Since returning from my externship at LIAH, I've been unusually annoyed by the many varied intricacies of trying to get simple tasks done at the VTH.
On my current Dentistry & Oral Surgery rotation, I am the only student. There is also only one clinician -- both of which are a little unusual. Generally the DOS service has 2 clinicians and 2 senior students to handle a full caseload (which can consist of up to 8 appointments on consult days and up to 4 procedures on procedure days). We still have that busy schedule, but since I'm the only senior student, I get to do all the busy work.
I think the "busy work" aspect of it is really catching up to me because I greatly enjoyed a full 2 weeks at LIAH with an extremely skilled, competent, and independently functioning technical staff. Don't get me wrong, the technical staff at the VTH are highly educated and extraordinarily capable in their jobs -- but their job description doesn't include a lot of the nitty-gritty things that technicians take care of in private practice.
Let's compare, for instance, how you get a CBC and chemistry panel sent to the lab at the VTH compared to LIAH.
At the VTH: I fetch the patient from the exam room at the south end of the building and bring him to the treatment area at the north end of the building. I gather alcohol, syringes, needles, blood collection tubes, and a Clinical Pathology submission form. If the treatment area is out of syringes, needles, or blood tubes, I walk to Central Supply at the north end of the building to request more supplies. I fill out the Clin Path form, including placing patient ID stickers on both of the carbon copy pages. If I don't have enough stickers, I walk to the east end of the building where I can use the computer program to print more stickers, then to the west end of the building to pick up the stickers from the printer, then I go back to the treatment area at the north end. If the sticker printer is out of paper, I walk over to Medical Records at the east end to request more paper. If the treatment area is out of Clin Path forms, I walk up to the southeast corner of the building and hope there are extra forms in the cabinet. I wait until the dentistry technician is off the phone or the dentistry clinician has finished whatever she is doing, so one of them can restrain the patient for me. I draw the blood myself. I fill out 2 of the smaller patient ID stickers for the 2 blood tubes. I walk the patient back to his owner in an exam room in the south end of the building (or try to convince the technician or clinician to hold the patient for me, or place the patient in a cage, which requires writing up a cage card and getting a blanket for the cage), then go back to the north end to pick up my blood samples and form from the treatment area, then take the samples and form to the Clinical Pathology department (which is about a 4-5 minute walk away, in another building), time stamp the form, and turn in the blood samples, then walk back to the treatment area in time to start the next appointment.
When you've got 4 appointments in 4 hours, and every one of them needs blood submitted, you can see how this gets tedious. It is tedious just to think about it.
Let's compare to how I get my blood submitted at LIAH: I let the owner know that I'm going to collect some blood, and walk about 10 feet from the exam room to the treatment area with the patient. I place the patient in a cage. I write his name on the whiteboard on the wall, along with what tests I want run. In about 5-10 minutes, the team of technicians has drawn the blood, returned the patient to his owner, and gotten everything ready to go to the lab. In that time, I've been doing doctor-type things, like seeing the next appointment, writing up charts, researching a case on VIN, or scrubbing into a surgery.
Now let's see how I submit a urine sample at the VTH: Again, I walk the patient from the exam room (south end) to the treatment area (north end). I wake up my computer, spend a couple minutes logging into the radiology request website, and another 2 minutes filling out an online request for an ultrasound-guided cystocentesis (collecting a sterile urine sample by placing a needle directly into the bladder). I gather a syringe, 2 needles, a sterile tube, a Clin Path form, and 2 large and 2 small patient ID stickers. If any of those supplies aren't in the treatment area, I proceed to Central Supply (north end), the forms cabinet (southeast), and/or the label printer (east and west ends) to gather them. My patient and I walk over to Ultrasound (east end) where we wait for an open ultrasound machine, another person to restrain, and someone to collect the urine sample. Once collected, I walk the patient back to his owner (south end), drop off a tube of urine in the fridge in the Medicine pit (southwest), and again hike to Clin Path in another building to time stamp my form and turn in the urine.
At LIAH: I let the owner know that I'm going to collect some urine, and walk about 10 feet from the exam room to the treatment area with the patient. I place the patient in a cage. I write his name on the whiteboard on the wall, along with what sample I want collected and why. In about 5-10 minutes, the team of technicians has collected the urine, returned the patient to his owner, and gotten everything ready to go to the lab.
I'm sure this post sounds whiny, and it kind of is. And in no way do I mean to speak unkindly of the wonderful technical staff at the VTH, or to imply that me having to do all of the above steps means somehow that the technicians at the VTH aren't doing their jobs. I fully believe that a capable, dedicated, responsible technician is worth his or her weight in gold. Veterinary technical staff are too frequently undervalued, underrecognized, and underpaid for the often unpleasant, exhausting, and behind-the-scenes work that they do. And certainly any veterinarian who is a true team player is happy to do some of the busy work on occasion.
However, since I'll have the letters "DVM" after my name 3 weeks from tomorrow, I'd rather be treated more like a doctor at this point than a technician.
Showing posts with label On Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label On Life. Show all posts
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
And the job search continues
I had 4 interviews in Minnesota and Wisconsin this week -- 2 initial interviews at hospitals in the Twin Cities area, and 2 all-day working interviews at hospitals in Wisconsin.
The working interviews are definitely a huge help in getting to know a practice. I'd previously had phone interviews with both of the Wisconsin practices, but that just isn't the same as spending all day with a hospital owner, their associates, office/practice manager, technical staff, and receptionists. It's a nice opportunity to see how everyone functions as a team (and how much yelling there is).
The shorter interviews I had in Minnesota were also helpful because it's nice to talk to people in-person instead of on the phone, even if it's only for half an hour or an hour. In both cases I got to talk to the practice owner along with either several associates or the practice manager, and in one case they showed me around their building too. Though I quite liked one of those two hospitals based on that brief interview, I would certainly want to arrange a working interview before committing to anything.
I could probably type for 3 days about all my interviews this week, but instead I'll summarize some of the "DOs" and "DON'Ts" I encountered this week:
Things I like to see or hear:
* Performing "COHATs" (Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Treatment) instead of "dentals" (#2)
* Having digital dental radiographs and actually using them (#2)
* Having ultrasound and using it (#2)
* A well-trained technical staff that is comfortable starting out the appointment, getting a TPR, obtaining a relatively accurate medical history, and doing a ton of client education (#1 > #2)
* A working relationship with the local humane society, within reasonable bounds (#2)
* Requiring or strongly recommending pre-anesthetic bloodwork on all patients (#2 > #1)
* A dedicated CVT assigned to every anesthetic case (whether surgical or dental) solely to monitor anesthesia (#1)
* Multi-parameter monitors including SPO2, EKG, pulse, and blood pressure (#1 > #2)
* Regular use of opioids as pre-emptive and peri-operative analgesia (#1 = #2)
* Hospitalizing patients overnight with no staff present as long as clients give informed consent (#1 = #2)
* Willingness to adjust anesthetic protocols based on an individual patient's needs (#2 > #1)
* Approach to diagnosis and treatment that actually includes seeking a diagnosis before randomly trying a trial treatment (#1)
* Recommending (with decent client compliance) screening bloodwork on healthy patients (#1)
* 3-year vaccine protocols (#1 > #2)
* When I ask why something is done a certain way, the reply includes a reference to a peer-reviewed study or a discussion with a specialist (#1 > #2)
* Ability to run a lot of bloodwork in-house, combined with daily pick-up service from an outside laboratory (#1 = #2)
* A lobby that smells delicious (#1)
* AAHA accreditation (#2)
* Being within a 1 hour drive from the nearest referral 24-hour care facility (#1)
* Having a technician on-call every night to help the DVM on call (#2)
Things I don't like to see or hear:
* Not performing an otoscopic exam on two patients in a row where such an exam was clearly indicated (a dog presenting for scratching the ears, and a cat presented for routine physical but with a lot of otitis found on PE) and instead saying "maybe next time" (#2)
* Giving all SQ injections between the shoulder blades, even in cats (#1)
* Having digital dental radiographs but admitting they are rarely used (#1)
* "The other practices around here don't really like us." (#1)
* Placing an IV catheter but not using IV fluids for "routine" surgeries (#1)
* Watching 3 certified technicians take about 6 total attempts to place a 24g IV catheter on a well-behaved cat (#2)
* Dentals performed by one lone technician in charge of monitoring anesthesia while also performing the dental cleaning and taking all the xrays (#2)
* Ignoring really crappy blood pressure readings on a patient based on the fact that their pulses feel okay; never monitoring blood pressure at all during a cat spay (#2)
* No place in the main treatment area to house hospitalized pets so someone can actually monitor and observe them (#2)
* Not having anywhere in exam rooms for the doctor to sit, resulting in either squatting on the floor or looming over the client (#1 = #2)
* A lobby that smells like eau-du-disinfectant-over-cat-pee (#2)
* Being 2 1/2 hours from the nearest referral 24-hour care facility (#2)
* Having an on-call schedule that includes 2 weeknights every week and every 3rd weekend (#2)
* Having an on-call schedule that includes 1 weeknight every week and every 4th weekend (#1)
* Not having a technician on-call to help with overnight and weekend emergencies (#1)
* The possibility of being expected to work a regular Sunday shift (#2)
* Observing a technician doing the initial check-in on a wellness exam and providing the client with complete misinformation about the hospital's puppy vaccine schedule and when to spay/neuter, and being repeatedly unable to convert between "14 weeks" and "3 1/2 months" (#2)
Both hospital #1 and hospital #2 had a lot of the pros and some of the cons. Overall, though, I liked hospital #1 better. I just feel like more of the "cons" that I found with hospital #1 are things that I could work around or do my own way. If I'm the one giving vaccinations, I can control where on patient's body I give the injection. If the practice has the physical capability for dental radiographs, I can talk to my clients about how important they are and see that they are used when needed (at least on my patients). As long as IV catheter is placed, fluids are available, and blood pressure is monitored, I guess I could live with not actually having fluids running in a young healthy patient with adequate blood pressure during a short procedure.
But with regards to hospital #2, I'm not sure how I feel about a hospital owner who feels it isn't "worth the effort" to do an otoscopic exam on a well-behaved, friendly pet with ear disease. I don't know how much I could do about a team of 3 CVTs who require 30 minutes to place and IV catheter on a health, friendly pet. I think it's incredibly dangerous to have a single technician trying to do a dental and monitor anesthesia at the same time, especially when my own observation shows that the CVT is ignoring (or just not noticing) some potentially alarming things with the anesthesia. Similarly, I think blood pressure is (in many cases) the most important parameter to monitor during anesthesia, particularly in cats, and particularly in the cat I watched who received acepromazine (which induces hypotension) as a pre-med and propofol (which also induces hypotension) as an induction drug and isoflurane (which also induces hypotension) as a maintenance inhalant.
Anyhow, I guess it's all moot unless I get offered both of these jobs at the same time. It sure goes to show the importance of working interviews, though, since I liked both of these practices quite a bit based on brief phone interviews and wouldn't have guessed at some of their differences.
The working interviews are definitely a huge help in getting to know a practice. I'd previously had phone interviews with both of the Wisconsin practices, but that just isn't the same as spending all day with a hospital owner, their associates, office/practice manager, technical staff, and receptionists. It's a nice opportunity to see how everyone functions as a team (and how much yelling there is).
The shorter interviews I had in Minnesota were also helpful because it's nice to talk to people in-person instead of on the phone, even if it's only for half an hour or an hour. In both cases I got to talk to the practice owner along with either several associates or the practice manager, and in one case they showed me around their building too. Though I quite liked one of those two hospitals based on that brief interview, I would certainly want to arrange a working interview before committing to anything.
