RANT HERE thread

[DVMDream]

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I say this not to be rude but you seem to have a unique experience as a dvm that has blinded you to the reality that most people face in this field. I showed multiple doctors your comments (board-certified specialists surgeons, cardiologist, ophthalmologists, and our exotics doctor) all said that everyday they use basic nursing skills in our hospital.

There was no reason to make this personal but here you are, on a thread specifically for ranting, getting combative with someone who simply has a different experience than you.

I am not making anything personal. I was simply trying to explain why GPA is utilized. Why it has to be considered. And why judging a vet on their tech skills is ridiculous and dumb.

I have been working in veterinary medicine since I was 17 years old. Post vet school I have worked both general practice and ER. I am not blinded to anything that is going on in the clinical setting. Been there, have been there recently. I talk with veterinarians daily as part of my job, there is no difference in their ability to do the job of a DVM based on experience they obtained prior to vet school.

I also never stated vets don't utilize or use tech skills, I stated it should be rare. And it should be. If your clinic management is doing things appropriately it should be rare for a DVM to need to do the work/job of a tech. Instead, most of vet med relies heavily on their vets to do a job they aren't meant to be doing. Why hire a new tech, we can make the DVM we are already paying fill in the missing gap? Why hire a trained/licensed tech when I can legally hire an assistant that has no experience to do the same job. That is the reason why you see vets doing tech work, because we are forced to due to poor clinical management and corporate trying to cut every tiny cost possible to increase their profits.


The reason I ended the last one with "whatever, best of luck" is because you are going to refuse to see the reason behind my comments, as you already have. There was no reason to continue the conversation because you have made up your mind. GPA is the all evil and if you don't have 4,000 + hours of tech work before going to vet school why are you even applying? Your initial comment was "Working as a nurse in this field and seeing the quality of new doctors completely lacking any technical skills is scary, especially in the emergency/specialty setting". Which I will stand solidly by my point: they aren't techs, they are doctors and judging their quality as DVMs because they can't place a cathether as well as a trained vet tech is stupid, short-sighted and missing the entire point.

 

[WildZoo]

I say this not to be rude but you seem to have a unique experience as a dvm that has blinded you to the reality that most people face in this field. I showed multiple doctors your comments (board-certified specialists surgeons, cardiologist, ophthalmologists, and our exotics doctor) all said that everyday they use basic nursing skills in our hospital.

There was no reason to make this personal but here you are, on a thread specifically for ranting, getting combative with someone who simply has a different experience than you.

Eh I kind of think the more important thing to ask would not be if they use those skills...most of us in clinical practice do out of necessity because of staffing issues. Rather I would ask if they think those are the most vital part of their skillset as vets, or the most important thing to have in the toolbox coming out of vet school. Most vets I know would rather have the the staff to be able to allow techs to do their jobs, so that the vets could do the doctor things, and everything would be more efficient. The point is that a new grad can be taught on the job how to do blood draws or place catheters if people want to spend the time on that. They are nice skills to have, but not essential to being a doctor. Their ability to diagnose, treat, do surgery, communicate with clients, work with the medical team, etc are much more important for their job than the technical skills that are not actually part of their job description. It's funny that this came up right after I was reading a bunch of comments on a Facebook post with techs begging vets to let them do the tech work and "stay in your lane".

And in any case, back to the initial post in this conversation, the vast majority of vet schools do not evaluate GPA in a vacuum outside of having initial cutoffs.

 

[WildZoo]

Also not sure where the idea is coming from that gap years are looked down on.

 

[WildZoo]

I've been involved in admissions for several years and experience in the field is always part of the evaluation, as I'm sure it is at most other schools. But what we're looking for when assessing experience is not technical skills, it's an understanding of the field, the difficulties of the job, things like that. Some people don't seem to have a grasp on that even after thousands of hours, others are surprisingly insightful after a couple hundred. I do agree that a gap year is beneficial for many applicants, but it's for things like that and for maturity reasons, not because I care about how well they've been trained in making blood smears for example.

