What are you expected to learn in an SA clinic?

[futurehealervet]

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Hey guys,
I have about 700 hours at an SA clinic shadowing and volunteering. I do the usual cleaning, walking etc. I've also learned to draw up meds, give IM and subcu injections, send samples to the lab, set up clients, etc. I am about to learn to draw blood and intubate animals. I am a bit worried because I have read about people saying they've done much more complicated things in far fewer hours. Is it crazy that I haven't learned to draw blood yet? Are there specific skills I should make sure to have before moving on to another form of experience?

 

[Lissarae06]

Hey guys,
I have about 700 hours at an SA clinic shadowing and volunteering. I do the usual cleaning, walking etc. I've also learned to draw up meds, give IM and subcu injections, send samples to the lab, set up clients, etc. I am about to learn to draw blood and intubate animals. I am a bit worried because I have read about people saying they've done much more complicated things in far fewer hours. Is it crazy that I haven't learned to draw blood yet? Are there specific skills I should make sure to have before moving on to another form of experience?

The experience you get is going to vary from clinic to clinic. Some clinics don't let their shadows/volunteers do anything but observe. Some people enter vet school never having drawn blood, etc. It sounds like you are learning quite a bit. Just take advantage of all that they have to teach you. Whatever you don't learn, you will learn at school.

 

[LetItSnow]

Is it crazy that I haven't learned to draw blood yet? Are there specific skills I should make sure to have before moving on to another form of experience?

Whatever clinical skills you can learn are great, but I wouldn't worry about checking off a list or anything -- whatever you need that you don't have you'll pick up during your vet school years. You'll have classmates who were techs for years who can teach you that stuff anyway.

If it were me, I'd focus less on the physical skills (blood draws, ET tubes, injections, whatever) and more on the fuzzy skills. Don't think that one or two euthanasia appointments mean you've figured out how to talk to those clients. Or angry clients. Or clients to whom you have to deliver bad news. Take note of how it changes when it's an older client. Younger. A couple. Kids in the room. Whatever.

The hard part of this gig is getting the most out of communicating with clients. Getting info from them and making sure they get it from you is a frickin' art. So I'd focus on that. I spent most of my pre-vet time at one clinic and I still go back as often as I can manage because I really respect the communication skills of one of the vets, and I constantly pick up new ideas/tips on how to manage certain types of interactions. It's way more effective than the professional development classes at school.

I know it's way more exciting (and obvious) to focus on the 'medical' stuff. Sorry. 🙂

 

[Frozenshades]

The experience you get is going to vary from clinic to clinic. Some clinics don't let their shadows/volunteers do anything but observe. Some people enter vet school never having drawn blood, etc. It sounds like you are learning quite a bit. Just take advantage of all that they have to teach you. Whatever you don't learn, you will learn at school.

Depends where you are also. Some states have stricter laws in regards to what non-certified technicians can and can't do. Just do what you can and there shouldn't be a need to worry about that.

 

[cowgirla]

Whatever clinical skills you can learn are great, but I wouldn't worry about checking off a list or anything -- whatever you need that you don't have you'll pick up during your vet school years. You'll have classmates who were techs for years who can teach you that stuff anyway.

If it were me, I'd focus less on the physical skills (blood draws, ET tubes, injections, whatever) and more on the fuzzy skills. Don't think that one or two euthanasia appointments mean you've figured out how to talk to those clients. Or angry clients. Or clients to whom you have to deliver bad news. Take note of how it changes when it's an older client. Younger. A couple. Kids in the room. Whatever.

The hard part of this gig is getting the most out of communicating with clients. Getting info from them and making sure they get it from you is a frickin' art. So I'd focus on that. I spent most of my pre-vet time at one clinic and I still go back as often as I can manage because I really respect the communication skills of one of the vets, and I constantly pick up new ideas/tips on how to manage certain types of interactions. It's way more effective than the professional development classes at school.

I know it's way more exciting (and obvious) to focus on the 'medical' stuff. Sorry. 🙂

👍

I think I learned more useful skills working the reception desk than I did when I was playing tech and hiding out back in the kennels. Money is a big issue...and the receptionist gets the "honor" of being the first one unhappy people whine too. And the one who has to be the bad guy and get estimates and permission slips signed, fees collected before people leave, deposits let, deal with impatient people in the lobby, denied credit cards, sticker shock at high bills, angry people on the phone, etc etc.

