakness: Stress management
Explanation: Often find myself struggling to allocate sufficient time to different tasks or breaks
Leads to rushed work or burn out
Why is it a weakness?
In real life: During my a-levels, I found it challenging to balance my work and personal life. Found it difficult to give myself appropriate breaks when needed.
Led to working at a lower standard and more unnecessary stress that could’ve been avoided if I took the time to manage my time in a way that’s most beneficial to me .
In dentistry: In a clinical setting, inadequate time management could result in suboptimal care and impact work flow of the practice
Crucial for dentists to allocate their time efficiently in order to have a good work-life balance
Prevent them from burning themselves out and performing at a lower standard
What do I do to improve?
Going out with my friends more and spending more time with my family
I try to allocate at least 2 hours in a day where I am able to de-stress and spend time with close ones
Using calendars and setting REALISTIC deadline for tasks, allows me to allocate my time efficiently around it .
Conclusion:
Recognising my weakness in time management and past failures in taking adequate breaks, I am motivated to further honing this skill to ensure I can work at my highest standard and provide excellent dental care efficiently and effectively
What Are The Three Adjectives That Best Describe You?
Introduction:
Adjective 1: Reflective
Trait: I am always wiling to look back at my own performance with a mindset for improvement
Why: Being reflective of your own skills and abilities is needed in dentistry
They know what procedures they’re able to perform with confidence and ones they arent
Ensure patient safety
Also dentists need to be reflective to constantly find areas of improvement where they need to develop certain skills n knowledge
GDC GUIDELINE “Maintain, develop and work within your professional knowledge and skills”
Adjective 2: Amiable
Trait: I consider myself to be a supportive and empathetic individual who always strives to help the people around me
e.g volunteer work, tutor work, tutoring my classmates/friends, supporting my friends emotionally when they’re feeling distressed
Why: Having a kind-hearted nature is crucial in dentistry as you should have a natural urge to help those in need out.
Links to dental ethical pillar of beneficence
As a dentist, being empathetic and compassionate is vital when creating a positive patient experience, ease their anxiety and build trust in dental-patient relationship
Adjective 3:
Trait:
Why:
Conclusion:
These traits and adjectives don’t define me as a potential dentist but also someone who can contribute positively to the university community and field of dentistry as a whole
How Do You Cope With Stress?
Introduction:
In dentistry, stress management is a crucial skill to hone due to it’s fast paced nature in the NHS, unexpected emergencies and complaints from patients or their families
Stress = auto immune diseases extravastated
50% of NHS dentists suffer from burn out
During a-levels and GCSE I was also in high levels of stress, although at the time I struggled with managing my stress efficiently, reflecting upon it gave me the opportunity to explore different coping mechanisms to deal with stresses and other triggers
Point 1:
Activity/Technique/Approach: Crocheting
How and why it works:
Helps me practice mindfulness and stay present in the moment
Reduces anxiety and manages my stress by focusing my attention in the current moment
Allows me to detach from overwhelming thoughts and deal with challenging situations in a clear mind
Point 2:
Activity/Technique/Approach:
Spending time with friends
How and why it works:
Reminds me of the strong support system I have, sense of security when needed
Sharing any concerns, thoughts and feelings with them reduces feelings of isolation and stress I may be experiencing
Enables me to have a temporary break from stressors and focus on enjoyable experience
Enhances my mood and mindset, positively impacts the way I navigate through challenging situations
Conclusion:
Ability to manage stress is vital
developing effective coping mechanisms and always seeking out which ones suits me best
Believe I will be invaluable during demanding moments in my dental career
Tell Us About A Situation When You Had To Work In A Team
Situation:
Organising a charity fundraiser event for human appeal at my local mosque as a part of the girls youth club
Task:
Chair of the girls youth club, responsible for organising the event and ensuring everything runs smoothly and according to plan
Actions:
Communicating with the team of volunteers, allocating tasks to everyone, creating a calendar/deadline to ensure everything is done in time e.g All the cakes and sweets were ordered in advance
Result:
Raised over £200, enabled a nice environment/uplifted moods esp for children
Heart warming and rewarding to give back to the community and those in need
Reflection:
Made me realise how much I enjoy leading and working with a team and importance in planning and transparent communication e.g letting your team members know your limit and not taking up tasks that you can’t manage
Being a dentist requires you to work and lead a multidisciplinary team, never working in isolation.