 

[DVMDream]

I've been involved in admissions for several years and experience in the field is always part of the evaluation, as I'm sure it is at most other schools. But what we're looking for when assessing experience is not technical skills, it's an understanding of the field, the difficulties of the job, things like that. Some people don't seem to have a grasp on that even after thousands of hours, others are surprisingly insightful after a couple hundred. I do agree that a gap year is beneficial for many applicants, but it's for things like that and for maturity reasons, not because I care about how well they've been trained in making blood smears for example.

It has been a while, but I have never been able to make a good blood smear. Good enough in a clinical setting to get a view of what is needed on an ER basis, otherwise that is what pathologists exist for. 😉

 

[WildZoo]

It has been a while, but I have never been able to make a good blood smear. Good enough in a clinical setting to get a view of what is needed on an ER basis, otherwise that is what pathologists exist for. 😉

The clinic I worked at right before school randomly decided that we needed to do manual differential counts on every CBC we ran...and somehow that became my job (maybe foreshadowing for the amount of microscope work my PhD projects would involve...) and I got pretty good at it. Still I think it's one of those things you lose if you don't do it consistently, so the feathered edges are just never as nice these days.

 

[deleted1153530]

Eh I kind of think the more important thing to ask would not be if they use those skills...most of us in clinical practice do out of necessity because of staffing issues. Rather I would ask if they think those are the most vital part of their skillset as vets, or the most important thing to have in the toolbox coming out of vet school. Most vets I know would rather have the the staff to be able to allow techs to do their jobs, so that the vets could do the doctor things, and everything would be more efficient. The point is that a new grad can be taught on the job how to do blood draws or place catheters if people want to spend the time on that. They are nice skills to have, but not essential to being a doctor. Their ability to diagnose, treat, do surgery, communicate with clients, work with the medical team, etc are much more important for their job than the technical skills that are not actually part of their job description. It's funny that this came up right after I was reading a bunch of comments on a Facebook post with techs begging vets to let them do the tech work and "stay in your lane".

And in any case, back to the initial post in this conversation, the vast majority of vet schools do not evaluate GPA in a vacuum outside of having initial cutoffs.

I've been involved in admissions for several years and experience in the field is always part of the evaluation, as I'm sure it is at most other schools. But what we're looking for when assessing experience is not technical skills, it's an understanding of the field, the difficulties of the job, things like that. Some people don't seem to have a grasp on that even after thousands of hours, others are surprisingly insightful after a couple hundred. I do agree that a gap year is beneficial for many applicants, but it's for things like that and for maturity reasons, not because I care about how well they've been trained in making blood smears for example.

Eh I kind of think the more important thing to ask would not be if they use those skills...most of us in clinical practice do out of necessity because of staffing issues. Rather I would ask if they think those are the most vital part of their skillset as vets, or the most important thing to have in the toolbox coming out of vet school. Most vets I know would rather have the the staff to be able to allow techs to do their jobs, so that the vets could do the doctor things, and everything would be more efficient. The point is that a new grad can be taught on the job how to do blood draws or place catheters if people want to spend the time on that. They are nice skills to have, but not essential to being a doctor. Their ability to diagnose, treat, do surgery, communicate with clients, work with the medical team, etc are much more important for their job than the technical skills that are not actually part of their job description. It's funny that this came up right after I was reading a bunch of comments on a Facebook post with techs begging vets to let them do the tech work and "stay in your lane".

And in any case, back to the initial post in this conversation, the vast majority of vet schools do not evaluate GPA in a vacuum outside of having initial cutoffs.

I never said doctors need to be nurses though? I’m so confused at the point of this thread, I came on here to rant, per the title, and did not realize I needed to add each individual nuisance to avoid offending people.

My point is that I would prefer it be more highly encouraged to work in the field beyond shadowing doctors, that’s it.

 

[WildZoo]

I never said doctors need to be nurses though? I’m so confused at the point of this thread, I came on here to rant, per the title, and did not realize I needed to add each individual nuisance to avoid offending people.

My point is that I would prefer it be more highly encouraged to work in the field beyond shadowing doctors, that’s it.