 

[futurehealervet]

Thanks for the advice! I am learning a lot about communication and getting along with coworkers so thats good. I feel confident about being able to work well with others and deal with difficult situations. I just keep imagining being in class on the first day of vet school where the professor seems to be speaking in a different language but everyone else is nodding along to what he's saying while I scream inside my head. I'm sure everyone worries about that though. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[david594]

The tech skills are handy to have, but not an expectation and they will teach you any you dont know in vet school.

I'd try and learn as much as you can from the vets you work with and the cases they are seeing. In most veterinary schools you only spend 1 year on clinics, and only a few weeks on any given rotation. And as such there is a reasonable chance you will graduate without having seen, worked up, or treated a lot of diseases you will be expected to know. With many of them just having seen them in the past will give you at an advantage on clinics if those cases do present.

The soft skills are also pretty helpful.

 

[jmo1012]

I just keep imagining being in class on the first day of vet school where the professor seems to be speaking in a different language but everyone else is nodding along to what he's saying while I scream inside my head. I'm sure everyone worries about that though. Thanks for the reassurance.

oh, this will likely happen (and everyone nodding along will be feeling the same way), but the foreign language wont be technical skills related - it'll be all the little itty bitty intricate details of how the body works and falls apart 😀

 

[DVMDream]

Whatever clinical skills you can learn are great, but I wouldn't worry about checking off a list or anything -- whatever you need that you don't have you'll pick up during your vet school years. You'll have classmates who were techs for years who can teach you that stuff anyway.

If it were me, I'd focus less on the physical skills (blood draws, ET tubes, injections, whatever) and more on the fuzzy skills. Don't think that one or two euthanasia appointments mean you've figured out how to talk to those clients. Or angry clients. Or clients to whom you have to deliver bad news. Take note of how it changes when it's an older client. Younger. A couple. Kids in the room. Whatever.

The hard part of this gig is getting the most out of communicating with clients. Getting info from them and making sure they get it from you is a frickin' art. So I'd focus on that. I spent most of my pre-vet time at one clinic and I still go back as often as I can manage because I really respect the communication skills of one of the vets, and I constantly pick up new ideas/tips on how to manage certain types of interactions. It's way more effective than the professional development classes at school.

I know it's way more exciting (and obvious) to focus on the 'medical' stuff. Sorry. 🙂

👍 x 1,000,000

Communication is key to being a good vet. I don't think there is much else I can add to this.

 

[deli]

Whatever clinical skills you can learn are great, but I wouldn't worry about checking off a list or anything -- whatever you need that you don't have you'll pick up during your vet school years. You'll have classmates who were techs for years who can teach you that stuff anyway.

If it were me, I'd focus less on the physical skills (blood draws, ET tubes, injections, whatever) and more on the fuzzy skills. Don't think that one or two euthanasia appointments mean you've figured out how to talk to those clients. Or angry clients. Or clients to whom you have to deliver bad news. Take note of how it changes when it's an older client. Younger. A couple. Kids in the room. Whatever.

The hard part of this gig is getting the most out of communicating with clients. Getting info from them and making sure they get it from you is a frickin' art. So I'd focus on that. I spent most of my pre-vet time at one clinic and I still go back as often as I can manage because I really respect the communication skills of one of the vets, and I constantly pick up new ideas/tips on how to manage certain types of interactions. It's way more effective than the professional development classes at school.

I know it's way more exciting (and obvious) to focus on the 'medical' stuff. Sorry. 🙂

I know it's already been thumbed-up, but I want to again 👍👍

I've been (mainly) stalking this forum for awhile, and I think this is really great advice. After working in a hospital for a couple years I think one can get caught up in actually learning the technical skills, rather than learning the more abstract skills doctors use to communicate and think. While learning those technical skills is useful, I would try to constantly remind yourself to try to pay attention to what I quoted above.

