Capstone: Success!

Well, 5 weeks into the semester, we finally have (I think) our final capstone grades.

On the in-class portion, I got 85.68%. The average was 78.3.

On the open-book portion, I got 91.57%. The average was 86.5

I'm satisfied though not ecstatic about my performance. I'd hoped to get a little higher than a 91 on the open-book part -- after all, it's open-book. (Actually, one person failed that part, and I'm not entirely sure how that's possible.)

However, I've found that the further I get into vet school, the lower my standards are, and I'm okay with that. Would I have been thrilled with another 94 or 95% like I got on last year's capstone? Of course. I'm actually pretty happy with my 85 on the in-class part -- I figure that if I need a 70% to pass the NAVLE next year, then if I can keep up my retention of approximately 85% of what I learn before then, I should be set to pass with an easy margin.

Academics just seem so much less important this year. We're spending more time on rotations every week than we are in classes, and we're treating actual patients, talking to actual clients, assisting in actual surgeries, and completing actual medical records. It feels like what we do in the morning is the reason we come to school every day, and the 2-4 hours of class each afternoon are just sort of an add-on. I must say with only 3 (non-elective) courses, it's a whole lot easier to keep track of exam dates and homework assignment due dates.

There's also more of a sense of accomplishment with having a different rotation every week -- rather than waiting an entire semester (or 8 weeks, for our short classes) to finish a course, you feel every Friday like you've completed another whole class (i.e. whatever rotation you finished). It's nice.

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??

Bovine Repro Quote of the Day

"Any chance you get, palpate some testes."

"You may have a 10 minute break while we get the heads out"

My instructor's parting words as we were temporarily dismissed at the end of this morning's introduction to cadaver dentistry. Thursday promises to be at least as much fun as Wednesday!

A great start to my Wednesday

First task of the morning: shave a bunch of dead cats.

My day had better go uphill from here...

Alternative Medicine Tip of the Week

"You don't want a dog with diarrhea in your underwater treadmill."

Mares don't get no privacy (PG-13)

For about a week in a half, we've been studying equine reproduction in the large animal section of ClinSci. We've focused mostly on the mares, although we did have a lecture or two about "collecting" stallions (seriously, "collecting" is one of my absolute favorite euphemisms in this field) and assessing semen quality.

But honestly, if after this week's exam I never ever have to see another picture of the inside of a horse's vagina, I'll be 100% okay with that.

After looking at photo after photo of labia and vulvas and vestibules and vaginas and cervixes, you really can't stop thinking about a bunch of med students sitting in a gynecology lecture looking at the human equivalent. Please pass the mind bleach!

Oh, and eewwwwww. Here's something semi-related from radiology rotation that I forgot to mention. On Friday they had a Boston Terrier come in for a vaginogram -- where they would knock her out (due to the forthcoming unpleasantness) and place liquid contrast material (shows up bright white on xrays) into her vagina, and see where it went. This rarely performed procedure was all due to a strong suspicion of a vaginal-rectal fistula, or in lay terms, a connection between her rectum and vagina basically causing her to periodically poop into her vagina. There were lots of jokes about just not having "that fresh feeling down there." Yes, board-certified vets may have spent years in college, vet school, internships, and residencies, but that doesn't mean that all of them qualify as grown-ups...