Consider that when you make comments like yours, you are talking about your peers and future colleagues. So

I genuinely do not think you should be allowed to apply right of undergrad if you do not have at least a year of working experience.

well, you've just told a chunk of the people on this site that they shouldn't have been allowed to apply. Under those conditions I would not have been allowed to apply when I did, neither would several other people I know who are now wonderful vets. So yeah, you're going to get some backlash, because it comes across as you thinking you know better than the people making admissions decisions for some reason, and that applicants who have gotten into school don't deserve to be there.

This may be the rant thread, and you are certainly allowed to have your opinion, but you're not speaking into a void, so don't expect people not to respond. The application process sucks, it absolutely does. It often feels like things happen kind of randomly, like there's just a dartboard with applications on it and the adcoms are tossing tarts while blindfolded. And I do think that along with hard work, people get accepted in some part due to luck and applying to the right school at the right time. There's always a bit of that involved.

But putting down those who have gotten there is truly not going to do you any favors, and approaching these things from a place of humility is going to serve you much better.

 

[deleted1153530]

Eh I kind of think the more important thing to ask would not be if they use those skills...most of us in clinical practice do out of necessity because of staffing issues. Rather I would ask if they think those are the most vital part of their skillset as vets, or the most important thing to have in the toolbox coming out of vet school. Most vets I know would rather have the the staff to be able to allow techs to do their jobs, so that the vets could do the doctor things, and everything would be more efficient. The point is that a new grad can be taught on the job how to do blood draws or place catheters if people want to spend the time on that. They are nice skills to have, but not essential to being a doctor. Their ability to diagnose, treat, do surgery, communicate with clients, work with the medical team, etc are much more important for their job than the technical skills that are not actually part of their job description. It's funny that this came up right after I was reading a bunch of comments on a Facebook post with techs begging vets to let them do the tech work and "stay in your lane".

And in any case, back to the initial post in this conversation, the vast majority of vet schools do not evaluate GPA in a vacuum outside of having initial cutoffs.

They agree though, I showed them the thread. These are docors in the field are concerned by the lack of veterinary experience coming into this field as new doctors. This is more than just those without nursing care but lacking fundamental knowledge about how to operate in this field.

For what it is worth, I don’t love the stay in your lane attitude for pretty much anything because we all rely on each other so much.

Regardless, I came in here to vent, not get talked down to. I get that many professional individuals come on here to help but this is just unproductive

 

[supershorty]

the adcoms are tossing tarts

Lemon for me, pls

 

[WildZoo]

Lemon for me, pls

Oof

 

[deleted1153530]

Consider that when you make comments like yours, you are talking about your peers and future colleagues. So

well, you've just told a chunk of the people on this site that they shouldn't have been allowed to apply. Under those conditions I would not have been allowed to apply when I did, neither would several other people I know who are now wonderful vets. So yeah, you're going to get some backlash, because it comes across as you thinking you know better than the people making admissions decisions for some reason, and that applicants who have gotten into school don't deserve to be there.

This may be the rant thread, and you are certainly allowed to have your opinion, but you're not speaking into a void, so don't expect people not to respond. The application process sucks, it absolutely does. It often feels like things happen kind of randomly, like there's just a dartboard with applications on it and the adcoms are tossing tarts while blindfolded. And I do think that along with hard work, people get accepted in some part due to luck and applying to the right school at the right time. There's always a bit of that involved.

But putting down those who have gotten there is truly not going to do you any favors, and approaching these things from a place of humility is going to serve you much better.

At no point did I ever insult or demean anyone here. You are making inferences on my tone.

I stand by my working in the field statement based on my experiences, hence why I am ranting. I am allowed to be frustrated by this, and I have not insulted or been derogatory towards anyone. I said I would like to see that as a requirement. Please show me where I put anybody down in any previous comments

 

[supershorty]

Oof

CaN i HeLp YoU dUbZ

 

[DVMDream]

@WildZoo I thought admissions were putting all the applications up on the walls of a long hallway, getting drunk and then tossing darts at them to pick who is accepted. 😉

 

[DVMDream]

At no point did I ever insult or demean anyone here. You are making inferences on my tone.