 

[485501]

Along similar lines, how much terminology/technical info are we expected to pick up? Most of my experience is in shelters and spay/neuter clincics, so I haven't gotten many explanations about what medications are and what they're prescribed for. In the shelter the vet didn't have to explain to an owner (so I couldn't overhear an explanation) and I was kept busy busy busy so I didn't have much time to ask questions that weren't about what I was doing at that moment.

I actually thought I was learning lots of terminology and technical stuff until I started looking at what questions people were asked in their interviews and thinking "I don't know what temperature the autoclave is set to! Ours had a "sugery packs" button that I pushed!" and "I don't know what that medication is for, I can't remember ever getting an explanation for it!" and so on.

I am currently trying to get a position at a SA clinic, so hopefully I'll be able to learn some of this there, but I'm still a bit worried about it.

 

[sunshinevet]

I actually thought I was learning lots of terminology and technical stuff until I started looking at what questions people were asked in their interviews and thinking "I don't know what temperature the autoclave is set to! Ours had a "sugery packs" button that I pushed!" and "I don't know what that medication is for, I can't remember ever getting an explanation for it!" and so on.

I am currently trying to get a position at a SA clinic, so hopefully I'll be able to learn some of this there, but I'm still a bit worried about it.

People you know were asked what temp their autoclave gets set to? WTF?!

Seriously DO NOT STRESS about this stuff! Its what VET SCHOOL is for!!! The most important things to get out of shadowing/work experience is client communication/interaction and being able to explain well why you want to be a vet, and what issues are faced in practice, and how you're going to deal with them. And by issues, I don't mean antibiotic selection 😉

 

[Bracco Pointer]

Along similar lines, how much terminology/technical info are we expected to pick up? Most of my experience is in shelters and spay/neuter clincics, so I haven't gotten many explanations about what medications are and what they're prescribed for. In the shelter the vet didn't have to explain to an owner (so I couldn't overhear an explanation) and I was kept busy busy busy so I didn't have much time to ask questions that weren't about what I was doing at that moment.

I actually thought I was learning lots of terminology and technical stuff until I started looking at what questions people were asked in their interviews and thinking "I don't know what temperature the autoclave is set to! Ours had a "sugery packs" button that I pushed!" and "I don't know what that medication is for, I can't remember ever getting an explanation for it!" and so on.

I am currently trying to get a position at a SA clinic, so hopefully I'll be able to learn some of this there, but I'm still a bit worried about it.

Um... really hot?

I think it's important to be able to speak articulately about the veterinary profession in your interview, and part of that is knowing some of the terminology. The interviewers know you're not a vet yet, so they can't expect too much. I'd suggest writing down questions you have and looking them up when you get home if you don't get a chance to ask them at work.

One of the biggest skills I think you can get from working/shadowing in a clinic is the power of observation. Try to watch everything the doctor/tech's are doing with enough detail you could do it the same if asked. Get used to noticing nitty gritty details.

 

[LetItSnow]

Um... really hot?

Amen.

I think the washbucket might have been referring to job interviews, not vet-school interviews. If one was interviewing for a tech(-like) position, I could see a question like that (even though I still think it's a bit ... weird).

But yeah ... knowing something like that prior to vet school is really unnecessary, unless you happen to be responsible for autoclaving packs somewhere.

 

[bunnity]

The point is for you to learn enough about the profession to know that you want to be a vet and that you'd be good at it.

Don't worry about the other stuff and definitely don't worry about other people. Everyone is going to come into vet school knowing different things. I have a classmate with zero clinical experience but she knows a ton about research. I have less technical skills than many of my classmates but I can talk a client through a euthanasia and I have a realistic view of shelter medicine. It doesn't make anyone better or worse, it's just different and as long as you're learning what you can that's all anyone could ask from you.

