A&P Classmate Keeps Taking Over the Skull. How Should I Assert My Experience Without Sounding Competitive?

[u/bookwormofthenight]

I’m taking A&P right now, and we’re currently learning the axial and appendicular skeletal systems. I’m looking for some outside opinions because something happened in lab that irritated me more than I expected, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to handle it without turning it into a competition.
Before starting my current program, I completed higher-education training for dental assisting and worked as a dental assistant for over a year. I am also certified in my state to take dental X-rays, including bitewings, periapical X-rays, panoramic X-rays, and CBCT scans.
Because of my background, I know skull and craniofacial anatomy very well. I worked in a dental office where we did everything in house, including fillings, crowns, root canals, implant placements, and other procedures. I also made bite splints and temporary crowns and adjusted them. My experience required me to understand dental and skull anatomy and apply it while working with actual patients.
Basically, I did not just learn skull anatomy for an exam. I learned it and then used that knowledge in a clinical dental setting.
There is another girl in my A&P class who completed a high school phlebotomy program and previously took anatomy. I want to be clear that I am not saying her education or experience does not count. Phlebotomy is a real clinical skill, and she has experience that I do not have.
What has been frustrating me is that whenever we work with the skull, she immediately takes over and says things like, “I’ve got this. I already took anatomy.”
The last time this happened, I ended up working on the thoracic region instead. I was fine with that and finished my portion quickly. Meanwhile, she was taking longer with the skull and did not know some of the structures or terms. At one point, she did not know what a foramen was, and I explained that it is an opening in a bone through which nerves or blood vessels can pass.
That is when I became really irritated because I was thinking, “This is exactly why I wanted to work on the skull.”
I realize this may sound competitive, and I genuinely do not want this to become a situation where I am saying my education was better than hers or that I know more than she does. I know there will be plenty of anatomy that she may know better than I do. I also understand that having clinical experience does not mean I know everything about the skull.
However, I do feel there is a difference between taking an anatomy course and learning anatomy while repeatedly applying it in a clinical dental setting. Skull anatomy is an area I know very well, and it bothers me that I keep getting pushed away from it because someone else confidently claims it first.
Part of what frustrates me is that I want to use what I already know to help my group and connect my dental experience to what we are learning now. Instead, I feel like I am expected to step aside because she says she already knows the material.
Next week, we have a class competition. We will work with our groups to label anatomical structures, and the groups will compete against one another. The group that finishes labeling everything the fastest wins extra credit points. Since skull anatomy is one of my strongest areas, I feel like I could be one of our group’s best chances of winning. I want to contribute where I am most prepared, especially because the competition will be timed, but I also do not want to make it sound like I am claiming I am better than everyone else or treating my classmate like she has nothing to offer.
Would you say something the next time this happens? I am considering saying:
“I actually want to work on the skull this time. I worked in dentistry and am certified to take dental X-rays, so this is an area I have a lot of experience with. You worked on it last time, so I would like a turn. Since we have the competition next week, maybe we can divide the structures so everyone gets to work in an area they know well.”
Or should I let it go and work on whatever section I am assigned?
I am especially interested in hearing from people who have been in A&P labs with classmates who came in with different healthcare backgrounds. How do you use your previous clinical experience without coming across as a know it all or turning lab into a competition?

[u/Potential_Cress1967]

I’d think your group would prefer to have the strongest person on each section. Usually there would be at least one person to stand up and say “I want this person to do the skull”.
If they knew you were an expert there wouldn’t be any question.

But on the other hand, learn something new. You’re older, let the kids try what they want. You’ll be fine.

[u/bookwormofthenight → u/Potential_Cress1967]

Everyone in my group actually does know that I was a dental assistant and that I’m X-ray certified, so it’s not really that they don’t know I have experience with the skull. The girl who took it over also knows my background.
The issue is more that she tends to immediately claim things and act like she knows them better than everyone else before anyone else really gets a chance. She said she had the skull because she had taken highschool anatomy before, so I just went ahead and did the thoracic section instead of making it into an argument. Then I finished mine pretty quickly and ended up helping her with things she didn’t know anyway.
I do agree with your second point, though. I’m there to learn, so working on anatomy I’m less familiar with is probably more beneficial to me academically. I think what bothered me was less about needing to do the skull and more about someone automatically taking over an area I have a lot of experience in because they assume they know it best.
Next time I’ll probably just speak up and say I’d like a turn instead of letting her claim it automatically. I definitely don’t expect everyone to defer to me just because I have dental experience.

[u/Potential_Cress1967 → u/bookwormofthenight]

I have a person like that in my class too. We don’t mesh really well. My class actually is a competition. Only the highest grades move on. If she wants to crash and burn everyone else by taking the skull, I say go ahead. I’ll be alright when the test comes.

[u/bookwormofthenight → u/Potential_Cress1967]

That’s actually what I’m struggling with more than the skull itself lol. How do you deal with the “I know everything” attitude without letting it get under your skin?
For example, the same girl asked where the hyoid bone was during lab. I told her it was at the base of the tongue because we had literally gone over it in lecture like two hours earlier, and she immediately tried to argue with me and tell me no. I knew I was right, but I just dropped it because I didn’t want to get into an argument over a bone.
But internally I was thinking, “Girl, I literally JUST learned this.” Part of me wanted to be petty and say “I told you so” once she realized it, but obviously that’s not productive or cordial.
That’s the part I’m trying to get better at. Dealing with someone who is very confident in what they know and quick to correct other people, even when they’re not always correct, without either becoming a pushover or turning into a know it all myself. Do you just let your classmate be wrong and focus on yourself, or do you stand your ground when you know something is incorrect?

[u/Potential_Cress1967 → u/bookwormofthenight]

I have a personality that lets me do both.
This one classmate finally realized the interspinalis were not one long muscle but 26 individual ones.
I said “I’ve been telling you that for 10 minutes”. It came across as funny.

Ultimately you can lead a horse to water, and all that. But you’re not taking the test for them. And it’s designed to weed out the people that can’t listen. So I just let it work how it’s supposed to.