Skills I gained from this role such as communication and leadership, merges well with the requirements of being a dentist
How Will Your Extracurriculars Help You Become A Better Dentist?
ntroduction:
Extracurricular 1:
Name: Piano Playing
Why do you do it?
Relieve stress
Enjoy learning and playing fave songs on it
Skillset + Link to Dentistry:
Focus
Hand eye co-ordination
mental endurance
Beneficial in dentistry when performing procedures- surgery
Extracurricular 2:
Name: Crocheting
Why do you do it?
Love making original pieces and my own clothes - control over creativity and design
Heartening when making and gifting my loved ones stuff that I made, brings fulfilment
Allows me to practice mindfulness and focus on the present
Skillset + Link to Dentistry:
Manual dexterity
Attention to detail
Aligns with meticoulus nature of dental work
Extracurricular 3:
Name: Cooking
Why do you do it?
Stress relief
Maintain physical health by reducing amount of processed foods used and allows me to maintain balanced diet
Skillset + Link to Dentistry:
A great way to enable healthy work-life balance
Cooking with other people etc.
Conclusion:
Tell Us About A Situation When You Had To Overcome A Challenge
Situation:
Doing A-level Chemistry mock november exam
Problem:
Struggling to keep up/understand A2 content
Performed 2 grades lower than my predicted
Actions:
Spoke to my teacher to see where they think my weaker areas are and ways they think I can improve in, revision method/exam technique
Watched numerous youutbe videos and resources on tips to improve your grades and topics I didn’t quite get
Created timetable
Decided to seek out a tutor as I needed more support with the content
Managed my time better so I could revise more efficiently, leaving enough time to go over my weak areas
Result:
With alll these measures in place
I managed to score 2 grades higher in my march mock and the grade I was aspiring for in my actual a-level
Reflection:
Showed me how seeking out additional support when you feel overwhelmed with the content/work as soon as possible is vital to succeeding, instead of getting more behind and struggling even more
Taught me how to be resilient and see bad grades as an opportunity for growth instead of it being a determination of my self worth
And that is one my experiences with failure
Tell Us About A Situation When Your Communication Skills Made A Difference To The Outcome.
Situation:
I volunteered at 7 cups, an online counselling service, for 5 months. My role as a volunteer was to be a listener
Lend a listening ear to those who need it and offer support
Task:
Actions:
Result:
Reflections:
How Do You Deal With Criticism?
Introduction:
In dentistry, you’re always learning and improving your skills
One way to improve on these skills is by listening to feedback/criticism that you’ll inevitably get
Important to be reflective of whatever feedback you get given to be more mindful on our behaviour and habits
Method: Constructive criticism
Example: During sixth form, had to do assembly , friend told me that I’m trying to take on the role of others by doing most of the powerpoint slides myself
Thanked her for telling me
Showed appreciation, gave me a fresh perspective on how my behaviour, despite my intention, may rub off on people the wrong way
Upon reflecting , I realised this tendency in my behaviour stems from a fear of failure and started actively working on it by establishing boundaries that I don’t overstep when working in a team and recognising the responsibilities of others
Method: Unconstructive criticism
Example:
Important to recognise what the intention of the criticism is. Is it to give feedback or driven by negative emotion
Although criticism is unconstructive, try to think about it without taking it personal
Might stem from misunderstanding , understand their POV and try to resolve it without getting defensive
Conclusion:
Personally I value criticism a lot, helps me grow as a person and gain new perspective on how my behaviour affects people
Without criticism, I’d be the same person as I was two years ago and not changed myself for the better
Criticism in dentistry is very valuable, always can be better communicators, leaders and improve our manners where we can
