Personality Flashcards
What ways of working and studying have you developed that you think will assist you through dental school? What will you need to improve?
•being organised= I have improved at forming plans and have come with a system of prioritising tasks and also completing tasks that have a set amount of time to complete first. Has allowed me to have a better work life balance essential to maintain good mental and physical wellbeing
•I also give myself plenty of time to start working and have stages of working= learning/implementing and then teaching. This is essential in dentistry as I understand that all the knowledge I learn must be put out in the practical world and is something I must actively be doing when treating patients
•I believe I need to improve in ways to avoid distractions so that I can focus on my work and learn it faster and more efficiently= I have been actively removing distractions e.g my phone/practicing positive thinking e.g meditating
How do you think you will cope with criticism from colleagues or other health professionals?
•I will take on board what they are criticising and then ask feedback on how I can improve on these things as there must be a legitimate reason for such criticism
•I will work on improving on what they point out as this will help me improve as a dentist and will make sure I can be the best dentist for my patients
•however if the criticism is unfair I would not be afraid of challenging it as this will resolve problems early on that could escalate
Is there such a thing as positive criticism?
•of course, a lot of times when criticism is given it can allow you to reflect on the criticism so that you can improve on it and this allow growth as a professional
•it will allow you to improve your practices and ways so this is an example of constructive criticism
What are your outside interests and hobbies? How do these compliment you as a person? Which do you think you will continue at university?
•I love being creative as I draw, paint, crochet and have even taught myself how to do acrylic nails which requires very good attention to detail which is something that will aid me greatly in dentistry as it will help me work on small surfaces = I love everything creative and this will keep me motivated as I can be as creative as I want when doing procedures e.g dentures
•I love dancing and have been doing it for over 6 years. It keeps me physically fit but has aided with my mental health greatly. It is something I always fall back to as my go to form of exercise especially during exam season to destress. Important in dentistry= occupational back pain
Tell us two personal qualities you have which would make you a good dentist?
•empathetic (volunteer at a dementia club where I had to speak to people with difficult circumstances and was able to sympathise with their specific concerns). Very important in dentistry as you will have to work with a variety of people e.g people with dental phobias or not confident with their smiles so it i’s important to understand them and their concerns
•adaptable in communicating with different people as I’ve had the experience of mentoring students and have seen how to be able to change my communication to interact with younger children and make the environment more comfortable with them = they were able to trust me more and be open about their specific concerns
Tell us two personal shortcomings which you think you would like to overcome as you become a dentist?
•public speaking, become quite nervous and feel judged. I have improved a lot e.g summer school I worked with a team and gave a presentation = boosted my confidence and helped me a ton by gaining feedback in advance and practicing.
•I can be quite sensitive but have been trying to actively turn situations where I get criticism into a learning opportunity e.g when my teacher criticises my work. I will make time to go speak to them and try to get some advice to improve on something. So I’ve been trying to be more optimistic with my approaches.
Dental training is long and being a dentist can be stressful. Some dentists who qualify never practice. What makes you think you will stick to it?
•I enjoy many aspects of dentistry and what motivates me the most is being able to build a long term and lasting relationship with my patients so to achieve this I will most definitely see it through to the end
•I enjoy discovering and learning new things which can only happen in I continue practicing beyond school
What do you think are your priorities in your own personal development?
•I hope to expand on my knowledge and be able to discover or learn new things = I am a very curious person
•being able to make meaningful relationships= long term relationships which is rewarding as I am helping the person throughout their life
•improve on my communication skills as I will constantly be surrounded by different people and will have to adapt each time to suit the person
What qualities do you think other people value in you?
•I’d say others value the way I am very empathetic and can easily sympathise with others concerns. I am a very good listener and am very attentive to detail which helps in the way in which I respond to them in order to give them advice
•I also love interacting and talking to there which is something that will greatly help me as a dentist as I must communicate very well with others.
•I am very generous with my time and dedicated e.g when I was a maths mentor I made sure that I was prepared in advance so that my students had the best learning experience. Leaving in time also for social interactions with my students meant that they could open up to me and be more comfortable with asking questions. I am very good at teaching and can make complex ideas become simpler which has helped others greatly
How do you think other people would describe you?
