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Frustrated Intern

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Maddybaddy01

New Member
5+ Year Member
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I am doing a rotating small animal internship and I am more than a bit frustrated. For one, I want to work with exotics. I am lacking passion at the moment, as I see no exotics on this internship and am not sure how not seeing any exotics will help me to get into an exotics program later on. I am also frustrated with HR- they’re so disorganized, I didn’t even get a notification of my orientation day and to call into the clinic at 7pm the night before to find out. Next, I have some health problems and I am supposed to have health insurance now, but HR didn’t turn in the paperwork on time. Plus I have no time to see a doctor. Been waiting over 4 weeks to get a counsellor EAP as well (it’s been rough) but that hasn’t worked out, either. Been waiting 4 weeks for my VIN membership but still don’t have it and when I ask, I get the runaround. Probably most importantly, I have been doing nothing but shadowing for the last 5 weeks and not really given the opportunity to do anything. When I ask to do something, I get told I can only watch. My program coordinator says I will be doing this for the next 3 months. I don’t have any basic clinical skills and watching does not help me to develop these. In fact, it kills my confidence because I do not feel like a real doctor, and it bothers me when clients ask if I am a student. I guess the lack of passion for what I am doing plus the fact that my program doesn’t seem to care about me or my wellbeing plus the fact that I feel like I am just an overqualified pre-veterinary student again makes me really question whether to continue in this program. I used to want to do an exotics residency- now I just want to drop out of the profession and become a zookeeper. It would save me a lot of stress, disappointment, and at least i would be working with exotics and maybe even have time to see a doctor