30 days. What all happens in 30 days? The patients you treated today are anywhere from one-third to one-sixth of the way back to your chair, depending on your recare intervals. In a very healthy, painless way, you can lose 10 pounds in a month. Mortgage payments are done for the next 30 days; it sure would be sweet if it felt like an eternity before the next payment is due. If we’re talking about 30 days from today, then we’ll see if the Boston Red Sox are as capable of a dynasty as their football counterparts, the New England Patriots.
Please see if a psychological trigger is activated when the April issue of RDH arrives: “RDH magazine is in the mailbox; let’s open up the newspaper here … yes, the Red Sox are in first place.”
I was chatting on the phone with Kristine Hodsdon two days after the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Remember her? She wrote the Esthetic Hygiene/Hybrid column in the magazine for about four years. She is a featured speaker at most of the RDH Under One Roof conferences.
Kristine, a native of New Hampshire, was excited about the Patriots winning. I was excited because she is about to make the 30 days that we spend waiting for the next issue of RDH go by a lot faster. Divide it by half - 15 days until RDH arrives, or 15 days until RDH eVillage is delivered.
RDH eVillage will contain original editorial content. The emailed newsletter will be delivered to your computer about midway through the month, while the magazine typically arrives somewhere around the first of the month.
As the editor, Kristine is aiming to provide articles in several areas:
A Practical Hygiene Applications section will contain short articles designed to “make the daily lives of hygienists go by a little easier,” according to Kristine. In other words, a shift won’t feel like 30 days after only eight hours. The articles will be primarily clinical in nature, focusing on periodontics topics, for example. Other articles, though, will discuss practice management trends or innovations in the dental marketplace.
An Ask the Expert section will allow readers to have direct, online feedback to both RDH eVillage and RDH. The experts are panelists who address various topics. In other words, it won’t feel like 30 days of waiting for “someone” to get back to you on something that’s worrying you. Kristine, by the way, is searching for experts to serve on the panel. “There are so many hygienists who have so much to offer the profession. They may not have the time to write an article, but they have the time to write a email to someone who has a question about something that is very important to both of them.”
An Editorial Focus section of the magazine will revolve around themes that Kristine develops - similar to the way RDH devotes two or three articles in an issue to a topic.
A Student section is dedicated to the future of the profession. RDH prints a special supplement for students twice a year. Kristine will be addressing students’ concerns every 30 days. It’s not quite so lonely in study hall anymore.
A Lifestyle section is slated to provide articles on more personal topics, such as diet, nutrition, and stress management. “We need to balance our profession with the people we are,” Kristine says.
In addition, there are links in each RDH eVillage to RDH Under One Roof and other continuing education opportunities. The availability of CE Web casts will likely become a reality within the year.
“PennWell (the publisher of RDH and RDH eVillage) has done a great job of building and developing the dental hygiene community. We’re looking forward to this interactive way of providing information to readers,” Kristine said. “Of course, the success of RDH eVillage will depend on how much readers are involved. It is amazing how this technology will foster instantaneous feedback between readers and PennWell.”
To subscribe to RDH eVillage, go to www.rdhmag.com. The subscription form can be quickly completed online.
30 days? No more.
Mark Hartley is the editor of RDH. He can be contacted at [email protected].