I stand by my working in the field statement based on my experiences, hence why I am ranting. I am allowed to be frustrated by this, and I have not insulted or been derogatory towards anyone

Please show me where I put anybody down in any previous comments

There are quite a few people in this forum that have minimal or gasp even no experience working in a clinical setting before getting accepted to vet school, graduating from vet school, working as a vet. You've literally told them they don't deserve it and aren't quality vets.

 

[WildZoo]

At no point did I ever insult or demean anyone here. You are making inferences on my tone.

I stand by my working in the field statement based on my experiences, hence why I am ranting. I am allowed to be frustrated by this, and I have not insulted or been derogatory towards anyone

Please show me where I put anybody down in any previous comments

I already attempted to show you (with a direct quote) how the things you said may have come across poorly to others here. You can choose to try to see that perspective, or not, that is up to you.

 

[WildZoo]

@WildZoo I thought admissions were putting all the applications up on the walls of a long hallway, getting drunk and then tossing darts at them to pick who is accepted. 😉

They're throwing tarts now, things have really gone off the rails

 

[WildZoo]

CaN i HeLp YoU dUbZ

I am clearly beyond help at this stage in my life

 

[DVMDream]

They're throwing tarts now, things have really gone off the rails

This is probably actually a little safer.

 

[supershorty]

I've been involved in admissions for several years and experience in the field is always part of the evaluation, as I'm sure it is at most other schools. But what we're looking for when assessing experience is not technical skills, it's an understanding of the field, the difficulties of the job, things like that. Some people don't seem to have a grasp on that even after thousands of hours, others are surprisingly insightful after a couple hundred. I do agree that a gap year is beneficial for many applicants, but it's for things like that and for maturity reasons, not because I care about how well they've been trained in making blood smears for example.

To piggyback on this - I also have been involved in admissions for several years, at a different program than Dubz has. I think one of the biggest misconceptions that I see in applicants' thoughts about experience hours is this - that we're looking for evidence of the technical skills. It's not at all that.

You'll learn the necessary technical skills for a veterinarian in veterinary school. That includes some basic tech skills, like venipuncture, catheter placement, etc. But that's not what we're evaluating in the admissions process - at all. The program will teach the technical skills. It can't teach the understanding of what the field truly entails (which is more complex) - that's experiential. And the reality is that while no, undergraduate GPA is not the be-all, end-all, programs do need some objective metric by which to evaluate applicants. How they weight that will vary by program - it's why we have subforums like the WAMC forum, to help people tailor where they apply to apply smart. But it doesn't change that a DVM program is exceptionally challenging, and if someone hasn't demonstrated that they can succeed in undergraduate coursework, which is much less rigorous, then it does raise the question of whether they truly can succeed in veterinary school.

Of course, you can be frustrated, and having my own unsuccessful cycle in the past, I know how it can make you want to pull your hair and scream. But if you choose to verbalize that on a public forum, don't be surprised if people respond to it with differing opinions.

I encourage you to take advantage of the many resources we have here, including compilations of details about different schools, application advice, and more. 🙂

 

[supershorty]

This is probably actually a little safer.

And tastier.

 

[deleted1153530]

I already attempted to show you (with a direct quote) how the things you said may have come across poorly to others here. You can choose to try to see that perspective, or not, that is up to you.

The quote of me saying something should be a requirement is an insult to who specifically? That’s certainly an interesting take. If I were to say “I think vertebrate zoology should be a pre-req for vet school” would that suddenly also be insulting to those who are applying without that course? Seriously stop stretching to make a point

 

[DVMDream]

And tastier.

I want raspberry

 

[WildZoo]

The quote of me saying something should be a requirement is an insult to who specifically? That’s certainly an interesting take. If I were to say “I think vertebrate zoology should be a pre-req for vet school” would that suddenly also be insulting to those who are applying without that course? Seriously stop stretching to make a point

Again, I didn't say you insulted anyone, I said that your comment came across poorly and tried to show you why. There's a difference between framing something as, for example, "I wish my experience in the field had been valued more highly by the schools I applied to" and implying that people without as much experience as you shouldn't even be allowed to apply.

Certainly if you stated that people who had not taken vertebrate zoology should not be allowed to apply to vet school, you would also get some backlash about that.