I could probably type for 3 days about all my interviews this week, but instead I'll summarize some of the "DOs" and "DON'Ts" I encountered this week:
Things I like to see or hear:
* Performing "COHATs" (Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Treatment) instead of "dentals" (#2)
* Having digital dental radiographs and actually using them (#2)
* Having ultrasound and using it (#2)
* A well-trained technical staff that is comfortable starting out the appointment, getting a TPR, obtaining a relatively accurate medical history, and doing a ton of client education (#1 > #2)
* A working relationship with the local humane society, within reasonable bounds (#2)
* Requiring or strongly recommending pre-anesthetic bloodwork on all patients (#2 > #1)
* A dedicated CVT assigned to every anesthetic case (whether surgical or dental) solely to monitor anesthesia (#1)
* Multi-parameter monitors including SPO2, EKG, pulse, and blood pressure (#1 > #2)
* Regular use of opioids as pre-emptive and peri-operative analgesia (#1 = #2)
* Hospitalizing patients overnight with no staff present as long as clients give informed consent (#1 = #2)
* Willingness to adjust anesthetic protocols based on an individual patient's needs (#2 > #1)
* Approach to diagnosis and treatment that actually includes seeking a diagnosis before randomly trying a trial treatment (#1)
* Recommending (with decent client compliance) screening bloodwork on healthy patients (#1)
* 3-year vaccine protocols (#1 > #2)
* When I ask why something is done a certain way, the reply includes a reference to a peer-reviewed study or a discussion with a specialist (#1 > #2)
* Ability to run a lot of bloodwork in-house, combined with daily pick-up service from an outside laboratory (#1 = #2)
* A lobby that smells delicious (#1)
* AAHA accreditation (#2)
* Being within a 1 hour drive from the nearest referral 24-hour care facility (#1)
* Having a technician on-call every night to help the DVM on call (#2)
Things I don't like to see or hear:
* Not performing an otoscopic exam on two patients in a row where such an exam was clearly indicated (a dog presenting for scratching the ears, and a cat presented for routine physical but with a lot of otitis found on PE) and instead saying "maybe next time" (#2)
* Giving all SQ injections between the shoulder blades, even in cats (#1)
* Having digital dental radiographs but admitting they are rarely used (#1)
* "The other practices around here don't really like us." (#1)
* Placing an IV catheter but not using IV fluids for "routine" surgeries (#1)
* Watching 3 certified technicians take about 6 total attempts to place a 24g IV catheter on a well-behaved cat (#2)
* Dentals performed by one lone technician in charge of monitoring anesthesia while also performing the dental cleaning and taking all the xrays (#2)
* Ignoring really crappy blood pressure readings on a patient based on the fact that their pulses feel okay; never monitoring blood pressure at all during a cat spay (#2)
* No place in the main treatment area to house hospitalized pets so someone can actually monitor and observe them (#2)
* Not having anywhere in exam rooms for the doctor to sit, resulting in either squatting on the floor or looming over the client (#1 = #2)
* A lobby that smells like eau-du-disinfectant-over-cat-pee (#2)
* Being 2 1/2 hours from the nearest referral 24-hour care facility (#2)
* Having an on-call schedule that includes 2 weeknights every week and every 3rd weekend (#2)
* Having an on-call schedule that includes 1 weeknight every week and every 4th weekend (#1)
* Not having a technician on-call to help with overnight and weekend emergencies (#1)
* The possibility of being expected to work a regular Sunday shift (#2)
* Observing a technician doing the initial check-in on a wellness exam and providing the client with complete misinformation about the hospital's puppy vaccine schedule and when to spay/neuter, and being repeatedly unable to convert between "14 weeks" and "3 1/2 months" (#2)
Both hospital #1 and hospital #2 had a lot of the pros and some of the cons. Overall, though, I liked hospital #1 better. I just feel like more of the "cons" that I found with hospital #1 are things that I could work around or do my own way. If I'm the one giving vaccinations, I can control where on patient's body I give the injection. If the practice has the physical capability for dental radiographs, I can talk to my clients about how important they are and see that they are used when needed (at least on my patients). As long as IV catheter is placed, fluids are available, and blood pressure is monitored, I guess I could live with not actually having fluids running in a young healthy patient with adequate blood pressure during a short procedure.
But with regards to hospital #2, I'm not sure how I feel about a hospital owner who feels it isn't "worth the effort" to do an otoscopic exam on a well-behaved, friendly pet with ear disease. I don't know how much I could do about a team of 3 CVTs who require 30 minutes to place and IV catheter on a health, friendly pet. I think it's incredibly dangerous to have a single technician trying to do a dental and monitor anesthesia at the same time, especially when my own observation shows that the CVT is ignoring (or just not noticing) some potentially alarming things with the anesthesia. Similarly, I think blood pressure is (in many cases) the most important parameter to monitor during anesthesia, particularly in cats, and particularly in the cat I watched who received acepromazine (which induces hypotension) as a pre-med and propofol (which also induces hypotension) as an induction drug and isoflurane (which also induces hypotension) as a maintenance inhalant.
Anyhow, I guess it's all moot unless I get offered both of these jobs at the same time. It sure goes to show the importance of working interviews, though, since I liked both of these practices quite a bit based on brief phone interviews and wouldn't have guessed at some of their differences.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Weekends: so much better as a senior
The transition from junior vet student to senior vet student has been abrupt and very interesting.
Though we're only 2.5 weeks into senior clinics, junior year seems so long ago. Was it really just a month earlier that I was sitting in class for half the day, taking at least 1 exam every weekend, and stressing out about capstone?
And was it only a month ago that the hospital was filled with confident, knowledgeable, soon-to-be-DVM former seniors? Now it seems like it's always been the norm to see my own classmates sitting in the rounds rooms, running the anesthesia cases, dealing with all the clients in the lobby, and striding around purposefully discussing cases with the clinicians.
I do miss having a few hours every day to sit back in class and engage in passive learning, taking notes on whatever topic the lecturer throws at us. It was nice to know that if I really had too much stuff going on outside of school, if I got sick, or if I was just running late, missing a few minutes of afternoon classes would go unnoticed.
However, despite the massive increase in hours spent at school (from 20 hr/wk of junior rotation + 10 hr/wk of classes, to 50-55 hr/wk of senior clinics), I am enjoying senior year so much more than junior year.
One thing I particularly love is the fact that, for the most part, when I come home from school, my time is my own. At this point, NAVLE studying hasn't started yet and Community Practice as a senior rotation doesn't require much studying other than the several hours I spent reviewing the surgery handbook. It's awesome to be able to relax and watch a little TV or hang out on Facebook or (gasp!) sit on the couch and read a book without the nagging feeling that I'm wasting what should be precious study time.
Weekends are fantastic too. The same sort of thing goes -- I don't feel bad sleeping in, hanging out with CLH, running errands. Spending Sunday morning at church doesn't give me the sense that I'll have to cram my study time into just a few afternoon hours. And no exams! No exams!
As a senior it's also more interesting to have primary case responsibility. As a junior, there were a few times when I was the one leading the appointment, but more often it was following along with senior and then finally learning enough about a given case to really be interested in it, only to have to leave at noon to grab a bite of lunch and make it to class on time -- then come back the following day and try to catch up on everything that happened the previous afternoon and overnight.
I love the opportunities to interact with clients. It's been pointed out to us students that the clientele at a veterinary teaching hospital is generally fairly self-selected to be the more dedicated clients who have intense bonds with their pets and are willing to educate themselves about the things we tell them. It's really fun to talk to these clients and learn about their dogs and cats and leave almost every appointment feeling like we had a successful visit and everyone left satisfied.
I really like that we still have another 3 months to "practice" being seniors before the new juniors will join us in late August and early September. Though we're gaining confidence every day, there is still a lot to be learned before we take the overly eager juniors under our wings and try to answer all of their questions fresh from 2+ years of book-learning that we will have pushed somewhat to a back corner of our minds by then.
Though Community Practice has been full of very long and very busy weekdays, with 12+ hour days on Tues/Wed/Thurs being basically the norm, I'm glad this is where I started my senior year experience. And I'm glad I have another 2 weeks to go before I get thrown into internal med with its caseload of hugely complicated medical diseases, hours spent writing detailed SOAPs for patients with 15-20 different problems, and increased likelihood of having hospitalized patients to care for in the evenings and weekends. For now, I'll keep my free time to myself, thanks very much.
Though we're only 2.5 weeks into senior clinics, junior year seems so long ago. Was it really just a month earlier that I was sitting in class for half the day, taking at least 1 exam every weekend, and stressing out about capstone?
And was it only a month ago that the hospital was filled with confident, knowledgeable, soon-to-be-DVM former seniors? Now it seems like it's always been the norm to see my own classmates sitting in the rounds rooms, running the anesthesia cases, dealing with all the clients in the lobby, and striding around purposefully discussing cases with the clinicians.
I do miss having a few hours every day to sit back in class and engage in passive learning, taking notes on whatever topic the lecturer throws at us. It was nice to know that if I really had too much stuff going on outside of school, if I got sick, or if I was just running late, missing a few minutes of afternoon classes would go unnoticed.
However, despite the massive increase in hours spent at school (from 20 hr/wk of junior rotation + 10 hr/wk of classes, to 50-55 hr/wk of senior clinics), I am enjoying senior year so much more than junior year.
One thing I particularly love is the fact that, for the most part, when I come home from school, my time is my own. At this point, NAVLE studying hasn't started yet and Community Practice as a senior rotation doesn't require much studying other than the several hours I spent reviewing the surgery handbook. It's awesome to be able to relax and watch a little TV or hang out on Facebook or (gasp!) sit on the couch and read a book without the nagging feeling that I'm wasting what should be precious study time.
Weekends are fantastic too. The same sort of thing goes -- I don't feel bad sleeping in, hanging out with CLH, running errands. Spending Sunday morning at church doesn't give me the sense that I'll have to cram my study time into just a few afternoon hours. And no exams! No exams!
As a senior it's also more interesting to have primary case responsibility. As a junior, there were a few times when I was the one leading the appointment, but more often it was following along with senior and then finally learning enough about a given case to really be interested in it, only to have to leave at noon to grab a bite of lunch and make it to class on time -- then come back the following day and try to catch up on everything that happened the previous afternoon and overnight.
I love the opportunities to interact with clients. It's been pointed out to us students that the clientele at a veterinary teaching hospital is generally fairly self-selected to be the more dedicated clients who have intense bonds with their pets and are willing to educate themselves about the things we tell them. It's really fun to talk to these clients and learn about their dogs and cats and leave almost every appointment feeling like we had a successful visit and everyone left satisfied.
I really like that we still have another 3 months to "practice" being seniors before the new juniors will join us in late August and early September. Though we're gaining confidence every day, there is still a lot to be learned before we take the overly eager juniors under our wings and try to answer all of their questions fresh from 2+ years of book-learning that we will have pushed somewhat to a back corner of our minds by then.
Though Community Practice has been full of very long and very busy weekdays, with 12+ hour days on Tues/Wed/Thurs being basically the norm, I'm glad this is where I started my senior year experience. And I'm glad I have another 2 weeks to go before I get thrown into internal med with its caseload of hugely complicated medical diseases, hours spent writing detailed SOAPs for patients with 15-20 different problems, and increased likelihood of having hospitalized patients to care for in the evenings and weekends. For now, I'll keep my free time to myself, thanks very much.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Capstone: 2/3 over
This morning's oh-so-wonderful Capstone exam is over.
When I think back to how important my grades were to me as an undergrad -- how I really despised that one B+ I got in O-chem, how I so valued my stellar gpa -- and compare that attitude to how I feel now, I can't help but think to myself, "Nice job, vet school."
It's amazing how I am now capable of going through a 180-question exam and honestly feeling perfectly satisfied with providing a wrong answer for every single question relating to equine and bovine reproduction.
Really, why am I supposed to care how long a cow's estrus cycle is or how big a mare's ovarian follicle should be before you induce ovulation? Seriously.
