Small animal procedures

All in all, we got to do some really neat stuff on Small Animal Procedures lab this week (smelly dripping cadavers aside). Procedures we practiced included:

- jugular and saphenous vein cutdowns
- CSF tap from the cisterna magna
- bone marrow aspirate
- chest tube placement
- transtracheal wash
- tracheostomy
- esophagostomy tube placement
- arthrocentesis (carpus, tarsus, and stifle)
- abdominocentesis
- soft padded and Robert-Jones bandage placement
- splint placement
- cystocentesis
- urinary catheter placement
- digital rectal exams
- digital vaginal exams
- anal sac expression and infusion
- dental probing, charting, scaling, and polishing
- dental extractions (simple and complicated)

Now, there are a bunch of those things that I would be pretty reluctant to do as a private practice vet after graduation (namely, CSF taps, bone marrow aspiration, or a transtracheal wash). But it was still pretty cool to get to practice them, and not have to worry about messing up on the first try.

(Side note: The instructors demonstrated each technique first, then we all split up to practice on our various cadavers. The CCU resident who demo'd chest tube placements started out by saying "A lot of practitioners are leery about doing chest tubes, but I don't get it. They're not actually that hard." About 2 minutes later, as he was actually showing us how to place the chest tube [basically punching a hole through the side of the chest into the chest cavity, to let air or fluid out], he cautioned us "Don't push too hard, or you'll stab it through the heart and nail your patient to the table." Gee, I wonder why anybody would be reluctant to place a chest tube...)

Next week's rotation is Client Communication Skills, which I can safely say I have not been eagerly anticipating. Several of my friends were among the twenty or so students on CCS this past week, and I heard multiple reports of students experiencing extreme distress +/- tears at various points during the 20 hours in the rotation. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about it, but I'm fearful that it will just be hokey and embarassing. But come on, who doesn't like to watch themselves getting yelled at by a pretend client on videotape with their peers watching? And then get to take the videotape home so you can watch it over and over and write a 4-6 page paper about what you need to improve??