 

[deleted1153530]

Again, I didn't say you insulted anyone, I said that your comment came across poorly and tried to show you why. There's a difference between framing something as, for example, "I wish my experience in the field had been valued more highly by the schools I applied to" and implying that people without as much experience as you shouldn't even be allowed to apply.

Certainly if you stated that people who had not taken vertebrate zoology should not be allowed to apply to vet school, you would also get some backlash about that.

My comment came off poorly to you and another user. Their comments to me back were demeaning and I do not need to be talked to that way.

Again I came on here to vent, not have to vehemently defend the venting because it was not worded in a way you like.

 

[WildZoo]

My comment came off poorly to you and another user. Their comments to me back were demeaning and I do not need to be talked to that way.

Again I came on here to vent, not have to vehemently defend the venting because it was not worded in a way you like.

I think if you do not realize that we were not the only ones put off by your statements, and are not even willing to attempt to see that perspective even when it is presented kindly, then you're perhaps not going to see the point today. I am truly sorry about your frustrations, and I hope things start looking up for you.

 

[finnickthedog]

My comment came off poorly to you and another user.

Your comments came off poorly to more people than just those who chose to engage in the conversation.

 

[Trilt]

I didn't have any paid experience in veterinary medicine before I got in. The clinics I did manage to hang out with also were... smaller, and with more lax medical standards, to say the least! Having my first patient on clinics have a triple lumen central line was quite the escalation haha.

Learned my technical skills in school and on the job after. I'm now the one they go to for teeny caths, am generally good at my job, and much happier with the career than a lot of vets I know. It didn't take thousands of hours in the field and working as a tech. It took learning basics and trying out different fields, being generally flexible, and yes, having the academic ability to survive vet school (and test taking acumen to pass the NAVLE).

Fundamentally what I think a LOT of people can't get is working as a vet and working as lay staff (or credentialed tech!) is fundamentally different. There is a true difference for being the one making the calls, doing the client comm, evaluating the labwork, etc. Just putting in hours definitely gets you familiar with some of the emotional ****ery that is veterinary medicine, but until it all just LAYS on you in the way it does as a doctor, it is fundamentally... hard to understand.

It's why I am vehemently against the giant tuition costs. You don't know how you'll mesh with the experience until you do it, and it sucks to realize it's really not your thing when you're stuck in the career with a mortgage.

 

[wildpuppy]

At what point does checking sdn and refreshing my email every couple hours become an unhealthy habit?

 

[DVMDream]

At what point does checking sdn and refreshing my email every couple hours become an unhealthy habit?

I remember those days, though some of it was waiting for the mail man and checking the mailbox, Sundays were my #1 enemy. I am going to say it only becomes an unhealthy habit if it is preventing you from sleeping or completing other things that need to be completed. 🙂

 

[katiemcat]

At what point does checking sdn and refreshing my email every couple hours become an unhealthy habit?

I’d say when it’s taking away from other things in your life, like how I’m here instead of studying for my cardio exam tomorrow 😂

 

[WildZoo]

I’d say when it’s taking away from other things in your life, like how I’m here instead of studying for my cardio exam tomorrow 😂

I've been doing the wrong thing for years...

 

[supershorty]

I've been doing the wrong thing for years...

Same tbh

 

[Trilt]

At what point does checking sdn and refreshing my email every couple hours become an unhealthy habit?

well I just got my 15 year badge recently, so I'd say somewhere around year twenty... 😉

 

[britzen]

I say this not to be rude but you seem to have a unique experience as a dvm that has blinded you to the reality that most people face in this field. I showed multiple doctors your comments (board-certified specialists surgeons, cardiologist, ophthalmologists, and our exotics doctor) all said that everyday they use basic nursing skills in our hospital.

I'm almost afraid to jump into this convo since it's gotten kind of heated, but I do want to mention that 17% of veterinarians do not work in clinical practice.

I have drawn blood 2x total in 8 months. And it's not because techs were doing it for me... My job just literally doesn't need to do stuff like that very often. And blood draws are pretty much it for me in terms of what I need to do other than swabbing things and taking rectal biopsies in small ruminants (which I can teach students to do in about 5 minutes... it's not exactly a difficult technical skill).

