?'s about working in animal hospital

[LunaCaelum]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I am working this summer in an emergency animal hospital. I've worked in vet clinics previous summers, but they were both cat only. I was wondering if anyone could tell me some of the things they do there?

I kind of got the job on accident. I was calling about shadowing/observing surgeries etc and was offered this job over the phone. I start in a week, the day after my last final, and was just curious.

Thanks.

 

[incendium04]

I've had the good luck to work at 2 general practice small animal hospitals before working at an emergency hospital. Obviously, you are going to see a difference in patients - more dogs for instance. 🙂 If any of the vets at the emergency hospital work with exotics, wildlife, etc you may also see some of those. The best info I can give you about working at an emergency versus GP is pay attention & learn as much as you can about triage. Too many vet techs/assistants come through the hospital I work at with little concept of an "emergency". Hey! It's the life of an animal in critical condition here! Wake up! 🙄 Expect surprises and critical cases coming in without warning. You might be the 'new guy' but help in any way possible. Expecting the unexpected and willingness to work hard are great traits to have.

I think I am getting side tracked... did you want to know the procedures they do (surgery, etc)? Or the difference in your job? I get carried away talking about emergency vet med The hospital I work at just hired 3 new techs so "how to be a good emergency tech" is on my mind.

 

[VeganSoprano]

You will learn a ton! No two shifts are alike in the ER.

One thing I would say is to become very familiar with normal parameters for vital signs in dogs and cats. It's likely that you will be doing a lot of triage and it will be up to you to determine who is okay to wait in line for the next available doctor and who needs to be treated immediately. This isn't always as obvious as it sounds. A prime example is a big dog who looks pretty calm and stable but has a HR of 150. This almost always means something significant is going on and the sooner treatment is initiated, the better the outcome is likely to be.

I personally love my ER work. I couldn't ever go back to general practice!

 

[LunaCaelum]

Thanks for the replies guys! I've been considering emergency med when I'm a vet so I'm really excited about this opportunity.

What I'm worried about is getting there and them realizing I don't know much. I've only worked in two cat only clinics, once as a tech "ish" and one as a kennel, considerably longer at the kennel. And on the phone I told the lady who hired me that I worked in the kennel, I didn't even mention the other one. SO, should I be right or wrong in assuming that they are expecting me to not know much?

She did say they didn't have any students there but let me to believe that they enjoy having students there. Maybe they want to get more vets interested in emergency med? I'm just speculating. My first day is Friday and I'm really excited, however I have to get through one last dreadful final first!

 

[meadow36]

Be prepared to have an open mind and learn a lot - b/c ER medicine is completely different from day practice. The animals are sicker and harder to work with (veins not easy to hit, more stressed and fractious, or crashing) and the clients are stressed and harder to work with as well. It takes a lot of patience and you really have to have some tough skin.

However, it is fun, exciting and rewarding. If I were you I would just identify the strongest tech in the place and stick to that person like glue. Really think of yourself as a 'tech assistant' at first, until you get the feel for things. This might take several months.

I have 3 years of full time emergency technician experience, and I can say I've seen just about everything at this point. Nothing surprises me.

 

[VeganChick]

I LOVE working in ECC - like VeganSoprano said, I can't ever imagine day practice!

I had zero experience when I first came in, so don't even worry about it. What is most important for assistants (assuming that is what you are going to be doing) in my place is to assist the techs! I am not kidding when I say my job is to make sure the Tech does not get bit. Learn how to restrain and hold off as well as assist in radiography. Become indispensible to your techs!

It's likely that you will be doing a lot of triage and it will be up to you to determine who is okay to wait in line for the next available doctor and who needs to be treated immediately.

In my hospital, only licensed techs are allowed to do triage, so you may or may not be expected to do this. I do a lot of bloodwork and tons of cleaning, laundry and stocking. But most important, I do a lot of listening and question asking!