•very caring and empathetic person as I live teaching others and have done this throughout schooling e.g maths mentor, reading mentor and have done a masterclass
•very passionate and hardworking, almost every activity I have is self taught e.g dancing for 6 years, have started doing acrylic nails and crocheting = if I gain a passion for something I will see through to it that I learn it
•hardworking. I have juggled multiple things simultaneously e.g hospice/charity shop and dementia club I helped out with. Whilst also maintains my school work= helped by being very organised and conscious about the way I spend my time
**Which of your qualities do other people find frustrating? What might you do about this?
Being slow with the tasks that I do as I want to put the most effort into it. However this may not suit others schedules and they may need things completely early. Hence I actively give myself plenty of time to do tasks and I am very organised in the sense that I will plan everything out meticulously
You will probably have got high marks throughout school. On this dental course, most marks are awarded as ‘satisfactory’ or not. How will you feel about seeming ‘average’ in this new situation?
•for me being able to put my best effort into everything is more important than having that perceived superiority seen in high grades. Hence if I am able to do the best I can and if I am able to learn things thoroughly to be able to implement them well in the work world is what’s vital for me. I intend to do the best I can as a dentist and it is natural for all of us to be average as we will all equally be good dentists
How will you cope with the death of a patient as a result of your mistakes?
•this is a very difficult and saddening situation and what’s important is to allow myself to acknowledge my own emotions by talking to others and my colleagues before apologising to family members
•reflect on why and how the mistake was caused and then try to improve on it/ get suggestions from e.g supervisor on ways to improve myself
Think of a time when you had to say ‘sorry’ to someone. How did that change your relationship with that person?
•When I argued with my mother which arose during a stressful time during exams, I initially did not want to apologise. I felt it putting a toll on my emotions and how I felt as I was constant feeling overwhelmed by a sense of guilt. Once I apologised and said sorry we were able to reconcile and I instantly felt my mood getting better as i was able to mend my relationship and not have guilt.
•Being able to apologise as a dentist is crucial to remain on good terms with all your patients as it will keep your practice running smoothly and good patient rapports are built.
•We all make mistakes but by being able to apologise and learn from it we are able to grow.
Some people are always very certain that what they believe is right. Some people are never certain. What kind of person are you in this regard?
I would say I am in the middle, since the only way for me to be believe in something is when I gain logical proof and evidence. Even then there are many ways that something could be disproved hence it’s better to always take things with a pinch of salt. It is better to have a holistic approach and see both sides of the story and remain open to new ideas e.g will help you when dealing with patients as you are more likely to listen to them and then give them more options
What makes a good working relationship?
A good working relationship is built on…
•good communication is very essential to have good interactions with colleagues and it will help you to resolve problems easily
•trusting others as you are able to be open with your thoughts and gain help during hard situations. This can help you build a strong bond with your colleagues
•lastly being able to embrace diversity and having respect is crucial as everyone has their own unique values and being supportive of one another can cause better communication and builds trust
***Give us an example of something about which you used to hold strong opinions, but have had to change your mind. What made you change?
When I was young I held the belief that addiction was caused by one’s poor will which is not the case at all. I now understand how addiction is the thing that controls you and one almost has no control over what they do. I’ve seen this through watching many documentaries and even getting the opportunity of seeing a guest speaker in school taking about his battles overcoming addiction.
This is something that is crucial to be open minded in especially in dentistry as I must respect and hold no stigma against any of my patients. My priority is to help them to the best of my ability and be understanding if they are not able to follow through a treatment plan.
Thinking about your membership of a team (in a work, sport, school or other setting), can you tell us about the most important contributions you made to the team? (When have you shown teamwork)
•I’ve been part of a large volunteer team in a hospice
•this required us to all be committed to our roles but also work together to get different tasks done efficiently e.g some of us would bring water to all patients/whilst someone washed dishes (very crucial jobs)
•we also built a strong team relationship where we were able to communicate freely = motivating us to continue volunteering / also tell each other in advance of any days not attended so we could fill in for the person e.g come a bit earlier
Tell us about a group activity you have organised. What went well and what went badly? What did you learn from it?
•I was part of the managing team for a book fair I organised in school
•we had a lot of sales but our team was short staffed so had to simultaneously work and do many different jobs at the same time. It was initially a challenge but we became organised quick and our fair continued successfully for a week
•we were able to advertise the book fair/ customer service was very good and we alternated between that and looking after the finances + online sales
•I improved my organisation skills, customer service, team work and team management, where it was essential that everyone had a role assigned and this was also balanced with giving roles that they enjoyed to do
Which quality required for dentistry do you feel that you need to work on most?