C = DVM? Heck yes it does. "Just get a 70%" has become a mantra that sustains not only me but also my 137 counterparts.
Will I ever need to recall the most common circumstance under which a mare develops severe endometritis? How about the typical rule-outs for foot disease in feedlot cattle? Characteristic appearance of OCD lesions in the equine stifle? When to use or not use intramammary antibiotics to treat dairy cow mastitis?
Yep, didn't think so.
All I can say for this morning's exam is: Thank the good lord for an unusually high proportion of behavior and practice management questions in relation to the number of actual medicine questions. Gotta love something like:
"The factors that affect my happiness and feeling of self-worth include:
(a) Personal success
(b) Financial success
(c) Career success
(d) All of the above"
They forgot option E: "Only an excellent score on my junior-year Capstone exam will make me happy and increase my self-worth."
Now off to partake in some of my newest and most favorite Capstone study aid: Bubble Spinner.
When I think back to how important my grades were to me as an undergrad -- how I really despised that one B+ I got in O-chem, how I so valued my stellar gpa -- and compare that attitude to how I feel now, I can't help but think to myself, "Nice job, vet school."
It's amazing how I am now capable of going through a 180-question exam and honestly feeling perfectly satisfied with providing a wrong answer for every single question relating to equine and bovine reproduction.
Really, why am I supposed to care how long a cow's estrus cycle is or how big a mare's ovarian follicle should be before you induce ovulation? Seriously.
C = DVM? Heck yes it does. "Just get a 70%" has become a mantra that sustains not only me but also my 137 counterparts.
Will I ever need to recall the most common circumstance under which a mare develops severe endometritis? How about the typical rule-outs for foot disease in feedlot cattle? Characteristic appearance of OCD lesions in the equine stifle? When to use or not use intramammary antibiotics to treat dairy cow mastitis?
Yep, didn't think so.
All I can say for this morning's exam is: Thank the good lord for an unusually high proportion of behavior and practice management questions in relation to the number of actual medicine questions. Gotta love something like:
"The factors that affect my happiness and feeling of self-worth include:
(a) Personal success
(b) Financial success
(c) Career success
(d) All of the above"
They forgot option E: "Only an excellent score on my junior-year Capstone exam will make me happy and increase my self-worth."
Now off to partake in some of my newest and most favorite Capstone study aid: Bubble Spinner.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Why yes, I WOULD like a scholarship!
After last year's traumatic non-scholarship-experience detailed here, and an even-more-pathetic-than-usual essay submitted with my scholarship application last November, I finally got a scholarship!
OK, now that you're done cheering, the relevant details are: $2200 (yes! would have been happy with $50!), 9 other people got the same scholarship as me (holy rich people), it's only for junior students, and the criteria were "superior scholarship, initiative, perseverance, potential for leadership, and financial need." I'm going to pretend that I qualified for more of that than just "financial need."
So I joined many of my fellow junior, sophomore, and freshman classmates, as well as some biomedical sciences undergrads, to nosh on a pretty display of fruit, cheese, crackers, and cookies, accompanied by "golden punch" (which I'm 97% sure was straight orange juice) and listen to a 25-second congratulatory speech by the dean of the vet school.
Interesting statistic: apparently there are 440-some scholarships given out every year to vet students and biomed undergrads, totally some $1.6 million dollars annually. Wow. (And also, why haven't I seen some of this money before?? That comes out to about $2700/year per student!)
Anyway, I'm thoroughly satisfied by my scholarshippiness and look forward to the receipt of $2200 to help offset my upcoming tuition bill of $51,000 for senior year.
OK, now that you're done cheering, the relevant details are: $2200 (yes! would have been happy with $50!), 9 other people got the same scholarship as me (holy rich people), it's only for junior students, and the criteria were "superior scholarship, initiative, perseverance, potential for leadership, and financial need." I'm going to pretend that I qualified for more of that than just "financial need."
So I joined many of my fellow junior, sophomore, and freshman classmates, as well as some biomedical sciences undergrads, to nosh on a pretty display of fruit, cheese, crackers, and cookies, accompanied by "golden punch" (which I'm 97% sure was straight orange juice) and listen to a 25-second congratulatory speech by the dean of the vet school.
Interesting statistic: apparently there are 440-some scholarships given out every year to vet students and biomed undergrads, totally some $1.6 million dollars annually. Wow. (And also, why haven't I seen some of this money before?? That comes out to about $2700/year per student!)
Anyway, I'm thoroughly satisfied by my scholarshippiness and look forward to the receipt of $2200 to help offset my upcoming tuition bill of $51,000 for senior year.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Back to normal hours
After spending 34 hours between 5 pm and 2 am on my Urgent Care rotation last week, it is a relief to be back to normal daytime hours.
It was definitely interesting to work a swing-shift sort of thing. Certainly I now have a somewhat better idea of what to expect from some of my senior year rotations, including the 4 weeks I'll spend on CCU/Urgent Care, 2.5 weeks on After Hours Wards, and various on-call nights for Surgery and Anesthesia.
However, I pretty much dropped everything besides school from my life last week -- and it was even a good thing that I didn't have any homeworks or exams to do, because I wouldn't have had time to study. Basically no quality time w/CLH, no cooking, no cleaning, no handbells, no church, no choir, and I got horribly behind on emails. In exchange, I got a decent amount of sleep since I could sleep in late every morning and not get to class until 1-2 pm!
I would never have thought, though, that I would be excited to get back to an 8 am-12 pm clinical rotation...
It was definitely interesting to work a swing-shift sort of thing. Certainly I now have a somewhat better idea of what to expect from some of my senior year rotations, including the 4 weeks I'll spend on CCU/Urgent Care, 2.5 weeks on After Hours Wards, and various on-call nights for Surgery and Anesthesia.
However, I pretty much dropped everything besides school from my life last week -- and it was even a good thing that I didn't have any homeworks or exams to do, because I wouldn't have had time to study. Basically no quality time w/CLH, no cooking, no cleaning, no handbells, no church, no choir, and I got horribly behind on emails. In exchange, I got a decent amount of sleep since I could sleep in late every morning and not get to class until 1-2 pm!
I would never have thought, though, that I would be excited to get back to an 8 am-12 pm clinical rotation...
Thursday, February 24, 2011
What I killed this week
Several veterinarians I know keep track of "What I killed today" (or "this week"), either on a public blog or as a private exercise.
I think it's a nice way to acknowledge the sacrifice made by the many animals who die for teaching purposes -- as well as the pets we put to sleep for various reasons.
So here's what I killed this week:
Tuesday: An adult male rat who was a "retired" research animal slated for euthanasia one way or another, but used in my Rabbit & Rodent Medicine curriculum to teach us rodent handling, restraint, venipuncture, and intraperitoneal/intracardiac injections while he was alive, and physical exam, castration, and necropsy after I euthanized him.
Thursday: An old white female New Zealand rabbit who was "donated" for teaching purposes by a local breeder who produces rabbits for meat. We learned rabbit handling and restraint on her, practiced giving SQ injections and placing catheters in ear veins, cephalic veins, and medial saphenous veins. After I euthanized her, we practiced spays and necropsy.
Both of the animals I killed this week were sweet and friendly, which made it a little tougher. However, I really don't have a personal problem with small mammals being used in ethical research and for humane teaching purposes -- and all the animals used in this week's labs were essentially destined to die in some form or fashion in the end. But I'm thankful that we were able to make good and thorough use of their deaths in helping us to better handle and treat similar species in the future -- and hopefully help those future animals survive.
I think it's a nice way to acknowledge the sacrifice made by the many animals who die for teaching purposes -- as well as the pets we put to sleep for various reasons.
So here's what I killed this week:
Tuesday: An adult male rat who was a "retired" research animal slated for euthanasia one way or another, but used in my Rabbit & Rodent Medicine curriculum to teach us rodent handling, restraint, venipuncture, and intraperitoneal/intracardiac injections while he was alive, and physical exam, castration, and necropsy after I euthanized him.
Thursday: An old white female New Zealand rabbit who was "donated" for teaching purposes by a local breeder who produces rabbits for meat. We learned rabbit handling and restraint on her, practiced giving SQ injections and placing catheters in ear veins, cephalic veins, and medial saphenous veins. After I euthanized her, we practiced spays and necropsy.
Both of the animals I killed this week were sweet and friendly, which made it a little tougher. However, I really don't have a personal problem with small mammals being used in ethical research and for humane teaching purposes -- and all the animals used in this week's labs were essentially destined to die in some form or fashion in the end. But I'm thankful that we were able to make good and thorough use of their deaths in helping us to better handle and treat similar species in the future -- and hopefully help those future animals survive.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Classes and life continue
This is only my second blog post of the semester because this semester has contained just barely enough information and activity to be worthy of a full two blog posts in two weeks.
Sigh.
Don't get me wrong -- my classes have improved over the last week or so. Practice Management is, at time, positively tolerable to attend. We've had better speakers recently, with more animation and enthusiasm, lectures that could actually qualify as organized, and several specific topics that are relevant even to the 75% of the students in my class who don't want to own or manage a practice someday.
I'm enjoying applied animal behavior. We had our 3rd day of lectures today. I respect the instructor and her ideas about dog (and cat) training. She keeps lectures light and entertaining by interspersing a fair number of YouTube videos (all related to the lecture material yet still almost invariably amusing) in between her PowerPoint slides. Unfortunately, I was so involved with the school's behavior club (for which she is the faculty advisor) last year, that I've basically already heard these lectures from her before.
Small Animal Medicine & Surgery is progressing decently. I really enjoyed the dentistry section we started with, which was followed by about a week of meandering, hilarious-yet-disorganized presentations by a gastroenterology faculty member who hasn't lectured to us much before. We've now moved on to liver disease taught by one of our best professors, which is a subject for which I could definitely use some review.
I've not yet managed to convince myself to sit through any of the equine or food animal medicine lectures that I thought I might attend in my free time. (I know, I can tell you're surprised.) I haven't had the opportunity to go to any of the small mammal disease lectures, which I guess means it's a good thing I dropped my enrollment from that class.
I've had plenty of non-class things on my mind. I trained 5 new tour guides the week before the semester started, and 2 more last Monday. It's been quite an 'experience' getting them all up to speed, and primarily helping them jump through all of the university's hoops required for official employment (which include a formal application, background check, sexual harassment training, sharps policy form, and meeting with the personnel director -- and that's in addition to my 2-hour tour guide orientation followed by several practice tours and shadowing experienced guides). However, I'm thankful that 7 of my original 10 recruits have stuck with it to this point. The added new guides are really taking some of the stress off of my experienced guides who were overworked last semester.
In addition to routine coordination of tours (including scheduling regular guides and scrambling to find replacements when I get last minute emails announcing "I have the flu" or "My dog's in CCU so I can't make it this afternoon"), I'm trying to arrange two more special extended tours for the university's pre-vet club, which will take place in March. These tours have big groups (20-30 students) requiring 2 guides, last longer than usual (1.5-1.75 hours), and include special exhibits (ophthalmology, anesthesia, junior surgery models, and necropsy presentation), all of which I have to coordinate.
Outside of school, we have handbells. Oh, handbells. We do 3-4 concerts plus an open dress rehearsal at the end of every season, which in the spring means May. Unfortunately, we don't actually know any of our concert dates yet, which is unusual and, especially for me, problematic. You see, by the time our spring bell concerts roll around, I'll most likely be a senior vet student for most if not all of the performances. Sure, I'll be on Community Practice which doesn't require weekend attendance at school, but any weeknight evening concerts (2 of which we have tentatively scheduled) may pose a serious conflict. Here's hoping we can figure that all out soon.