17% makes us a minority for sure, but we're not exactly unique. (Although some of that 17% does use those skills more regularly too, so let's even bring it down to like 10%... which, again, 1 in 10 is a minority, but I still wouldn't say unique).

You just don't have cause to interact with many of us because you're working in clinical medicine.

 

[Doctor Ham]

Hi. AdCom here.

Being a tech is 100% not a requirement for admission to vet school - you're applying to be a vet, not a tech. There are plenty of reasons why working as a tech is not, and will not be a requirement. International applicants may not be permitted to work - they shouldn't be excluded. Applicants who lack family support may have to work odd hours or better-paying jobs in order to make ends meet - they shouldn't be excluded. There are too many unique perspectives to list.

Where would you draw the line, too? Plenty of applicants (and admitted students) have minimal or no experience with "alternative" species. If it was somehow a requirement that every applicant be able to draw blood on small animals, exotics, ruminants, horses, etc......we would end up with maybe 2 qualified applicants in each pile. There is plenty of opportunity to master various technical skills in vet school.

Honestly sometimes the tone of applicants with significant tech experience can come off as quite entitled. Like somehow because they have tech experience, that should outweigh mediocre grades or minimally diverse experiences.

And for what it's worth - I haven't done a blood smear since vet school, and no one has ever asked me to. I do a lot of blood draws, only because I'm ambulatory and don't always have a tech. But I definitely do interpretations of lab results on a daily basis.

 

[whateverforever]

I know it's not the same as human medicine, but a MD/DO isn't expected to do nursing duties, like ever. A dentist isn't the one cleaning your teeth. Why would we set the veterinarian expectation different? I know there are staffing shortages but I think working on correcting those things is the way forward instead of moving towards making veterinarians a catch all. I've spent a lot of time working in human med and I don't WANT to do anyone else's job. I have enough work of my own. But also, working outside of what I am comfortable doing, even if it is technically within my scope, gives me more liability, which I do not want. There are very defined lines between roles for the safety of patients and frankly it's kind of scary when people think they can or should do everything (a commonly used argument against nurse practitioners though my intention here is not to open that can of worms)

 

[Jess Monster]

The fall of last year I applied for an interesting job (lower pay, less benefits, but closer to my desired field) that I was decently qualified to do. I interviewed but was rejected shortly after. I’m not really sure why. It might have been due to my current job needing 60 days notice or to my lack of grant writing experience (not a main feature of the job)… or to other factors that are a little more upsetting, like how all my interviewers looked suspiciously homogenous as if HR has a physical type they like to hire that doesn’t look like me.

Anyway, I saw they reposted the job for a third time now with a start date in the summer. I’m not sure if I’m angry for losing out or if I’m happy petty that they’re having such difficulty filling the job.

 

[battie]

But also working outside of what I am comfortable doing gives me mor liability which I also do not want

Starting in January 2024, RVTs will hold liability for their actions (rather than being under vet's license). You can bet my techs are already talking about not letting anyone do anything for them.

ETA: this is in CO, just as a clarification

 

[Armoredx]

My comment came off poorly to you and another user. Their comments to me back were demeaning and I do not need to be talked to that way.

Again I came on here to vent, not have to vehemently defend the venting because it was not worded in a way you like.

I had to make an account just for this rant because it's unfortunate that there are people like this who feel like they're entitled to be a vet. I read through your previous posts and I can clearly tell that you're upset that you were rejected from all the schools you applied but you have a great application in your opinion.

The problem I see here is that you need to be humble and have some humility and take a step back and read what you're writing. If someone else said that they're the best and that the only reason they're not getting accepted is because of their gpa the past 3 years, then maybe there's another reason why they're not being accepted.

Your mindset is that everyone at your hospital tells you that you're qualified shouldn't take away from the criticism here. I can clearly tell that you're in a bubble where you think you're the best and that because no one accepted you, you need to shame everyone who is a vet or is becoming a vet.

Every one of these vets have sacrificed time, blood and money to get where they are and you are shamelessly disregarding that and I find that highly disrespectful. Fortunately for you, the people on this forum are professional and courteous that they are not speaking their mind like I am.