 

[LunaCaelum]

oh man am I embarrassed. My third day there (yesterday) we were really busy and I didn't take a chance to eat anything. So 8 hours into my shift I fainted...right after the doc finished surgery on a HBC dog...I was so embarrassed...one of the techs caught me before I hit the ground. THe worst part? It was my first day working with the vet that did the surgery. I feel like an idiot. Everyone was really nice about it, saying it's happened before etc but I'm still really embarrassed! Did this happen to any of you?

 

[thereservoirdog]

Don't worry about it too much, just laugh it off. A lot of us have had similar experiences, there's actually a few threads here about people fainting during surgeries. I'm sure it just takes a while to get used to the chaos of an emergency clinic. Next time make sure you've had breakfast before going to work 🙂

 

[VeganSoprano]

Haven't passed out (but have come close a couple of times...like you, from forgetting to eat and drink!), but I did vomit right in the middle of the ICU once. I managed to make it to the trash can, but still...I didn't hear the end of that one for a long, long time!

The best thing is to have a sense of humor about yourself. Crazy things happen to *everyone*. It's not what happens, but how you respond to it. If you're not freaked out by it, then no one else is likely to be either.

And definitely remember to have some food with you and a refillable water bottle. Even if you don't pass out, dehydration can make you feel really crummy and often contributes to orthostatic hypotension - a definite liability when you're getting up and down from weird positions as often as we are! (Voice of experience here - I hardly ever remember to drink enough and it does cause problems.) Pack foods like sandwiches and granola bars - things that are healthy and relatively calorie dense so that you can toss down 200-400 calories in a few bites if you are really slammed.

 

[HopefulAg]

oh man am I embarrassed. My third day there (yesterday) we were really busy and I didn't take a chance to eat anything. So 8 hours into my shift I fainted...right after the doc finished surgery on a HBC dog...I was so embarrassed...one of the techs caught me before I hit the ground. THe worst part? It was my first day working with the vet that did the surgery. I feel like an idiot. Everyone was really nice about it, saying it's happened before etc but I'm still really embarrassed! Did this happen to any of you?

I've never fainted before, but if I don't eat anything before a surgery then I get very noxious and the first couple times I excused myself before things went south.

But yah it's normal. It happens, and the vets are well aware that it will probably happen to someone just starting. At least you fainted from a surgery: I was about to give SQ fluids to a dog and the other tech who was holding him was talking to me and what not. Then when the needle hit the skin, she shut up suddenly and a second later I here a thud. Looked up and no one was holding my dog any more. Looked over the table and she's on the floor.

 

[SaintSamson]

Definitely happens 🙂 Just take it with good spirit and a learning experience.

I got to watch several surgeries from the window during my shifts, but when one of my dogs was spayed and had her hernia fixed, I asked if I could come watch. They were all very helpful with making sure I had a bite to eat, telling me to exit if I feel faint, etc. At one point, I felt a bit weak, but I remembered not to lock my knees (bad habit, can often cause someone to faint) and made it through....much to everyone's surprise! So I think fainting is more common than not fainting, lol!
I had a bad experience once where I stayed up for over 24 hours and forgot to eat anything and then my mom toted me to the mall and I started to black out as I was walking.... that sure caused a scene, lol.
Sounds like you're doing great, though, so don't discourage yourself! 🙂

 

[eventualeventer]

I've never fainted before, but if I don't eat anything before a surgery then I get very noxious and the first couple times I excused myself before things went south.

But yah it's normal. It happens, and the vets are well aware that it will probably happen to someone just starting. At least you fainted from a surgery: I was about to give SQ fluids to a dog and the other tech who was holding him was talking to me and what not. Then when the needle hit the skin, she shut up suddenly and a second later I here a thud. Looked up and no one was holding my dog any more. Looked over the table and she's on the floor.

HopefulAg, I have a priceless mental image of you yammering away, then looking up, then you and the dog peering over the table. All in my head, but it's cracking me up.