Then there's the house. For those who don't know me personally, the hubby and I are in the process of selling our condo. Why? Because it's currently about a 35-minute drive in morning and evening traffic from home to the VTH. Aside from the fact that I'll be on call a lot during senior year, which has a mandatory arrival time of 20 minutes from the time they call you in (which I could potentially make from our current location if all the stoplights, weather, and traffic were on my side, and if it was the middle of the night), I fear for my sanity if I were to try to commute 35 minutes each way for much (or any) of my senior year.
So the basic steps to selling the house are done. We have a realtor recommended by several of my classmates. We have had the house interior measured to create a basic floorplan. A professional home stager was consulted and I did my best to follow her recommendations. Photographs were done last week. During the entire month of January, we have been fairly consumed with deep house cleaning, organizing, packing, and moving anything not immediately needed over to our newly rented storage unit.
And.... drum roll.... as of yesterday afternoon we have a 'for sale' sign out front, a lockbox on the door, and an MLS listing on the web. Now to just wait for those oh-so-lucky buyers who want to make us a terrific offer based on the extremely excellent nature of our condo. Well, that is if the cats haven't just dropped a huge load in the litter box anytime within the 4 hours or so prior to a showing...
There's also that little matter of taxes. We've gotten almost all of our required tax documents -- except for a W2 that's gone missing, a tax form for CLH's health savings account that we can't find, a form from the mortgage company that hasn't been sent yet, and the fact that due to changes in billing practices, my school tuition tax statement will have 1 semester of tuition for 2010 and 3 for 2011...
Throw in a few potlucks to bake for and attend, and you can imagine why I'm glad that this semester doesn't seem to be too intense as far as coursework goes. I'm sure things will pick up once we get back into junior practicum, but for now it's a good thing that I have extra hours in my day to devote to the house and everything else going on.
Sigh.
Don't get me wrong -- my classes have improved over the last week or so. Practice Management is, at time, positively tolerable to attend. We've had better speakers recently, with more animation and enthusiasm, lectures that could actually qualify as organized, and several specific topics that are relevant even to the 75% of the students in my class who don't want to own or manage a practice someday.
I'm enjoying applied animal behavior. We had our 3rd day of lectures today. I respect the instructor and her ideas about dog (and cat) training. She keeps lectures light and entertaining by interspersing a fair number of YouTube videos (all related to the lecture material yet still almost invariably amusing) in between her PowerPoint slides. Unfortunately, I was so involved with the school's behavior club (for which she is the faculty advisor) last year, that I've basically already heard these lectures from her before.
Small Animal Medicine & Surgery is progressing decently. I really enjoyed the dentistry section we started with, which was followed by about a week of meandering, hilarious-yet-disorganized presentations by a gastroenterology faculty member who hasn't lectured to us much before. We've now moved on to liver disease taught by one of our best professors, which is a subject for which I could definitely use some review.
I've not yet managed to convince myself to sit through any of the equine or food animal medicine lectures that I thought I might attend in my free time. (I know, I can tell you're surprised.) I haven't had the opportunity to go to any of the small mammal disease lectures, which I guess means it's a good thing I dropped my enrollment from that class.
I've had plenty of non-class things on my mind. I trained 5 new tour guides the week before the semester started, and 2 more last Monday. It's been quite an 'experience' getting them all up to speed, and primarily helping them jump through all of the university's hoops required for official employment (which include a formal application, background check, sexual harassment training, sharps policy form, and meeting with the personnel director -- and that's in addition to my 2-hour tour guide orientation followed by several practice tours and shadowing experienced guides). However, I'm thankful that 7 of my original 10 recruits have stuck with it to this point. The added new guides are really taking some of the stress off of my experienced guides who were overworked last semester.
In addition to routine coordination of tours (including scheduling regular guides and scrambling to find replacements when I get last minute emails announcing "I have the flu" or "My dog's in CCU so I can't make it this afternoon"), I'm trying to arrange two more special extended tours for the university's pre-vet club, which will take place in March. These tours have big groups (20-30 students) requiring 2 guides, last longer than usual (1.5-1.75 hours), and include special exhibits (ophthalmology, anesthesia, junior surgery models, and necropsy presentation), all of which I have to coordinate.
Outside of school, we have handbells. Oh, handbells. We do 3-4 concerts plus an open dress rehearsal at the end of every season, which in the spring means May. Unfortunately, we don't actually know any of our concert dates yet, which is unusual and, especially for me, problematic. You see, by the time our spring bell concerts roll around, I'll most likely be a senior vet student for most if not all of the performances. Sure, I'll be on Community Practice which doesn't require weekend attendance at school, but any weeknight evening concerts (2 of which we have tentatively scheduled) may pose a serious conflict. Here's hoping we can figure that all out soon.
Then there's the house. For those who don't know me personally, the hubby and I are in the process of selling our condo. Why? Because it's currently about a 35-minute drive in morning and evening traffic from home to the VTH. Aside from the fact that I'll be on call a lot during senior year, which has a mandatory arrival time of 20 minutes from the time they call you in (which I could potentially make from our current location if all the stoplights, weather, and traffic were on my side, and if it was the middle of the night), I fear for my sanity if I were to try to commute 35 minutes each way for much (or any) of my senior year.
So the basic steps to selling the house are done. We have a realtor recommended by several of my classmates. We have had the house interior measured to create a basic floorplan. A professional home stager was consulted and I did my best to follow her recommendations. Photographs were done last week. During the entire month of January, we have been fairly consumed with deep house cleaning, organizing, packing, and moving anything not immediately needed over to our newly rented storage unit.
And.... drum roll.... as of yesterday afternoon we have a 'for sale' sign out front, a lockbox on the door, and an MLS listing on the web. Now to just wait for those oh-so-lucky buyers who want to make us a terrific offer based on the extremely excellent nature of our condo. Well, that is if the cats haven't just dropped a huge load in the litter box anytime within the 4 hours or so prior to a showing...
There's also that little matter of taxes. We've gotten almost all of our required tax documents -- except for a W2 that's gone missing, a tax form for CLH's health savings account that we can't find, a form from the mortgage company that hasn't been sent yet, and the fact that due to changes in billing practices, my school tuition tax statement will have 1 semester of tuition for 2010 and 3 for 2011...
Throw in a few potlucks to bake for and attend, and you can imagine why I'm glad that this semester doesn't seem to be too intense as far as coursework goes. I'm sure things will pick up once we get back into junior practicum, but for now it's a good thing that I have extra hours in my day to devote to the house and everything else going on.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Subject lines
"Bottoms up: Things you can Learn from a Rectal Exam"
It's when I get emails with subject lines like the above that I just have to step back and marvel at the strangeness of my life.
It's when I get emails with subject lines like the above that I just have to step back and marvel at the strangeness of my life.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Consider me fully vaccinated
Hey, between heading up to bed at 8:30 on Friday night and the 10 (yes, count 'em, ten) vaccines I've had in the last 2.5 years, there's not that much difference between me and a baby!
I got a meningitis booster on Friday -- which added to the MMR, tetanus, H1N1, 3 influenza, and 3 rabies vaccines I've had since starting vet school in August 2008.
Some people get all upset about various vaccination guidelines for dogs and cats. The standard used to be, basically, every dog (and every cat that actually went to the vet, which wasn't that many) got all of its vaccines every year. For dogs that would be a distemper-parvo combo, rabies, and maybe something like lepto or bordetella or corona.
Well, nowadays people have done more research and proved that in adult animals, most of those vaccines create solid immunity for at least 3 years -- so current recommendations are generally to vaccinate adult dogs for distemper-parvo every 3 years, and rabies as far apart as legal guidelines will allow (ranges from requiring annual vaccination to every 3 years).
However, even still some pet owners (and some vets) are hugely reluctant to vaccinate their adult animals (or even their puppies and kittens) that much.
To be fair, when selecting a vaccine protocol for an individual animal, you need to take in risk assessment. Maybe that dog that goes to the groomer every month, plays at the dog park every weekend, and hangs out at doggie day care 3 afternoons a week is more at risk for getting contagious diseases like distemper or parvo. Versus "mommy's little lap dog" who is white and fluffy and whose feet never touch the ground, much less actually leave the backyard.
And there are some serious risks to vaccination, don't get me wrong. A prime example would be vaccine-associated fibrosarcoma in cats -- wherein a cat can develop a huge, nasty, aggressive, malignant soft tissue tumor at the site of injection, which has often spread to the body wall by the time the tumor is diagnosed, and then bye bye kitteh.
Now, if you're the owner of the one cat in however many thousand that actually develops FSA after a vaccine, then I don't blame you for being super head-shy about vaccinating other or future animals you have. Or if your pet has anaphylactic reactions to vaccines.
However, for most of those run-of-the-mill cases where people don't have a great reason for not vaccinating (and I've heard some "great" reasons such as "Well, vaccines cause autism in children, so I don't want to hurt Sparky's brain"), I'm all for the vaccines.
And now I can point out my personal experience with getting more vaccines in a 2.5-year timeframe than I would ever intend to give to an adult dog or cat. And look at me, I'm doing fine! (Well, you could argue that point, but please don't.)
Anyhow, I got my meningitis vaccine at a huge vaccine clinic held on my university's campus. There have been 7 cases of meningitis in the county this year, with the most recent case killing an undergrad student who worked evenings and weekends as a receptionist at the VTH. Hence, there was an enormous push by the administration to get as many students vaccinated (or boostered) as possible.
I knew it was going to be a big affair, but I was mildly alarmed when, as I was driving to school on Friday morning, they said on the radio that over 4000 students had pre-registered for the vaccine clinic in the preceding 48 hours. Yikes. And who knows how many people showed up as walk-ins.
So I felt glad I'd planned ahead and brought a book to pass the time until I got my vaccine. After all, even when I'm the only patient in the immunization department at student health, it can sometimes take 10-15 minutes to get a flu shot.
However, I was totally amazed upon arriving at the student rec center about 5 minutes before my 3:10 appointment. There were signs up for blocks around the center, directing foot traffic to the appropriate entrance. Volunteers wearing astonishingly neon yellow vests directed us as we entered the rec center, and herded us into the appropriate lines. I had to wait for about 5 minutes to print out my registration ticket (I didn't have access to a printer when I registered on Wednesday), but after that it was just a short walk down a hallway to a huge gym, which was Vaccine Central.
There were about 10 "screening stations" set up on tables along one wall. As you walked into the gym, you took your registration ticket to whichever screener was open. They asked the requisite questions ("Are you feeling well?" "Have you eaten today?"), then took your ticket and gave you a vaccine form to take to the next station.
Station #2 was the actual vaccinations. There were about 10 groups of tables set up on the other side of the gym. Each group of tables seated 4 nurses, each of whom was administering vaccines, and a fifth person who was helping draw up vaccines and complete paperwork. Yes, that's 40-some nurses doing vaccines at once.
I was pointed almost immediately to an open nurse's station, got stabbed in the arm, and shuffled with the other vaccinated students over to a food-and-water station aimed as prophylaxis to avoid fainting.
It was literally no more than 12 or 13 minutes between the time that I entered the rec center and when I was walking out the door on the other side. I was completely floored by the efficiency and organization of this undertaking, and said so to several of the volunteers -- they must have been having a long day, because they perked up right away and said "Thank you for sharing that! We really appreciate it!"
This wasn't really a vet med story, but in a way it was: with all the bureaucracy, rules, guidelines, and procedures you encounter every day in a great big organization or business (such as a university), it's always refreshing to see that they can sometimes get things right (even if it doesn't really happen in the vet school per se...).
P.S. The vaccinations were FREE! My last vaccine was as a freshman or sophomore undergrad, and it cost $90-something. Heck yes, I'll take a free booster!
I got a meningitis booster on Friday -- which added to the MMR, tetanus, H1N1, 3 influenza, and 3 rabies vaccines I've had since starting vet school in August 2008.