 

[Minnerbelle]

If you're working in a SA hospital, it will help you big time if you take the time to just get to know some of the stuff you sell (common take home meds and flea/tick preventative). You don't need to go and cram or anything, but if you can pick up a couple facts here and there, it might come in super handy. For someone like me who didn't spend much time in private practice, that's what gets to me most. Trust me, when you're cramming the pathophysiology, clinical signs, diagnostics, and treatment for like 50 different diseases per exam... the last thing you want to do is cram in trade names for all the drugs. And once in clinical practice, trade names are used more often, or at least interchangeably with drug names. Even though I do really well in pharmacology type classes, I sure sound like an idiot when I completely blank about trade names in actual practice settings. I only know the specific sets of drugs used in very specific situations in shelter settigs, so all this choices boggles my mind. Even if you don't know what exact drug is in a trade name product, it helps to just know the usual routes of admin you've seen it used in. When you've never seen these drugs at all, it's a little of a chore just to memorize if they're oral, injectable, or topical.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Just to add, I'm not saying you need to really study these or anything. Or that you're screwed if you don't. For most people, just being in the clinical setting helps them absorb a lot of this crap. But if you're bored at work it might help out a ton to look up a couple factoids about some of these products.

 

[Awendela]

But if you're bored at work it might help out a ton to look up a couple factoids about some of these products.

THIS! I think one of the awesome things about volunteering/shadowing at SA clinics is all of the resources that are available. If you have down time, you can read up in Plumb's or a recent copy of JAVMA or even a textbook or recent CE materials. It's like having a mini vet school library on your hands. Also, depending on how good of a relationship you have with the vets, you might be able to talk them into letting you borrow a book or two on a subject that interests you more specifically.

 

[irrelephant23]

I know it's already been thumbed-up, but I want to again 👍👍

I've been (mainly) stalking this forum for awhile, and I think this is really great advice. After working in a hospital for a couple years I think one can get caught up in actually learning the technical skills, rather than learning the more abstract skills doctors use to communicate and think. .

👍 I'm going to thumbsup this thumbsup.

The last vet I worked with was constantly reminding people to think like a vet, not as a tech. This is something that I try to remind myself while I'm working in my new position as a full-time tech at an SA hospital. It can be easy to "default" to just doing what you know, going through the motions so to speak. Since I am still relatively new to the hospital (2 months), I am still learning how to handle different breeds and personalities. I came in with a relatively large amount of tech experience (from wildlife), and was thus able to go through training more quickly than some of the other techs my age. I still remind myself to take a step back and think about why I'm doing some of the things the vet requests rather than just going through the motions, forcing myself to actively learn about every procedure and medication. I want to avoid becoming a tech-robot.

Your experience is what you make it.

 

[wildcatj]

👍 I'm going to thumbsup this thumbsup.

The last vet I worked with was constantly reminding people to think like a vet, not as a tech. This is something that I try to remind myself while I'm working in my new position as a full-time tech at an SA hospital. It can be easy to "default" to just doing what you know, going through the motions so to speak. Since I am still relatively new to the hospital (2 months), I am still learning how to handle different breeds and personalities. I came in with a relatively large amount of tech experience (from wildlife), and was thus able to go through training more quickly than some of the other techs my age. I still remind myself to take a step back and think about why I'm doing some of the things the vet requests rather than just going through the motions, forcing myself to actively learn about every procedure and medication. I want to avoid becoming a tech-robot.

Your experience is what you make it.

This is such a good statement. My last tech job I got NO training. I didn't know the ins and outs of anything. My new job I am expected to know everything about the different tools/instruments/procedures/medications/diseases/anatomy. It's a ophthalmology practice so it definitely narrows things down a bit, but it's impressive how much they expect of their techs. The best part is that they actually do the training to back these expectations up. Just today we were sedating a dog for a procedure and the vet asked me what the common side effects were of the med. I hadn't used it before, told her so, and she asked me to keep an eye on resp/heart rate. So we talked about the effects on those and then she asked me to go look up other common side effects. It's so nice to have someone that is actually interested in teaching. It's a really welcome surprise.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

The point is for you to learn enough about the profession to know that you want to be a vet and that you'd be good at it.

Don't worry about the other stuff and definitely don't worry about other people. Everyone is going to come into vet school knowing different things. I have a classmate with zero clinical experience but she knows a ton about research. I have less technical skills than many of my classmates but I can talk a client through a euthanasia and I have a realistic view of shelter medicine. It doesn't make anyone better or worse, it's just different and as long as you're learning what you can that's all anyone could ask from you.

Yep!

