Vet tech assistant - Memory is failing me

[Ayemee]

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Hey guys!

I’m a vet technician assistant currently applying to vet schools. I work at a 24/7 emergency hospital where we intake routine care as well. It feels as if we are always understaffed and can’t ever catch up. Doctors are constantly throwing orders at me and so I have to make a mental list and then sometimes get pulled aside while currently working on one of those tasks and then end up getting backtracked with the task at hand. It’s so frustrating because I don’t want to just tell my coworkers or doctors to hold on because sometimes the tasks I’m doing can take a little bit, like preparing a dog for a burial box and sending him home with the owners.

I know the doctors realize we are understaffed but it’s still very overwhelming and the patients are getting the proper care they need and I end up partially blaming myself. Does anyone have any tips for dealing with this? Or at least tell me it’s normal? The last clinic I came from was not like this, but we also weren’t an emergency clinic.

 

[DVMDream]

Welcome to the field, where everyone is understaffed and overworked. My tip...learn to prioritize. I'm fine with a tech telling me they'll get to a task as soon as they finish the current task they're working on, exception being a true emergency, if I'm asking for you NOW, I mean NOW. Knowing when task B needs to be completed first however task X just showed up and that's getting an IV into the crashing dog, then task B gets set aside.

 

[Ayemee]

That’s what I’ll have to start doing because sometimes it feels like I’m everywhere, getting nothing done

 

[WhiteRabbit1740]

It's normal and it gets easier with time 🙂
If you have a way to write down your mental notes it might keep your thinking clear and your stress levels down! A laminated square of paper and a wet erase marker works well because 1) it's reusable and 2) (more important) You can sanitize it. 🙂

 

[EB73674]

I would agree with DVMD, and I would also add that it's okay to ask your doctor what your priority needs to be. Let them decide what they need, if they're all their own cases. Yes, use some judgment here (if you're about to read a healthy routine fecal and your doc is asking you to help them restrain a fractious animal or do something for an unstable animal, jump in!), but I've never had a bad response to saying "I can either set up Fluffy's bloodwork from the earlier appointment or I can stain this blood smear, which do you need first?" There is also a great benefit to being flexible - even if it takes doing 5 minutes at a time throughout the day of a 25 minute procedure, it'll still get done. Do you have a practice manager, or a head tech? This may be a good chance to have a discussion with him/her about how to improve your prioritization and communication skills - they want you to be efficient and get the things done that need doing, so I would think a discussion and some coaching would be of benefit to everyone. Ask for feedback on what you could be doing differently or more quickly/more streamlined from those around you with more experience, and be willing to take critique. It'll get better, I promise, you just may need to tweak how you're approaching things.