Some people get all upset about various vaccination guidelines for dogs and cats. The standard used to be, basically, every dog (and every cat that actually went to the vet, which wasn't that many) got all of its vaccines every year. For dogs that would be a distemper-parvo combo, rabies, and maybe something like lepto or bordetella or corona.
Well, nowadays people have done more research and proved that in adult animals, most of those vaccines create solid immunity for at least 3 years -- so current recommendations are generally to vaccinate adult dogs for distemper-parvo every 3 years, and rabies as far apart as legal guidelines will allow (ranges from requiring annual vaccination to every 3 years).
However, even still some pet owners (and some vets) are hugely reluctant to vaccinate their adult animals (or even their puppies and kittens) that much.
To be fair, when selecting a vaccine protocol for an individual animal, you need to take in risk assessment. Maybe that dog that goes to the groomer every month, plays at the dog park every weekend, and hangs out at doggie day care 3 afternoons a week is more at risk for getting contagious diseases like distemper or parvo. Versus "mommy's little lap dog" who is white and fluffy and whose feet never touch the ground, much less actually leave the backyard.
And there are some serious risks to vaccination, don't get me wrong. A prime example would be vaccine-associated fibrosarcoma in cats -- wherein a cat can develop a huge, nasty, aggressive, malignant soft tissue tumor at the site of injection, which has often spread to the body wall by the time the tumor is diagnosed, and then bye bye kitteh.
Now, if you're the owner of the one cat in however many thousand that actually develops FSA after a vaccine, then I don't blame you for being super head-shy about vaccinating other or future animals you have. Or if your pet has anaphylactic reactions to vaccines.
However, for most of those run-of-the-mill cases where people don't have a great reason for not vaccinating (and I've heard some "great" reasons such as "Well, vaccines cause autism in children, so I don't want to hurt Sparky's brain"), I'm all for the vaccines.
And now I can point out my personal experience with getting more vaccines in a 2.5-year timeframe than I would ever intend to give to an adult dog or cat. And look at me, I'm doing fine! (Well, you could argue that point, but please don't.)
Anyhow, I got my meningitis vaccine at a huge vaccine clinic held on my university's campus. There have been 7 cases of meningitis in the county this year, with the most recent case killing an undergrad student who worked evenings and weekends as a receptionist at the VTH. Hence, there was an enormous push by the administration to get as many students vaccinated (or boostered) as possible.
I knew it was going to be a big affair, but I was mildly alarmed when, as I was driving to school on Friday morning, they said on the radio that over 4000 students had pre-registered for the vaccine clinic in the preceding 48 hours. Yikes. And who knows how many people showed up as walk-ins.
So I felt glad I'd planned ahead and brought a book to pass the time until I got my vaccine. After all, even when I'm the only patient in the immunization department at student health, it can sometimes take 10-15 minutes to get a flu shot.
However, I was totally amazed upon arriving at the student rec center about 5 minutes before my 3:10 appointment. There were signs up for blocks around the center, directing foot traffic to the appropriate entrance. Volunteers wearing astonishingly neon yellow vests directed us as we entered the rec center, and herded us into the appropriate lines. I had to wait for about 5 minutes to print out my registration ticket (I didn't have access to a printer when I registered on Wednesday), but after that it was just a short walk down a hallway to a huge gym, which was Vaccine Central.
There were about 10 "screening stations" set up on tables along one wall. As you walked into the gym, you took your registration ticket to whichever screener was open. They asked the requisite questions ("Are you feeling well?" "Have you eaten today?"), then took your ticket and gave you a vaccine form to take to the next station.
Station #2 was the actual vaccinations. There were about 10 groups of tables set up on the other side of the gym. Each group of tables seated 4 nurses, each of whom was administering vaccines, and a fifth person who was helping draw up vaccines and complete paperwork. Yes, that's 40-some nurses doing vaccines at once.
I was pointed almost immediately to an open nurse's station, got stabbed in the arm, and shuffled with the other vaccinated students over to a food-and-water station aimed as prophylaxis to avoid fainting.
It was literally no more than 12 or 13 minutes between the time that I entered the rec center and when I was walking out the door on the other side. I was completely floored by the efficiency and organization of this undertaking, and said so to several of the volunteers -- they must have been having a long day, because they perked up right away and said "Thank you for sharing that! We really appreciate it!"
This wasn't really a vet med story, but in a way it was: with all the bureaucracy, rules, guidelines, and procedures you encounter every day in a great big organization or business (such as a university), it's always refreshing to see that they can sometimes get things right (even if it doesn't really happen in the vet school per se...).
P.S. The vaccinations were FREE! My last vaccine was as a freshman or sophomore undergrad, and it cost $90-something. Heck yes, I'll take a free booster!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Pet peeve of the day (off-topic)
(Disclaimer: I love having a blog. One of the neatest things about your own blog is that you can choose to write about whatever you want. Sure, the general topic of my blog is vet school, but now I'm going to write a post about something completely unrelated, and I can, because it's my blog. When you have a blog, you too can write whatever you want. So there!)
I got all riled up today during a midday trip to the grocery store. (I wanted to hit up the discounted post-Halloween sale candy and was particularly in search of candy corn, because I'm going to make these cute cupcakes for our next bake sale, that have yellow frosting with candy corn all around the edges to make a sun. But I digress.)
As I pulled into the supermarket parking lot, lo! I espied a prime spot almost immediately adjacent the door.
There was a woman parked into the spot next to my desired parking location. She had just finished loading her groceries from her cart into her car. As I waited patiently not 10 feet away, the woman pushed her empty shopping cart into the space I was waiting for, and leisurely strolled around to the other side of her vehicle and got in.
Now, come on.
The spot this woman had parked in was literally the second closest non-handicapped parking spot to the entrance to the grocery store. The spot I was aiming for was the closest spot, aside from its adjoining handicapped spot, which was now also semi-blocked by this woman's cart.
I cannot stand it when people do this.
How difficult is it for you to walk the extra 20 feet to bring the cart back to the store entrance? Or even to walk the 10-15 feet away from the store to bring the cart to the nearest "cart corral"?
Why block not one but TWO free, desirable parking spots, one of which is a handicapped spot??!!
What is wrong with people?
(Okay, time to step off the soapbox. Just don't let it happen again, lazy, irritating woman!)
I got all riled up today during a midday trip to the grocery store. (I wanted to hit up the discounted post-Halloween sale candy and was particularly in search of candy corn, because I'm going to make these cute cupcakes for our next bake sale, that have yellow frosting with candy corn all around the edges to make a sun. But I digress.)
As I pulled into the supermarket parking lot, lo! I espied a prime spot almost immediately adjacent the door.
There was a woman parked into the spot next to my desired parking location. She had just finished loading her groceries from her cart into her car. As I waited patiently not 10 feet away, the woman pushed her empty shopping cart into the space I was waiting for, and leisurely strolled around to the other side of her vehicle and got in.
Now, come on.
The spot this woman had parked in was literally the second closest non-handicapped parking spot to the entrance to the grocery store. The spot I was aiming for was the closest spot, aside from its adjoining handicapped spot, which was now also semi-blocked by this woman's cart.
I cannot stand it when people do this.
How difficult is it for you to walk the extra 20 feet to bring the cart back to the store entrance? Or even to walk the 10-15 feet away from the store to bring the cart to the nearest "cart corral"?
Why block not one but TWO free, desirable parking spots, one of which is a handicapped spot??!!
What is wrong with people?
(Okay, time to step off the soapbox. Just don't let it happen again, lazy, irritating woman!)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Up next
Now that I've finished my 5 page reflection on my DVD-recorded performance in this week's communication labs (no fun, that paper writing), let's see what else I need to do:
Small animal neuro exam covering 3 weeks/15 hours of lecture material; opened on Friday afternoon and closes tomorrow night, and I'd really, really like to get it done tonight.
First radiology exam of the semester; covers 6 weeks of urinary tract and reproductive radiographs and ultrasound; opens on Monday night and closes on Thursday night; I actually feel pretty good about this one because I've gone through all the material very thoroughly one time, and I usually do well on radiology.
Bovine reproduction exam covering about 10 hours of lecture material; opens on Wednesday evening and closes on Friday; fortunately the professor provided very good, comprehensive lecture notes, so I think with a couple reviews of that I'll be all set.
So there's just a bunch of medium things coming up, not any one huge thing to worry about, but in combination with yesterday's early morning, long hospice visit, coupled with a general less-than-usual quantity of sleep this weekend, and no nap today, and spending the last 4 hours writing my communication paper, I'm feeling like next weekend can't come soon enough.
Small animal neuro exam covering 3 weeks/15 hours of lecture material; opened on Friday afternoon and closes tomorrow night, and I'd really, really like to get it done tonight.
First radiology exam of the semester; covers 6 weeks of urinary tract and reproductive radiographs and ultrasound; opens on Monday night and closes on Thursday night; I actually feel pretty good about this one because I've gone through all the material very thoroughly one time, and I usually do well on radiology.
Bovine reproduction exam covering about 10 hours of lecture material; opens on Wednesday evening and closes on Friday; fortunately the professor provided very good, comprehensive lecture notes, so I think with a couple reviews of that I'll be all set.
So there's just a bunch of medium things coming up, not any one huge thing to worry about, but in combination with yesterday's early morning, long hospice visit, coupled with a general less-than-usual quantity of sleep this weekend, and no nap today, and spending the last 4 hours writing my communication paper, I'm feeling like next weekend can't come soon enough.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Communication: works in real life!
Sounds like one of those headlines where you think "Why on earth did they need to spend 2 years and $10 million to figure that out?"
The remainder of my CCS rotation since my post on Tuesday was fairly uneventful.
Wednesday's 4 hours of class covered topics including expressions of empathy, non-verbal behavior, and handling difficult communication situations (e.g. angry client, tearful client, panicked client, breaking bad news, etc.). They brought in 3 of the clinicians from the hospital and 3 of the students from the class role-played clients in different situations -- a woman who wanted to euthanize her cat because it had a very treatable medical problem but would no longer be a winner in the show ring, a person whose horse died under anesthesia for a routine elective procedure, and a guy who was mad about getting a bill for services rendered when his cow died a couple days after a c-section. It was really interesting to watch how experienced clinicians handle these sorts of things. Throw in some very genuine tears and amazing acting from my classmate playing the women whose horse died, and it was a pretty intense thing to watch.
Thursday was another day in the communication "lab" (aka the Law & Order rooms... choink choink). They had prepared us that Thursday's simulated client scenarios would be more challenging than Tuesday's, and I think we all expected them to throw way more problems at us than we actually ended up having to deal with.
There were angry clients, worried clients, sad clients. I thought I ended up with the easiest of all the scenarios. My client was just a little... let's call it "high maintenance." Other than that, there weren't really any new emotions for me to deal with. Which maybe means I did a good job communicating? And avoided whatever potential there was for things to break down? Who knows.
Friday started with a trip to a pet cemetery and crematory (no better way to start your Friday, right?). I couldn't decide which was less fun: standing outside in the 45 degree 8 am chill looking at the cemetery, or standing inside where it was warm because we were in the room with the crematory ovens... (here's one thing I learned: you can allow owners to observe their pet's cremation if they really want to, but don't let them get too close to the ovens because some of them will try to reach into the 1000-degree heat and get their animal's body back out, a.k.a. "don't change your mind once Fluffy's in the furnace")
But don't worry. The morning didn't really go uphill from there. Once we got back to the VTH, we spent the remain 2.5 hours of our rotation talking all about death and euthanasia and end-of-life decisions. They brought in clinicians again, this time for no apparent purpose other than to share with us their horror stories of "euthanasias gone wrong" -- when the owner has already shot the horse in the head 3 times before you get there and it's still standing, when you give all of the euthanasia drug that you have in your truck and the animal won't stop breathing, when the dog lets out an ear-splitting scream immediately before dying... oh, don't you worry, there are plenty of ways things can go wrong. Fortunately it usually doesn't.