Again, I highly suggest you reflect upon yourself before you judge others. Otherwise, this career (or life for that matter) is not for those who won't take criticism about ones own opinion.

If you want to succeed in life, you need to be humble and understand life is not perfect or will not turn out the way you wanted it to. That doesn't mean you should give up your dreams.

My wife had to quit a cushy job that would have been enough for our retirement but that wasn't what she wanted in her life. She knew she wanted to be a vet since she was little but didn't have the confidence to do so. I told her you have a dream and if it's a dream worth going after, quit your job and go for it. You only live once and if it's not a life that was fulfilling, is it worth continuing your current path? Did we make hard sacrifices? Yes we did. So when you come off as a entitled person, you disregard everyone who made sacrifices to come this far.

Hopefully you will see why others are not defending you and take a step back and see it from their perspective.

 

[MixedAnimals77]

When you've had a BUSY and rough last couple work days but sleep eludes you for your day off that you can "sleep in"🙁
I miss the slow January slump some days.

 

[battie]

Worked a 100hr pay period. Honestly not super bad because the new hospital is still relatively slow (maybe 10 cases in a 24hr period on average, the vast majority during day shift). Last Saturday was absolutely wild (but the most productive day since we opened). Had Sunday off and was able to recharge a little bit with some Pokemon.

Then bam. Monday. Swing shift 10-10. Down a doctor so the morning doc was alone for 3 hours and I was alone 5 hours in the afternoon. And of course the practice manager's dog becomes acutely ill. But she's at the airport to go see her mom who is declining due to cancer. FAST scan: hemoabdomen. Full abdominal US: multiple splenic masses and suspect carcinomatosis. But we need to save this dog. Tech goes and grabs her dog for blood transfusion to stabilize for surgery. Did all the other diagnostics. And then he goes agonal and is DNR. So I get to call the med director to tell her this beloved dog (basically clinic mascot) has died likely of cancer, while his mom is flying out to be with her mom dying of cancer. And med director calls practice manager when she lands. And of course, because I'm at a phenomenal hospital, everyone is super kind and sad all together. Emotional support starbucks was purchased.

This is 2/2 practice manager dogs where the family was gone and they become acutely ill while I'm the doctor on the floor and they have a hemoabdomen with obviously splenic pathology. The practice manager of my new location promised her golden retriever won't pull this shady **** with me.

And, of course, my husband got picked for jury duty this week. So no days off together as a family this week. 😭

 

[SkiOtter]

This is 2/2 practice manager dogs where the family was gone and they become acutely ill while I'm the doctor on the floor and they have a hemoabdomen with obviously splenic pathology. The practice manager of my new location promised her golden retriever won't pull this shady **** with me.

Clearly they are not allowed to leave town when you’re the only doctor. I’m sorry bats💜💜💜

 

[vetmedhead]

I've been doing the wrong thing for years...

Me, thinking about all the WW games I modded literally in the middle of lecture lol

 

[vetmedhead]

I'm almost afraid to jump into this convo since it's gotten kind of heated, but I do want to mention that 17% of veterinarians do not work in clinical practice.

I have drawn blood 2x total in 8 months. And it's not because techs were doing it for me... My job just literally doesn't need to do stuff like that very often. And blood draws are pretty much it for me in terms of what I need to do other than swabbing things and taking rectal biopsies in small ruminants (which I can teach students to do in about 5 minutes... it's not exactly a difficult technical skill).

17% makes us a minority for sure, but we're not exactly unique. (Although some of that 17% does use those skills more regularly too, so let's even bring it down to like 10%... which, again, 1 in 10 is a minority, but I still wouldn't say unique).

You just don't have cause to interact with many of us because you're working in clinical medicine.

I mean heck, I work in clinical medicine and I don't know that I've drawn blood in almost a year. I've made a few slides, mainly because 1) I have a problem and nobody can curb my instinct to put tape on all my derm patients and make skin cytologies 2) one time it was like 9 PM and nobody else was around and I decided very arbitrarily that I needed to do a manual platelet count for a patient. My last cysto was on a bladder that I had removed during a necropsy and was holding in my hand (easiest blind cysto ever 😎).