That second sentence was me in a nutshell. I didn't even know that people usually drew blood from a jugular, and was horrified when I saw people sticking needles in necks during our first clinical classes! (I had only worked at an all-cats clinic for a few months just to be able to put clinical experience on my resume, and they always drew blood from the saphenous). But by the end of vet school, I completed spays and such even faster than the people who had more previous experience (to the dismay of the few jerks who always gave me crap about being "inexperienced"....ah, revenge is sweet, hehe). So it doesn't really matter what technical skills you come in with.

That's why it's vet school. You're not supposed to know everything, you're there to be taught 🙂

 

[irrelephant23]

This is such a good statement. My last tech job I got NO training. I didn't know the ins and outs of anything. My new job I am expected to know everything about the different tools/instruments/procedures/medications/diseases/anatomy. It's a ophthalmology practice so it definitely narrows things down a bit, but it's impressive how much they expect of their techs. The best part is that they actually do the training to back these expectations up. Just today we were sedating a dog for a procedure and the vet asked me what the common side effects were of the med. I hadn't used it before, told her so, and she asked me to keep an eye on resp/heart rate. So we talked about the effects on those and then she asked me to go look up other common side effects. It's so nice to have someone that is actually interested in teaching. It's a really welcome surprise.

That is so fantastic! I am completely jealous. The vets I work with are great about making sure I'm comfortable with the procedures we're doing, but they don't really care whether or not I know what the meds do etc.. I ask a lot of questions 🙂 I miss the mental stimulation. Your job sounds so cool!

 

[Hotfillyky]

👍

Your experience is what you make it.

THIS!! It's not a contest so don't put too much pressure on yourself. Key is to ask lots of questions.😀 I would also invest in your own Plumb's and a veterinary dictionary. I think it is beneficial to have and look through when you have down time at work or home.

 

[Emiloo4]

THIS!! It's not a contest so don't put too much pressure on yourself. Key is to ask lots of questions.😀 I would also invest in your own Plumb's and a veterinary dictionary. I think it is beneficial to have and look through when you have down time at work or home.

Just got one for $10 👍
It's a 2008, but for $10, I refused to pass it up 😀

 

[that redhead]

I agree with what people are saying. However, I really appreciate having the technical skills already under my belt. That way I don't have to study how to restrain an animal or where to give an IM injection or how to lead a horse. And when it comes to our practicals, I've got the "muscle memory" so to speak- I don't have to rack my anxious test-brain for sites for blood collection in a rat, it's already been ingrained in my head through work. It crops up sometimes in other classes- mostly pharm where I recognize some of the drug names and remember that we used it as part of our pre-anesthetic concotion. It's never the difference between passing or failing- or even a letter grade, probably, but it's comforting to know that I already know some stuff.

Plus, I can help my classmates that feel nervous around parakeets or cows or whatever 🙂

 

[Coquette22]

Everything redhead said. When you learn this stuff in school, you're probably working with limited time and limited animals. It was really nice last year to be able to do more/less depending on the lab and what I already felt comfortable with. Example - When learning injections and restraint in the dog, there were five people in my group and one dog. We didn't have time (nor would the dog have put up with) for all of us to do all the various injections. But we didn't all have to. I didn't bother doing an SQ or an IM, because I knew how. That gave me time to focus on doing IV blood draws. Someone in our group had been a tech for awhile, and knew everything, so she was there to help us. Meanwhile another group member had been strictly large animal, so he started with SQ because he'd never done one on a dog.

Learn all you can, it'll help down the road, but don't stress. If our class is any indication, everyone is strong in something, and you'll get help from you classmates in the areas you're weak in as long as you're willing to help them when you know something and they don't.

 

[485501]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

Hopefully I'll find a clinic where they will have the time/availablility to teach me things soon.

On a side note: I actually was talking about vet school interviews, not job interviews. I looked at some of the stuff in the reference materials on here and talked to some of the vets I shadowed (one told me to be sure to study for my interview, and I asked what sorts of questions to expect), and I had gotten the impression that there were a lot of knowledge-based questions asked.

 

[Emiloo4]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

Hopefully I'll find a clinic where they will have the time/availablility to teach me things soon.

On a side note: I actually was talking about vet school interviews, not job interviews. I looked at some of the stuff in the reference materials on here and talked to some of the vets I shadowed (one told me to be sure to study for my interview, and I asked what sorts of questions to expect), and I had gotten the impression that there were a lot of knowledge-based questions asked.