So CCS is over (well, CCS-1 is over; CCS-2 comes in April). And it's not really over -- I still get to write a 4-6 page paper tomorrow reflecting on my communication skills during my two videotaped sessions (assuming of course that I actually get up the nerve to watch my DVDs). Nothing like a fun paper to get to write on the weekend when you have a huge small animal neuro exam open online from Friday through Monday, with the first radiology exam of the semester opening on Monday and a bovine reproduction exam opening on Wednesday...
But who needs free time? Or sleep?
Just to torture myself, I volunteered for another Pet Hospice case yesterday (my third in the last 8 months).
My new hospice patient is a 15.5 year old chihuahua who lives with an adult couple and two other chihuahuas. I know a lot of people consider their animals to be like their children, but this is the first family I've met where I actually believe that to these wonderful people, their dogs are their children. Their level of adoration and devotion to their dogs is really remarkable.
Anyway, the main concern for these folks was administering subcutaneous (SQ) fluids to their dog twice a day. She's a tiny thing -- less than 4 lb -- so it would be a challenge even for those of us who are experienced giving fluids. Our primary goal this morning was to help them find a way that felt comfortable to everyone involved -- the husband restraining, the wife injecting, and of course the dog getting the fluids.
The visit ended up being over two and a half hours. My first visits on other hospice cases have been 1.5-2 hours each, so I was expecting a long morning (we started at 8:30, meaning I left the house at 8) but this one took the cake.
I wouldn't change a minute of it, though. On both of my previous hospice cases, I have been paired with someone much more experienced at hospice than I am. In both cases, my partner really took the lead in directing the conversation and raising difficult topics, and I really just observed.
Today, though, was the first day on a case for my partner (a very nice sophomore student). And while he did a fantastic job of chiming in and asking questions of his own (he really held his own during the whole visit), it was the first time that I had really felt comfortable with the sort of discussions we had, and being in more of the leadership position between the two of us. It felt easy and natural.
I think that is in large part to my experiences with CCS this week. If you remember some of my past posts, you'll know that I haven't been looking forward to CCS (okay, maybe "dreading" is a better term). I was afraid that it would be completely hokey and lame, and that nobody else would want to take it seriously.
But I have transformed from a CCS skeptic to a wholehearted supporter. No longer will I be telling prospective students on tours "It sounds a little bit horrifying to me, being videotaped and everything... but it's probably a good experience in the end."
Although I would have loved to sleep in this morning (I'm typically up between 9 and 11 am on Saturdays, rather than this morning's 7:15), and a multiple-hour nap is definitely on my mind for tomorrow, I can't think of a better way to spend my Saturday morning. I left the clients' home feeling so positive about the visit, and knowing that my partner and I had really been able to help these folks -- not just teaching them how to give the fluids, which they did before the end of our morning visit, with our guidance, and on their own (!) this evening without us there -- but just providing a nonjudgmental ear to listen to everything they wanted to tell us about the stress in their lives.
This is why I want to be a vet. I love feeling like I will actually be there someday.
The remainder of my CCS rotation since my post on Tuesday was fairly uneventful.
Wednesday's 4 hours of class covered topics including expressions of empathy, non-verbal behavior, and handling difficult communication situations (e.g. angry client, tearful client, panicked client, breaking bad news, etc.). They brought in 3 of the clinicians from the hospital and 3 of the students from the class role-played clients in different situations -- a woman who wanted to euthanize her cat because it had a very treatable medical problem but would no longer be a winner in the show ring, a person whose horse died under anesthesia for a routine elective procedure, and a guy who was mad about getting a bill for services rendered when his cow died a couple days after a c-section. It was really interesting to watch how experienced clinicians handle these sorts of things. Throw in some very genuine tears and amazing acting from my classmate playing the women whose horse died, and it was a pretty intense thing to watch.
Thursday was another day in the communication "lab" (aka the Law & Order rooms... choink choink). They had prepared us that Thursday's simulated client scenarios would be more challenging than Tuesday's, and I think we all expected them to throw way more problems at us than we actually ended up having to deal with.
There were angry clients, worried clients, sad clients. I thought I ended up with the easiest of all the scenarios. My client was just a little... let's call it "high maintenance." Other than that, there weren't really any new emotions for me to deal with. Which maybe means I did a good job communicating? And avoided whatever potential there was for things to break down? Who knows.
Friday started with a trip to a pet cemetery and crematory (no better way to start your Friday, right?). I couldn't decide which was less fun: standing outside in the 45 degree 8 am chill looking at the cemetery, or standing inside where it was warm because we were in the room with the crematory ovens... (here's one thing I learned: you can allow owners to observe their pet's cremation if they really want to, but don't let them get too close to the ovens because some of them will try to reach into the 1000-degree heat and get their animal's body back out, a.k.a. "don't change your mind once Fluffy's in the furnace")
But don't worry. The morning didn't really go uphill from there. Once we got back to the VTH, we spent the remain 2.5 hours of our rotation talking all about death and euthanasia and end-of-life decisions. They brought in clinicians again, this time for no apparent purpose other than to share with us their horror stories of "euthanasias gone wrong" -- when the owner has already shot the horse in the head 3 times before you get there and it's still standing, when you give all of the euthanasia drug that you have in your truck and the animal won't stop breathing, when the dog lets out an ear-splitting scream immediately before dying... oh, don't you worry, there are plenty of ways things can go wrong. Fortunately it usually doesn't.
So CCS is over (well, CCS-1 is over; CCS-2 comes in April). And it's not really over -- I still get to write a 4-6 page paper tomorrow reflecting on my communication skills during my two videotaped sessions (assuming of course that I actually get up the nerve to watch my DVDs). Nothing like a fun paper to get to write on the weekend when you have a huge small animal neuro exam open online from Friday through Monday, with the first radiology exam of the semester opening on Monday and a bovine reproduction exam opening on Wednesday...
But who needs free time? Or sleep?
Just to torture myself, I volunteered for another Pet Hospice case yesterday (my third in the last 8 months).
My new hospice patient is a 15.5 year old chihuahua who lives with an adult couple and two other chihuahuas. I know a lot of people consider their animals to be like their children, but this is the first family I've met where I actually believe that to these wonderful people, their dogs are their children. Their level of adoration and devotion to their dogs is really remarkable.
Anyway, the main concern for these folks was administering subcutaneous (SQ) fluids to their dog twice a day. She's a tiny thing -- less than 4 lb -- so it would be a challenge even for those of us who are experienced giving fluids. Our primary goal this morning was to help them find a way that felt comfortable to everyone involved -- the husband restraining, the wife injecting, and of course the dog getting the fluids.
The visit ended up being over two and a half hours. My first visits on other hospice cases have been 1.5-2 hours each, so I was expecting a long morning (we started at 8:30, meaning I left the house at 8) but this one took the cake.
I wouldn't change a minute of it, though. On both of my previous hospice cases, I have been paired with someone much more experienced at hospice than I am. In both cases, my partner really took the lead in directing the conversation and raising difficult topics, and I really just observed.
Today, though, was the first day on a case for my partner (a very nice sophomore student). And while he did a fantastic job of chiming in and asking questions of his own (he really held his own during the whole visit), it was the first time that I had really felt comfortable with the sort of discussions we had, and being in more of the leadership position between the two of us. It felt easy and natural.
I think that is in large part to my experiences with CCS this week. If you remember some of my past posts, you'll know that I haven't been looking forward to CCS (okay, maybe "dreading" is a better term). I was afraid that it would be completely hokey and lame, and that nobody else would want to take it seriously.
But I have transformed from a CCS skeptic to a wholehearted supporter. No longer will I be telling prospective students on tours "It sounds a little bit horrifying to me, being videotaped and everything... but it's probably a good experience in the end."
Although I would have loved to sleep in this morning (I'm typically up between 9 and 11 am on Saturdays, rather than this morning's 7:15), and a multiple-hour nap is definitely on my mind for tomorrow, I can't think of a better way to spend my Saturday morning. I left the clients' home feeling so positive about the visit, and knowing that my partner and I had really been able to help these folks -- not just teaching them how to give the fluids, which they did before the end of our morning visit, with our guidance, and on their own (!) this evening without us there -- but just providing a nonjudgmental ear to listen to everything they wanted to tell us about the stress in their lives.
This is why I want to be a vet. I love feeling like I will actually be there someday.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Music nerdiness is...
...watching a commercial for a video game and immediately realizing the background music is 'Thaxted.'
Friday, September 3, 2010
What I'm SO glad I'm not doing
In my copious free time (haha) there are several blogs written by other vets or vet students that have pretty entertaining posts about the industry and what their lives are like.
For a few months I've been following this blog, written by a vet student who graduated this past spring. She's been looking for jobs and entertaining some offers, but recently announced that she's going to be opening her own new vet clinic.
Holy cow. I SO cannot imagine doing that, possibly ever, but especially as a brand new graduate who's never been in practice before. I can't even comprehend the vast number of things you have to think about and know about and prepare for and do in order to start up a business, much less a veterinary hospital.
I really hope it works out for her. For sure I will be reading her posts regularly, and I'm really interested to see how things go. I guess you never can tell where you'll end up in your career.
For a few months I've been following this blog, written by a vet student who graduated this past spring. She's been looking for jobs and entertaining some offers, but recently announced that she's going to be opening her own new vet clinic.
Holy cow. I SO cannot imagine doing that, possibly ever, but especially as a brand new graduate who's never been in practice before. I can't even comprehend the vast number of things you have to think about and know about and prepare for and do in order to start up a business, much less a veterinary hospital.
I really hope it works out for her. For sure I will be reading her posts regularly, and I'm really interested to see how things go. I guess you never can tell where you'll end up in your career.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Box Office, Year 3
Yes, it's that time of year again: the choral festival (or coral festival, if the 'h' button on your keyboard isn't working too great; on the other hand, maybe that would be more fun some days?).
To start off the summer, here are my top 3 favorite greetings I received yesterday from choristers who had just arrived for the first of four week-long sessions:
Number 3:
Chorister: "Oh, hi, I see you're in the box office again. Did they finally put you on payroll this year?"
Me (in reality): "Oh, no, I've been paid for all three years, don't worry."
Me (in my imagination): "Why on earth would you think I'd do this job for no pay?"
Number 2:
Chorister (whom I've never met before, approaches me while I'm in one of the dorm lounges studying, and says the following in a sing-song voice you'd use to talk to a not-especially-bright toddler): "Hi, there, dear! Are you a sing-er?"
Me: "No, I work in the box office."
Chorister: "Oh, good for you, sweetie!"
Me (in my imagination): ".......?"
And my number 1 favorite so far:
Chorister: "Hi! It's great to see you again! How've you been-- did you have your baby?!"
Me: "Um... you must be thinking of somebody else?"
Me (in my imagination): "Guess I won't be wearing this shirt again."
And so the madness begins!
To start off the summer, here are my top 3 favorite greetings I received yesterday from choristers who had just arrived for the first of four week-long sessions:
Number 3:
Chorister: "Oh, hi, I see you're in the box office again. Did they finally put you on payroll this year?"
Me (in reality): "Oh, no, I've been paid for all three years, don't worry."
Me (in my imagination): "Why on earth would you think I'd do this job for no pay?"
Number 2:
Chorister (whom I've never met before, approaches me while I'm in one of the dorm lounges studying, and says the following in a sing-song voice you'd use to talk to a not-especially-bright toddler): "Hi, there, dear! Are you a sing-er?"
Me: "No, I work in the box office."
Chorister: "Oh, good for you, sweetie!"
Me (in my imagination): ".......?"
And my number 1 favorite so far:
Chorister: "Hi! It's great to see you again! How've you been-- did you have your baby?!"
Me: "Um... you must be thinking of somebody else?"
Me (in my imagination): "Guess I won't be wearing this shirt again."