•I believe I need to improve my manual dexterity skills on my left hand (as it is not my dominant hand) and have actually been doing this by practicing to learn how to write my left hand= journaling and diary which I write in French/Italian (this I have seen is very time efficient as I get many tasks done simultaneously)
Do you feel that your academic and scientific skills, or your people skills are more important for dentistry?
•I believe that you need a mixture of all these skills to the a well rounded dentist
•science to understand different diseases/risks/potential treatments
(Understand it very well to be able to use non-scientific terminology and simplify complex procedures)
•academia is very important as dentistry is a study heavy course that will need you to keep up with your grades whilst also balancing this with your life
•people skills is crucial as you must be able to build an interpersonal relationship with your patients and build trust = more likely to go ahead with procedures to improve oral health
What are the key things to remember when talking to someone with a different viewpoint? (e.g. a patient who does not believe that they require treatment)
•you must be open minded and respect the viewpoint of others without discrimination
•patiently explain your views to the patient without disregarding their worries or concerns
•listen to the patient carefully and try to understand the patients viewpoints as it can help you to talk them though why something may be different e.g how a procedure is essential to their oral health
•maintain patient autonomy = at the end of the day if the patient is adamant towards not wanting something or disagreeing with something you must respect their decision
When have you shown leadership?
•I was part of the managing team at a book fair that we set up at school
•it was a very successful event and we made lots of sales. But there were too many customers for us to handle as we were very understaffed
•as one of the managers I was able to have a meeting with the entire team and was able to reassign jobs and let them know that they would have to rotate between jobs to cover all things. I played a very focal point in this as I also did many different jobs simultaneously e.g customer service, managing finances and online sales
•we were able to manage the flow of sales much more easily and every aspect of the book fair was covered e.g customer service was very good
•this showed me how effective leadership intertwines many different skills such as effective communication and teamwork to make sure that your team listens to you and is inclined to follow things set out
•this is essential in dentistry as you are leading your team e.g receptionist/dental nurse and this makes sure that they aswell as you are upholding to the best standard of care possible. You are also acting as a leader when deciding the best treatment plan for the patient
When have you shown manual dexterity?
• a lot of the hobbies I enjoy require very good manual dexterity = art, crochet and water colouring, which requires precision, as well as needing great focus
•I’ve also picked up doing acrylic nails which parallels dentistry as you need to work over a small area whilst maintaining good detail and meeting patient satisfaction = dentistry is a very creative job where you also need to provide good aesthetically pleasing treatments
•I’m also very passionate about dancing and this recquires you to have good manual dexterity in both left and right hands and being intentional with your movements
•I’ve also started to write french with my left hand to improve my control over my non-dominant hand and it also allows me to improve on my French so that I can continue doing something I enjoy = learning new languages is one of my biggest passions
When have you worked in a team?
•I’ve been a volunteer at a hospice and have had to work with a variety of different people and it meant I had to adapt different aspects of my skills to work the best with them
•I had to use e.g good communication skills which were essential in communicating different things to both the patients and the volunteers so that our jobs were done as efficiently as possible e.g we would have to slowly and patiently speak to patients that would often be unresponsive to get a list of what meals they wanted
•the team also ran smoothly as we were able to do all the jobs effectively and we would also communicate to help when we needed our shifts covered
•this is crucial in dentistry as you must build strong relationships with both patients and colleagues and having good teamwork will help to get jobs done effectively and quickly, allowing for the clinic to be harmonious and the best standard of care to be given to patients
When have you shown empathy?
•I weekly volunteered at a dementia club, doing enjoyable activities with the members
•during these I had regularly had conversations with the members and was often told very sad stories that they would occasionally remember and often times this could lead to them getting overly sad and even frightened
•i would remain as supportive and calm during this and I would actively listen to them and try to add useful phrases such as “that must have been hard for you” which often made the members comforted and at ease
•through regularly doing this, I learnt how important it is to show empathy and how many things can actively show empathy e.g body language/eye contact which helped me build meaningful relationships with the members and volunteers alike
•I understand that empathy is very crucial in dentistry as you meet a whole range of different patients e.g those with dental phobias so it i’s important that their nerves are managed sensitively and appropriately, especially to ensure the treatment is successful
When have you used good communication?