Do I know how to make passable slides in a pinch? Sure. Can I draw blood and place IVC? Sure. But these are things way better left in the hands of my obscenely qualified tech staff, who generally shoo me out of the way if I try to help them too much by ignoring doctor things.

frankly it's kind of scary when people think they can or should do everything (a commonly used argument against nurse practitioners though my intention here is not to open that can of worms)

I'm very bad about this. Some part of me just hates having to ask other people to do anything for me, as if I'm somehow inconveniencing people by asking them to do things they're very qualified to do. It makes everyone's jobs harder when I forget to stop myself. By now, everyone knows I sometimes need some gentle shooing and that it won't hurt my feelings lol

(I still feel bad for asking for things though 🥲 and now to make myself feel better I just bake something to bring in to them every week)

 

[SkiOtter]

This is not a rant. I just didn’t want to start a new thread/ flood anyone’s feed more than necessary.

What kind of shoes do you need for vet school. Is there a certain type of boots that are needed? For context, I’m tracking small animal.

Do you mean for large animal stuff? If so, it may depend on your school if they require something specific or have a Rec for something, but my school (uiuc) recommended low tread rubber boots that went over your shoes. They were the tingley workbrutes in I think 14” height (they also sell 17”). Some people did have boots that were not the overboot kind and they’d swap from shoes to boots and it was fine for them. Just needs to be easy to clean/disinfect (we had a large brush with a handle and we’d scrub them with a disinfectant solution after rinsing gunk off).

 

[JaynaAli]

This is not a rant. I just didn’t want to start a new thread/ flood anyone’s feed more than necessary.

What kind of shoes do you need for vet school. Is there a certain type of boots that are needed? For context, I’m tracking small animal.

Your school should tell you anything that’s normally required. In general around large animals you’ll want a leather type closed toe boot/shoe but it doesn’t matter exactly what. Rubber boots are nice to have to avoid splashes in anatomy and necropsy rotations. I’d probably just wait to see what your school sends out before buying anything though.

 

[Jess Monster]

I’m in the mood to rant: My PM keeps threatening to cut my support staff (I rarely have more than two vet assistants) while still pushing me to see 20 pets or more a day. Apparently I’m not meeting their sales goals, so this is supposed to motivate me or something …. by punishing the hourly employees, I guess. I just try to remind myself that it’s only for a few more months. Come July, I’m leaving whether I have a new job lined up or not. I’m sure my PM is getting crap from corporate, but there are three or four staff members (~ 25% of the non-doctor staff) who are actively looking for jobs elsewhere due to this kind of BS and when they leave it is going to hurt the practice, our clients, and the remaining staff.

 

[twelvetigers]

This old hag is glad to see that y'all can still rustle up some drama when needed. It was overdue.

I poke things all the time but prior to vet school I had placed like two catheters and done like 5 blood draws. Now I'd challenge any of you to a vein-off, but only if the animal is heavily sedated first because I don't rodeo.

I had a classmate that had never used a microscope beyond the minimal stuff from like, biology 1114 or whatever. They were looking for parasites in a fecal float. I had a microbiology degree, took parasitology for fun, and spent a whole summer looking at baboon shat for a research thing. I can say with much certainty that she is a better vet than me - lol. I just kill things now (nicely).

We all have different backgrounds and that's what makes the world go around. Whether one experience of another inherently makes up a better applicant or potential future vet, I don't know. That's for admissions committees to decide. And guess what- they get it wrong sometimes. Turns out that evaluating someone's potential for future success is really difficult. Too many factors.

My rant (that I came here for) is that I was selected for a random CE audit. Thankfully I saved my stuff but ugh, I always wonder how random it really is. I kinda had to piecemeal a bunch of different stuff last year. This year, I did a conference, which makes it way easier. I just don't get CE $$ so I can't get reimbursed for the flights and stuff.

 

[twelvetigers]

well I just got my 15 year badge recently, so I'd say somewhere around year twenty... 😉

I have like two weeks and then I'll join you. Hah.

HASHTAG OLD PEOPLE