And so the madness begins!
Monday, June 14, 2010
3 days off!
I'm currently halfway through my 6 weeks of summer employment at Giant Veterinary Corporation (GVC). And, today is the second day of my THREE DAYS OFF IN A ROW!
Overall, I'm much happier at GVC this year. All but one of the staff members that I disliked last year has since moved on, and they've all been replaced with much nicer, hardworking, and responsible people. There are two new doctors, both of whom I like, and the doctor I wasn't super fond of last year is much better this year. My favorite doctor unfortunately moved to a different hospital location about a week ago.
I'm getting better hours. The office manager this year actually seems to care about my preferences for days off and desired shifts. The first week, I worked 5 medium days, then 4 long days the second week, and 2 short and 3 long days this last week. I'd much prefer to work 4 long days than 5 days, since that cuts my commute down to 8 hours a week instead of 10. (In reality, under ideal circumstances I can make the drive in 42-45 minutes; during morning or evening traffic, or in bad weather, it takes 55-60 minutes).
So this coming week, I'm working Wednesday through Saturday. It is so AWESOME to have had yesterday, today, and tomorrow off. Last week was really a killer - I worked 12-8 on Tuesday, 9-2 on Wednesday, 8-5 on Thursday, 9-6 on Friday, and 8-6 on Saturday. We were really busy, so I mostly got a 20-30 minute lunch break rather than a full hour, and had to work late at least a couple days. Saturday was really tough - Saturdays are the busiest day of the week, plus we had a relief doctor who we weren't used to working with, plus it was my longest day and my 5th day of work in a row.
Yesterday, we got up early for church, which was followed by a book sale and ice cream social. I only bought 8 books, which I am pretty sure is less than the number of books we donated to the sale, so we'll count that as a win? We had a little Arby's for lunch, then CLH practiced for a few minutes while I worked on some cross-stitch. We drove to Westminster to meet a friend to see Iron Man 2 ($8 for a matinee: EIGHT DOLLARS!), then to Boulder for a chamber choir concert. Headed home and watched an episode of The Office on DVD, then time for bed.
I slept 13+ hours last night (woke up at noon today) and I think I really needed it. I sure felt a lot better afterward. I forgot during the last year how exhausting it is to work as a technician/nurse. And no, it's not just that I am working 40 hours a week instead of sitting on my butt in class for 30 hours a week (although that's part of it). It's really physically exhausting. I come home every day with new bruises and scratches. My neck and back and feet and legs hurt from walking dogs, carrying dogs, lifting dogs, restraining dogs, being kicked and scratched by dogs, etc. I know that working as a vet is going to be exhausting, too, but I think that will be more mental exhaustion than physical - I won't be the one getting dogs in and out of kennels, holding them down when they don't want to sit still, etc.
Working at GVC has given me an interesting opportunity to reflect on what my first years as a DVM will be like. Most of the vets I'm working with are recent (2008 or 2009) graduates and sometimes seem like they are still getting the hang of things. I'm sure it will be a difficult transition to go from the role of "technician" to "doctor" - I'm so used to doing the tech stuff (restraint, running labwork, cleaning, etc.) that it will probably be a little hard to let go of those things and focus on my doctor duties (which, strictly speaking, are: diagnosis, prognosis, surgery, and prescribing drugs). No, it's not black and white, and there are plenty of times when the doctor needs to help draw blood or administer premeds before anesthesia or whatever, but I'll have to learn how to step back from being intimately involved in all the tiny details of treating every animal.
Anyway, back to today: had some "lunch" (if you wake up at noon, is your 1pm meal still called lunch?), did some grocery shopping and checked out "The Blind Side" from Redbox, made a blackberry cream cheese pie (which I'm sure will look JUST like the picture). Played some Farmville and got caught up on Facebook. Made some cheesy potatoes in time for a "European style" (aka late) dinner.
Plans for tomorrow include: sleeping in, maybe going shopping for some running shoes, and getting my brain back in gear so I can make up some flash cards for important things I need to know as a junior in the fall.
Want some more random information about my job at GVC?
We had a staff meeting (excuse me, "team" meeting) last Thursday. "Lunch" (by which I mean chocolate covered donuts and a fruit tray) was provided. However, no important information was.
The upper management people at GVC are doing a much better job this year of getting vet students integrated into their hospitals. They have been in touch with us by email, held a "fun group bowling event!" a couple weeks ago (I actually bowled a 118 [withOUT bumpers] to win the second game), and are taking everybody to a baseball game in July (I'll be done working there and out in Massachusetts already).
All the staff and doctors from my hospital are going to a Rockies game (baseball) on Sunday (me too!). I hope it will be fun.
I've gotten to see some cool stuff, including: a Meibomian cyst, a descemetocele, a gastropexy, an aural hematoma repair, some dental extractions, an anal gland abscess, tons of vomiting/diarrhea patients (I'm pretty sure Saturday was National Dogs-With-Diarrhea Day)... other neat stuff that I can't remember at the moment. One of the doctors has decided that I should be the one who gets to catheterize every male dog under anesthesia from whom we need a urine sample. Lucky me.
My Spanish veterinary vocabulary is terribly out of practice, so I retrieved my copy of "Spanish Terminology for the Veterinary Team" from upstairs and brought it to the clinic. I also printed out a copy of my awesome list of translations of veterinary terms into Spanish.
I felt almost like partially a real doctor in a few years, when one of the doctors needed a surgery reference to look at before a complicated surgery, and I offered to bring in my snazzy new edition of Fossum. I even brushed up on the various surgical techniques that morning.
In my random moments of free time, when I have nothing better to do, I've spent some time acquainting myself with my 5 or so new reference texts, by looking up additional info on stuff I've seen at work that I don't know much about.
And that's about all I can think of about GVC at the moment!
Overall, I'm much happier at GVC this year. All but one of the staff members that I disliked last year has since moved on, and they've all been replaced with much nicer, hardworking, and responsible people. There are two new doctors, both of whom I like, and the doctor I wasn't super fond of last year is much better this year. My favorite doctor unfortunately moved to a different hospital location about a week ago.
I'm getting better hours. The office manager this year actually seems to care about my preferences for days off and desired shifts. The first week, I worked 5 medium days, then 4 long days the second week, and 2 short and 3 long days this last week. I'd much prefer to work 4 long days than 5 days, since that cuts my commute down to 8 hours a week instead of 10. (In reality, under ideal circumstances I can make the drive in 42-45 minutes; during morning or evening traffic, or in bad weather, it takes 55-60 minutes).
So this coming week, I'm working Wednesday through Saturday. It is so AWESOME to have had yesterday, today, and tomorrow off. Last week was really a killer - I worked 12-8 on Tuesday, 9-2 on Wednesday, 8-5 on Thursday, 9-6 on Friday, and 8-6 on Saturday. We were really busy, so I mostly got a 20-30 minute lunch break rather than a full hour, and had to work late at least a couple days. Saturday was really tough - Saturdays are the busiest day of the week, plus we had a relief doctor who we weren't used to working with, plus it was my longest day and my 5th day of work in a row.
Yesterday, we got up early for church, which was followed by a book sale and ice cream social. I only bought 8 books, which I am pretty sure is less than the number of books we donated to the sale, so we'll count that as a win? We had a little Arby's for lunch, then CLH practiced for a few minutes while I worked on some cross-stitch. We drove to Westminster to meet a friend to see Iron Man 2 ($8 for a matinee: EIGHT DOLLARS!), then to Boulder for a chamber choir concert. Headed home and watched an episode of The Office on DVD, then time for bed.
I slept 13+ hours last night (woke up at noon today) and I think I really needed it. I sure felt a lot better afterward. I forgot during the last year how exhausting it is to work as a technician/nurse. And no, it's not just that I am working 40 hours a week instead of sitting on my butt in class for 30 hours a week (although that's part of it). It's really physically exhausting. I come home every day with new bruises and scratches. My neck and back and feet and legs hurt from walking dogs, carrying dogs, lifting dogs, restraining dogs, being kicked and scratched by dogs, etc. I know that working as a vet is going to be exhausting, too, but I think that will be more mental exhaustion than physical - I won't be the one getting dogs in and out of kennels, holding them down when they don't want to sit still, etc.
Working at GVC has given me an interesting opportunity to reflect on what my first years as a DVM will be like. Most of the vets I'm working with are recent (2008 or 2009) graduates and sometimes seem like they are still getting the hang of things. I'm sure it will be a difficult transition to go from the role of "technician" to "doctor" - I'm so used to doing the tech stuff (restraint, running labwork, cleaning, etc.) that it will probably be a little hard to let go of those things and focus on my doctor duties (which, strictly speaking, are: diagnosis, prognosis, surgery, and prescribing drugs). No, it's not black and white, and there are plenty of times when the doctor needs to help draw blood or administer premeds before anesthesia or whatever, but I'll have to learn how to step back from being intimately involved in all the tiny details of treating every animal.
Anyway, back to today: had some "lunch" (if you wake up at noon, is your 1pm meal still called lunch?), did some grocery shopping and checked out "The Blind Side" from Redbox, made a blackberry cream cheese pie (which I'm sure will look JUST like the picture). Played some Farmville and got caught up on Facebook. Made some cheesy potatoes in time for a "European style" (aka late) dinner.
Plans for tomorrow include: sleeping in, maybe going shopping for some running shoes, and getting my brain back in gear so I can make up some flash cards for important things I need to know as a junior in the fall.
Want some more random information about my job at GVC?
We had a staff meeting (excuse me, "team" meeting) last Thursday. "Lunch" (by which I mean chocolate covered donuts and a fruit tray) was provided. However, no important information was.
The upper management people at GVC are doing a much better job this year of getting vet students integrated into their hospitals. They have been in touch with us by email, held a "fun group bowling event!" a couple weeks ago (I actually bowled a 118 [withOUT bumpers] to win the second game), and are taking everybody to a baseball game in July (I'll be done working there and out in Massachusetts already).
All the staff and doctors from my hospital are going to a Rockies game (baseball) on Sunday (me too!). I hope it will be fun.
I've gotten to see some cool stuff, including: a Meibomian cyst, a descemetocele, a gastropexy, an aural hematoma repair, some dental extractions, an anal gland abscess, tons of vomiting/diarrhea patients (I'm pretty sure Saturday was National Dogs-With-Diarrhea Day)... other neat stuff that I can't remember at the moment. One of the doctors has decided that I should be the one who gets to catheterize every male dog under anesthesia from whom we need a urine sample. Lucky me.
My Spanish veterinary vocabulary is terribly out of practice, so I retrieved my copy of "Spanish Terminology for the Veterinary Team" from upstairs and brought it to the clinic. I also printed out a copy of my awesome list of translations of veterinary terms into Spanish.
I felt almost like partially a real doctor in a few years, when one of the doctors needed a surgery reference to look at before a complicated surgery, and I offered to bring in my snazzy new edition of Fossum. I even brushed up on the various surgical techniques that morning.
In my random moments of free time, when I have nothing better to do, I've spent some time acquainting myself with my 5 or so new reference texts, by looking up additional info on stuff I've seen at work that I don't know much about.
And that's about all I can think of about GVC at the moment!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Orlando, '010!
Last week's trip to Orlando was totally awesome. Pretty much everybody who reads my blog was there, so instead of recounting the 4.5 days in painstaking detail, I figured I'd just list the things we did:
Day 1:
Arrive, meet Mom & Dad (M&D) & LilSis (LS) at the airport, met Grandma & Grandpa (G&G), checked into our super-fantastic condo. Ran to Publix for some dinner-ish food and other supplies. Dinner and hop in the pool before heading to bed.
Day 2:
Up at a semi-leisurely hour, then headed to Hollywood Studios, fka MGM.