•I’ve had the opportunity to really test my communication skills whilst mentoring children. This required me to be able to speak in a way that would both benefit their understanding but would also be appropriately strict so that they would listen and focus
•I was able to explain complex ideas with both good understanding and by simplifying terms and expanding them in a more simple way e.g without using jargon
•this experience also improved my preparation and organisational skills as I had to be prepared in advance and would also sometimes learn different topics in advance to best teach them as I was committed to provide them the best help possible
•this is very crucial in dentistry as you have to be able to use both verbal and non-verbal communication to reassure and interact with patients. You also need to be able to explore complex ideas and simplify them for patients to understand which allows for e.g informed consent to be given and reassures patients during treatments
When have you used problem solving?
•maths = different ways of tackling a problem and I was able to hone my skills doing UCAT. Where I had to look at a question in a more contextual holistic way and appreciate that there are many different things that affect something = as a dentist you have to holistically see your patients e.g treatment plans should not only be focused on their oral problems but should see what your medical history is like e.g have other systematic health conditions or even see your financial position to make a treatment plan better suited to your needs
When have you shown an active desire to learn?
•many of my hobbies and skills are self taught= dancing and acrylic nails
•maths mentor = I would learn the topics to the best of my abilities so that I could easy teach my students
•my a levels were initially very difficult (big jump) but as I got more interested in the topic itself it really made me more passionate about learning them and understanding it to the best of my ability. Enjoyable to have discussions about certain bio topics with my teachers
Why should we pick you?
•I have many skill sets that I believe will make me a very valued member of this dental school:
*I am very passionate about teaching others and have developed very good communication skills that will help me deliver good oral advice to my patients. I have spent a lot of my time tutoring as a mentor and have also been part of a dementia club which has helped me deal with diverse backgrounds and will help me adapt my communication to suit the specific person == I love interacting with different people and have had lots of experience in this
**I have many different outlets and hobbies that will help me navigate dental school but will also be very valuable as a dentist. I am passionate about dance, crochet and have picked up doing acrylic nails which I have taught myself = I am very dedicated and hard working and when I put my mind to something I make sure I learn it to the best of my abilities. These have also helped me to build my resilience and manual dexterity
Hence all these skills will make me a valuable member of this dental school
Tell me about a time you overcame a difficult situation/challenge
How do you deal with stress?
•remaining organised
•good support system that I can talk to
•my hobbies and exercising
What are your weaknesses?
•I get nervous during public speaking especially infront of many people although I do enjoy interacting with a variety of different people it can be hard when they may all be watching you. I’ve actually been overcoming this by actively presenting during classes (chem presentations) and in my summer school I also had to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and then present it to all the other people in the school, which helped me greatly in building my confidence. I’ve also been actively practicing with my family and friends beforehand to give me a confidence boost
•last year I saw myself taking on too much at the same time and although I was hopefully able to balance that, I’d say that it is important that you understand your limitations and give yourself time to improve on one thing before you jump to another.
•being too sensitive
When have you shown integrity and responsibility?
What life experiences do you think may help or hinder you as a dentist?
If you were to become a dentist, how would you like your patients to describe you and why?
•friendly/good at communicating
•responsible and meets patients satisfaction
•empathetic
•values patients satisfaction
If you were to become a dentist, how would you like your patients to describe you and why?
•friendly/good at communicating
•responsible and meets patients satisfaction
•empathetic
•values patients satisfaction
Can you give an example of how you coped with conflict with colleague or friend?
Do you think humour can help a team?
•stressful and high pressure environment so humour can help bring good morale in the team especially during night shifts
•humour is subjective so it is important that we ensure that jokes will not offend or upset anyone
•sometimes humour may not be appropriate e.g during loss
•humour has the ability to lift spirits but must be done appropriately/with an understanding of the environment
If you had to pick one quality to define yourself what would it be?
Dentistry is stressful. What makes you think you will stick to it?
Do you feel your academic and scientific skills, or your people skills are more important for dentistry?
What are the key things to remember when speaking to someone with a different viewpoint?
Do you think that you better independently or part of a team?
Are you good at simplifying ideas?
What is important in being professional?
•being confident e.g good manual dexterity and knowledge to provide best refined treatment plan (patient will trust you and this so important as often they can be anxious)
•treat all with respect e.g team members and patients by not accepting gifts and not forming inappropriate relationships with patients and not saying offensive things
•maintain good hygiene to protect all e.g wash hands and disinfect equipment before and after
•use social media carefully e.g do not break confidentiality and do not spread misinformation as it can harm patient-dentist trust
Can you describe a time when you had to deal with a difficult situation or conflict within a team?
