 Hello, everybody. Andrea Tresca here with Dental Tutoring. So I have been looking at portfolios and helping dental hygienists stay organized with them for the past couple years and in the video I would like to tell you guys some of the most common errors that I see and all of the errors that I see they're not large but even a bunch of small ones do add up because with the CDHO they want to make sure that you know what you're talking about but there's a fine line. If you write too much they are concerned that you're trying too hard and that you're writing too much. If you don't write enough then it looks like you don't know what you're talking about. So there is a very fine line. I did my portfolio about five years ago or so. So five or six years ago. So things have changed since then but I did learn a lot even when I did mine and as I had said I've been helping other hygienists with their portfolios for the past couple years now. So if there's ever any issues they let me know and then I sort of know how to continue on from there. Now I'm not part of the CDHO committee or the quality assurance committee in none of that but I have known a lot of people who were part of the quality assurance committee and the actual CDHO committee also. So I do get a lot of feedback and help from them too. But I just thought that I would let you guys know that I'm not working for them or you know I'm not the one who's actually part of it. I'm just helping you out stay organized and to avoid some of the common mistakes. Because I know writing your portfolio can seem very very stressful because we all know that they can take away our license like that right. But you have to also know that they don't just simply take away licenses for nothing. You have to do something pretty bad for them to take away your license. Whereas I think a lot of hygienists think that if you do something small if you don't have enough hours if you're not writing your learning activities properly that they will take away your license. That's not the case. Like you would have to do something horrible like say you use dirty instruments for them to actually take away your license. So keep that in mind. So if you do have to write your portfolio Try not to think about it too much. Try not to stress about it too much either because it's not worth it. But it does help to be organized every single month instead of trying to do the whole thing at the end of the year because then it takes a lot longer. So if you need help with that too. I do have a full course inside my Portfolio workshop that sort of teaches you guys how to stay organized. I teach you guys sort of how to write a gold statement. What makes a good one. What makes a bad one and common errors to kind of stay away from. So let me talk about that now. So let's see here. So some of the common errors that I do see are not having enough hours. So you need 75 hours over three years. Not 60 hours not 69 not you know 62 whatever you need 75 hours. So make sure to add them up when you are done. They will not accept any portfolios that have less than 75 hours over three years. They don't care that you took time off or they don't care if you were sick. Or if just life happened they don't care you need those 75 hours over three years even if you have 75 five hours in your last year and that's it. That's OK because again life happens. They do understand that one year you might not have been able to do anything because you had twins or you know you you Had a baby you had a sick family member. They do understand that you know you may not even have have any hours for one year. But as long as you have 75 hours over three years total you are fine. Another thing that I see are people who do not have their CPR and first aid updated you guys need to have that done. It's recommended to have it updated every single year. But it does depend on the expiry date as well. I took a CPR course where she usually gives us two years and sometimes even three years before it is expired. They have accepted them if it says on your actual card that it expires in 2019 or 2020 or whatever. Right. But if it says one year expiry you need to make sure to take it again after that one year. They will send it back and they won't be happy if it has expired. I see this all all the time you guys. Plus as silly as it might sound. Please read your portfolio for spelling mistakes. I haven't actually seen them send it back for spelling errors, but it just looks unprofessional some of the portfolios that I have seen. I think it's a rough draft because of how many spelling errors there are and they tell me that oh no that's their final copy. So please check spelling. If English isn't your first language that is totally understandable, but have somebody check your spelling because then they look at that and they see oh well is this how they're going to write in the charts with them spelling errors things happening. Not nice. Right. I'm sorry guys. I think somebody's Yes, there is. So I'm just going to keep this short and sweet. So please look at spelling errors. That's very, very important. Um, what else here. Sorry. I kind of got distracted because of my doctor. Oh, Um, goal statements. I have seen them where they look exactly the same. I mean, not the same, but they're very, very similar. So let's say you have a goal that tells them that you're looking at infection control. And then your second goal is you're looking at the sterilization area in your in your office. Well, that's the same thing. So they will likely not accept both of them. So let's say you have five hours for one goal and then three hours for another one of them. They will not accept and then you have to do it again. There, everybody. Sorry about that. I had somebody at the door that I kind of had to answer for. So, but anyways, I am back. So some other common errors that I see. So I talked about the spelling. We talked about the goals. Oh, that's another thing. For your learning activities and for things that you have learned and that you are applying to your office, be specific. So you know that last part where it says, you know, I learned this and this is what I'm applying to my Practice my office. So instead of saying, and I have seen this instead of saying I learned a lot from this infection control course I'm applying everything to my office. Don't say that they want you to be specific. So you could say In my office. We are now wrapping all instrument cassettes where we weren't before or you could say We are now lubricating all of our high speeds and slow speed handpieces after each use where we were only doing it once a day before, you know, something like that. Be specific in what that continuing education taught you and how you are applying it to your practice. You know, you could say something like I learned different toothbrushing methods. I'm now teaching the modified still means technique to anybody over the age of 40, which you wouldn't do. But you know that that's just an example for you be as specific as possible. Because if you're not specific, they won't like it. And if they do not like your learning activities and if they don't like what they're What you're telling them that you be learned and what you're applying to your office, they will make you do those hours for that goal again. So let's say for that infection control. Goal that you have if it took you 10 hours for everything if they don't like what you write for your learning activities or for How you're applying the knowledge to your practice, they will make you do those 10 hours again. So does that make sense. So And they do like point form. So don't write three or four paragraphs right in point form because remember how I said If you write too much. That's not a good thing. If you don't write enough. That's not a good thing either. So point for me. Meaning if you write two points. That's not enough. If you write 10 points. That's a good amount. If you write three paragraphs. That's too much. So does that make sense. You guys don't want too little and not too much. Let's see. Just trying to think of other kind of errors that I've seen. Oh yes. Try not to have say 10 goals one year 20 goals the next year and then eight goals the year after that. Try to do and there's no right answer for this. It's just things that I have seen and things that I've noticed. Try to do one to maybe five goals a year. It doesn't hurt to have more but try to avoid as I said having say 10 one year 20 the second year and then like 30 the third year, you know, and there's only an hour per goal, you know, try to avoid that. Try to have say three goals the one year five goals the next year and then eight goals the year after that. Or, you know, five the one year to another year and then to the next year, you know, that is okay. As long as the hours make sense, you know, because they don't like seeing a goal and then you only spending half an hour. Reading an online article, you know, they will not like that they want to see a goal and then you spending say five hours. Looking for online webinars reading an online article doing a hands on course, you know, things like that they do like okay So, you know what guys, those are kind of the most common errors, but if you have questions, please let me know. And if you are interested in the portfolio workshop, let me know that too because I can help you guys because we will be talking about this every Every single month because I do know it's very overwhelming. There's a lot to think about and I will help you guys. Okay, so I'll post a link for the portfolio workshop on the bottom. If you have questions, please let me know and I will see you guys very, very soon.