Attractions visited at Hollywood include:
- Indiana Jones stunt show
- "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area (Dad & LS only)
- Extreme car stunt show
- Muppet Vision 3D movie
- Star Tours simulator
- Studio backlot tour
- Tower of Terror (you will NOT get me on this a third time!)
Mid-afternoon, G&G went back to the condo while the rest of us headed over to Epcot.
(From Disney trip(s) as a child, I have these vague memories of Epcot being a horrible place, where M&D dragged us around to look at boring, educational stuff about a bunch of different cultures and countries, and we had a nap in the big round movie theater playing a boring movie about Canada. So I was not super-excited to go back. But it was [thank goodness] way better than I remembered!)
Attractions visited at Epcot include:
- America-land restaurant (hurray for eating double cheeseburgers at Epcot...)
- Living with the Land boat ride
- Mission Space simulator (both green AND orange levels!)
- Spaceship Earth ride
- Project Tomorrow games, etc.
- The Seas ride with Nemo (why, yes, I have ridden in a Clamobile, how about you?)
- fireworks show at the end of the night
Another visit to the pool at the condo before bed.
Tired yet?
Day 3:
Sort of slept in again.... breakfast before heading to Animal Kingdom to start our second Disney day.
Attractions visited at Animal Kingdom include:
- Dinosaur ride
- Expedition Everest roller coaster (Dad only)
- "It's Tough to be a Bug" 3D movie
- Kilimanjaro Safari
- Primeval Whirl spinning roller coaster (Dad & me only)
- Lion King show
- Finding Nemo show (G&G only)
Time for a break from Disney - we went back to the condo for naps, swimming, and dinner.
Insert an irritating phone call from Giant Veterinary Corporation (we will not dwell on the details), and Dad actually got the 4 of us from the condo to the Magic Kingdom parking lot in 16 minutes!
We had just about 2 hours to spend at Magic Kingdom, and I think we spent it well:
- It's a Small World ride (couldn't miss it)
- Spinning Teacups ride
- Photos with Disney princesses for LS
- Haunted Mansion ("do not lower the safety bar. *I* will lower it for you")
- fireworks!
Day 4:
Thinking that 4 Disney parks in 2 days was plenty, we slept in a bit on Day 4, then headed (in a sort of meandering way, aided by multiple GPS systems) to Kennedy Space Center.
We went on the bus tour, had our pictures taken with a dude dressed as an astronaut, watched (and/or slept through) the Hubble IMAX movie, and went on the "shuttle launch experience."
A trip to the beach had been in our tentative plans for the afternoon, but we had too much fun at the space center so just went back to the condo afterward. More swimming, more dinner... you get the idea by now. Had a give-a-show, hung out, chatted, and went to bed.
Day 5:
Departure day for G&G and me! M&D&LS probably ready to get rid of us. :-)
Slept in extra late (10:30-ish?), then all piled into 2 cars and GPS-ed our way to Waffle House. No room for us to sit there, so Plan B went into effect and we ate at IHOP instead. Then back to the condo for packing and off to the airpot.
All in all, it was a super-fun trip and such a nice break from Colorado life for awhile. As with all travel, though, it felt really good to get back home. And my sunburn never did end up peeling off!
Day 1:
Arrive, meet Mom & Dad (M&D) & LilSis (LS) at the airport, met Grandma & Grandpa (G&G), checked into our super-fantastic condo. Ran to Publix for some dinner-ish food and other supplies. Dinner and hop in the pool before heading to bed.
Day 2:
Up at a semi-leisurely hour, then headed to Hollywood Studios, fka MGM.
Attractions visited at Hollywood include:
- Indiana Jones stunt show
- "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area (Dad & LS only)
- Extreme car stunt show
- Muppet Vision 3D movie
- Star Tours simulator
- Studio backlot tour
- Tower of Terror (you will NOT get me on this a third time!)
Mid-afternoon, G&G went back to the condo while the rest of us headed over to Epcot.
(From Disney trip(s) as a child, I have these vague memories of Epcot being a horrible place, where M&D dragged us around to look at boring, educational stuff about a bunch of different cultures and countries, and we had a nap in the big round movie theater playing a boring movie about Canada. So I was not super-excited to go back. But it was [thank goodness] way better than I remembered!)
Attractions visited at Epcot include:
- America-land restaurant (hurray for eating double cheeseburgers at Epcot...)
- Living with the Land boat ride
- Mission Space simulator (both green AND orange levels!)
- Spaceship Earth ride
- Project Tomorrow games, etc.
- The Seas ride with Nemo (why, yes, I have ridden in a Clamobile, how about you?)
- fireworks show at the end of the night
Another visit to the pool at the condo before bed.
Tired yet?
Day 3:
Sort of slept in again.... breakfast before heading to Animal Kingdom to start our second Disney day.
Attractions visited at Animal Kingdom include:
- Dinosaur ride
- Expedition Everest roller coaster (Dad only)
- "It's Tough to be a Bug" 3D movie
- Kilimanjaro Safari
- Primeval Whirl spinning roller coaster (Dad & me only)
- Lion King show
- Finding Nemo show (G&G only)
Time for a break from Disney - we went back to the condo for naps, swimming, and dinner.
Insert an irritating phone call from Giant Veterinary Corporation (we will not dwell on the details), and Dad actually got the 4 of us from the condo to the Magic Kingdom parking lot in 16 minutes!
We had just about 2 hours to spend at Magic Kingdom, and I think we spent it well:
- It's a Small World ride (couldn't miss it)
- Spinning Teacups ride
- Photos with Disney princesses for LS
- Haunted Mansion ("do not lower the safety bar. *I* will lower it for you")
- fireworks!
Day 4:
Thinking that 4 Disney parks in 2 days was plenty, we slept in a bit on Day 4, then headed (in a sort of meandering way, aided by multiple GPS systems) to Kennedy Space Center.
We went on the bus tour, had our pictures taken with a dude dressed as an astronaut, watched (and/or slept through) the Hubble IMAX movie, and went on the "shuttle launch experience."
A trip to the beach had been in our tentative plans for the afternoon, but we had too much fun at the space center so just went back to the condo afterward. More swimming, more dinner... you get the idea by now. Had a give-a-show, hung out, chatted, and went to bed.
Day 5:
Departure day for G&G and me! M&D&LS probably ready to get rid of us. :-)
Slept in extra late (10:30-ish?), then all piled into 2 cars and GPS-ed our way to Waffle House. No room for us to sit there, so Plan B went into effect and we ate at IHOP instead. Then back to the condo for packing and off to the airpot.
All in all, it was a super-fun trip and such a nice break from Colorado life for awhile. As with all travel, though, it felt really good to get back home. And my sunburn never did end up peeling off!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Out like a lamb (or a haze)
This semester just sort of fizzled out, without much excitement.
Part of it probably has to do with me being in a rhinovirus- and pharmaceutical-induced fog for the last 5 or 6 days. My sweet darling CLH shared his horrible cold with me, so I've been downing Sudafed, ibuprofen, and Benadryl like there's no tomorrow, sucking on cough drops like my life depends on it, and doing my best to effect an iatrogenic diuresis through the massive consumption of fluids. It hasn't helped - I keep feeling worse every day. (Although, to find a silver lining, I can at least say that the sore throat part is mostly gone, and I'm now just working through the congestion/runny nose/total fog phase.)
Anyway, illness combined with my already pathetic lack of motivation to study for this semester's finals made for a fairly unproductive week. Sure, I managed to review most of the important stuff, but it sure was nice to know that I didn't have to do particularly well on any finals.
Take anesthesia, for example. That was our final final (haha) - Thursday morning at 11:20. I walked into the lecture hall and was dismayed to see actual parts of an anesthesia machine sitting out on tables. As the instructor started explaining the exam, I think about half of us nearly broke into tears when he told us that the practical questions based on the anesthetic machine parts were questions number 87-94. Most of the test was multiple choice, but we had to write our name on each page of the exam. I remember misspelling my name (a few too many 'C's) at least twice. Haven't gotten that grade back yet, but I remain confident I got the 27% I needed.
I got a "114" on my Therio final, whatever that means. I have no idea how many points were available, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't 100, and I doubt it was 114. Whatevs, man. I'm over it.
Yesterday I dragged myself back to the VTH to train some new tour guides. This deserves at least one entire post to itself, but suffice it to say that a couple weeks ago I took over the role of coordinator for VTH tour guides, and soon discovered that (a) we needed three times as many tour guides for summer as I was told, (b) we didn't have enough regular guides able to work this summer, and (c) the previous coordinator didn't pass along some other information that would have been useful. So anyway, I think I sufficiently trained the 3 new guides in under an hour (or I hope I did).
This morning was spent cleaning up miscellaneous messes around the house, and making up the summer tour schedule in a Benadryl-induced fog.
Remaining until "real" summer starts on May 19? Two handbell concerts (one in Loveland tonight, one in Cheyenne on Tuesday), finish evaluating this semester's courses and instructors, and church on Sunday. And lots of sleep, assuming I don't die from mucopurulent nasal discharge-induced apnea during a nap.
(P.S. On a happy note, I have been in contact with the new office manager at the Giant Veterinary Corporation clinic where I'll be working again this summer. He seems super competent and already got me my first week's schedule, which is about 36 hours over 5 days with no two days off back-to-back, but he promises he will get me a better schedule after that. :-)
Part of it probably has to do with me being in a rhinovirus- and pharmaceutical-induced fog for the last 5 or 6 days. My sweet darling CLH shared his horrible cold with me, so I've been downing Sudafed, ibuprofen, and Benadryl like there's no tomorrow, sucking on cough drops like my life depends on it, and doing my best to effect an iatrogenic diuresis through the massive consumption of fluids. It hasn't helped - I keep feeling worse every day. (Although, to find a silver lining, I can at least say that the sore throat part is mostly gone, and I'm now just working through the congestion/runny nose/total fog phase.)
Anyway, illness combined with my already pathetic lack of motivation to study for this semester's finals made for a fairly unproductive week. Sure, I managed to review most of the important stuff, but it sure was nice to know that I didn't have to do particularly well on any finals.
Take anesthesia, for example. That was our final final (haha) - Thursday morning at 11:20. I walked into the lecture hall and was dismayed to see actual parts of an anesthesia machine sitting out on tables. As the instructor started explaining the exam, I think about half of us nearly broke into tears when he told us that the practical questions based on the anesthetic machine parts were questions number 87-94. Most of the test was multiple choice, but we had to write our name on each page of the exam. I remember misspelling my name (a few too many 'C's) at least twice. Haven't gotten that grade back yet, but I remain confident I got the 27% I needed.
I got a "114" on my Therio final, whatever that means. I have no idea how many points were available, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't 100, and I doubt it was 114. Whatevs, man. I'm over it.
Yesterday I dragged myself back to the VTH to train some new tour guides. This deserves at least one entire post to itself, but suffice it to say that a couple weeks ago I took over the role of coordinator for VTH tour guides, and soon discovered that (a) we needed three times as many tour guides for summer as I was told, (b) we didn't have enough regular guides able to work this summer, and (c) the previous coordinator didn't pass along some other information that would have been useful. So anyway, I think I sufficiently trained the 3 new guides in under an hour (or I hope I did).
This morning was spent cleaning up miscellaneous messes around the house, and making up the summer tour schedule in a Benadryl-induced fog.
Remaining until "real" summer starts on May 19? Two handbell concerts (one in Loveland tonight, one in Cheyenne on Tuesday), finish evaluating this semester's courses and instructors, and church on Sunday. And lots of sleep, assuming I don't die from mucopurulent nasal discharge-induced apnea during a nap.
(P.S. On a happy note, I have been in contact with the new office manager at the Giant Veterinary Corporation clinic where I'll be working again this summer. He seems super competent and already got me my first week's schedule, which is about 36 hours over 5 days with no two days off back-to-back, but he promises he will get me a better schedule after that. :-)
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