Home › My Major

My Major

My intended major is Dental Hygiene. I visited the dentist’s office quite a bit as a child. More times than a child needs to be in the dentist due to some dental issues. The dentist and the hygienist always created a welcoming environment. It made me feel safe, the more I went to the dentist, the more I actually enjoyed going. Having people poking and looking around in the mouth was really interesting to me. It still is today.

During my junior and senior year of high school. I attended, I decided to apply for the dental assistant program at Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center. This program gave me the opportunity to assist with patient cleanings, learn from a dental hygienist and dentist, and an understanding of how the dental office works. Specifically, we learn to set up dental trays, sterilize instruments, as well as clean and prepare operatories for patients, and use dental materials. Furthermore, I study infection control, anatomy and physiology, oral histology, tooth morphology, preventative dentistry, and effective communication skills. The more information I gain about this career, the more I realize this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Dental Hygienist Cartoon Stock Illustrations – 229 Dental Hygienist Cartoon Stock Illustrations, Vectors & Clipart - Dreamstime

Parallel Major

Parallel Major 

  1. List your Parallel Major. Your Parallel Major must be an undergraduate degree offered here at ODU.  My parallel major is Nursing. It is an undergraduate degree offered at Old Dominion University.
  2. Why did you choose this as your Parallel Major? What interests you about this major? I chose nursing as my parallel major because in some aspects it is similar to dental hygiene. Dental hygiene is my intended major. If I decided to pursue my intended major I would want to remain in the healthcare field. I want to help and treat patients to the best of my ability. To go to the nursing field a person must enjoy helping others and working in different  clinical and nonclinical settings.Nursing is interesting to me because nurses at times will manage more than one patient at time. There are many responsibilities that must be completed to ensure the proper care for patients.
  3. List some interesting facts about this major. Some interesting facts are that nurses walk 5k every shift. National Nurse week is in May , it is between May 6 until May 12th. The very first nurse was Florence Nightingale, she went to Turkey to aid British soldiers that were injured in the Crimean war. Lastly, there are over 3 million nurses in the United States.
  4. Research at least one career that you can do with this major and provide information on that career. 

 Nurse Anesthetist 

Nurse Anesthetists are advanced nurses that anesthesia to patients and take care before, during, and after surgery. Nurse  Anesthetic can work with dentists, anesthesiologists, podiatrist, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals. Before any procedure, Nurse Anesthetists evaluate patients. Medical conditions, allergies, or medications are information that an anesthetist will need to know. To ensure and avoid any complications during surgery or procedures. They must be responsible to know all anestica from the necessary 800 procedures. Due to the large responsibility of nurse anesthetists , they are compensated well. On average, about $160,00 is made annually.

The Academic Requirements are: 

1. Become a registered Nurse with a Bachelors of Science degree

2. Have at least one year of experience in a acute setting

3. Apply and be accepted to a nurse anesthesia program that is credited.

4. Take National Certification Exam and pass to benign practice

 Job Characteristics:

  1. Perform Physical Assessment
  2. Prepare anesthetic management
  3. Administer anesthesia to keep the patient pain free
  4. Maintain anesthesia during procedure
  5. Oversee recovery from anesthesia
  6. Follow up on patients recovery
  1. Create a plan for pursuing this major
  2. Additional classes required (if applicable) 

To purse this major the classes that I will needed to take are:

-Human Anatomy and Physiology part 1 and 2

-The Nature of Science part 2

– A course in Human Creativity – Introduction to Visual Arts

-Philosophy and  Ethics-  Intro to Philosophy

Impact to Technology – The evolution of Modern Science

  1. How could you gain professional experiences to learn more about this area of study? I could gain professional experiences by applying to internships , have tours of the faculty, ask adicors and other health professionals.
  2. ODU List the advisor for this major (if Parallel Major is outside of the College of Health Sciences). Directory of Advisors website 
  3. The advisor for nursing is Suzanne Van Orden

email: svanorde@odu.edu

  Phone: 757-683-5249