I went on 4 interviews last year and wasn't asked one technical knowledge based question. And if you don't know, you just tell them you were never exposed to it and look forward to learning all about it in veterinary school 😀. It's not gonna go against you.
I did hear a girl at KState interviewing with me say she was asked a few though.

 

[Jamr0ckin]

I went on 4 interviews last year and wasn't asked one technical knowledge based question. And if you don't know, you just tell them you were never exposed to it and look forward to learning all about it in veterinary school 😀. It's not gonna go against you.
I did hear a girl at KState interviewing with me say she was asked a few though.

I think they ask more knowledge based, if you have many years of experience. They want to judge if you picked up any information while there, or just "did your job."

I would focus more on things that are likely to make a difference in your life, and therefore things that may come up in an interview.

Ask about what issues the vets feel are most important to them (more vet schools open, horse slaughter, declaws on cats, limited liscensure, etc)
How do they cope with euthanasia?
What is their strategy to deal with angry clients? Employee mistakes?


As far as learning the specifics, I'll echo what people have said about asking questions. But what I did when we didn't have time for questions was write down my questions (what is addisons disease? why was metronidazole prescribed? What did the vet mean when he said the bloodwork had elevated BUN and creatinine with a left shift neutrophilia?)
I bought one of the 5 minute consult vet books and learned a lot.


Sent from my DROID RAZR using SDN Mobile

 

[kanderson615]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

Hopefully I'll find a clinic where they will have the time/availablility to teach me things soon.

On a side note: I actually was talking about vet school interviews, not job interviews. I looked at some of the stuff in the reference materials on here and talked to some of the vets I shadowed (one told me to be sure to study for my interview, and I asked what sorts of questions to expect), and I had gotten the impression that there were a lot of knowledge-based questions asked.

I wasn't really asked any knowledge-based questions in my interviews, but I was asked a LOT about my shadowing and volunteering experiences. I think a lot of vet schools cater their questions specifically to you. For example, I traveled to Thailand to volunteer with elephants, and I got the chance to follow the vet around at the park I volunteered at. That was a big part of my application, and was definitely a big part of my personal statement. So when I interviewed at Mizzou, they asked me a lot of questions about it. But even still, it wasn't anything specific like what's an elephant's heart rate... it was more asking me about what procedures I did, about the park, etc.

If it would make you feel better, this is what I did to get the most out of my SA shadowing experience: I bought a little spiral notebook small enough to fit in my scrub pocket, and I took notes on each case. I'd write down the age, breed, and any other important information about the patient, and then I'd write down why they came in and what the doctor diagnosed or prescribed. If I wasn't sure about what something meant, I'd ask the doctor. Speaking of which, I asked a LOT of questions. Whether they were dumb or not, I asked them, because I wanted to learn as much as possible while I shadowed. It's not like I annoyed the vets with constant questions, but any time I didn't know why they did something or I was curious about something, I'd pose a question to them. Finally, during down times, I'd ask the doctor I shadowed if I could look through the books on his book shelf. It helped to keep me from being bored while standing around, made me look good because I was taking initiative, and I actually learned stuff! Go figure, haha 😛

 

[squirrelsrule]

The most helpful thing from my experience at the emergency clinic so far has been knowing the basics of running bloodwork. Many people in my class have not run bloodwork before and we are taking pathology and they talk about CBC results, tube types, blood smears, etc. and it really helps me to know what the machine looked like that ran the test, how the results print out, and just knowing which tubes to use for which (even though I didn't know the difference between the tubes or what the printout meant). Wish I had looked at the results more and asked questions, but I got the background info down 🙂.

 

[Scooter157]

I recently started lurking on this forum to get a better perspective on the application process and to prepare for next year's application cycle. I wanted to thank everyone for the GREAT info and words of wisdom!! I landed a job at a small animal clinic 2 weeks ago after being an equine tech for a couple of years. My head spins a little after my day is done, but the information gained is invaluable.

So far, between the two jobs, I can agree that communication is paramount in the success of the practice, as well as practicing good medicine - communication between veterinarians, techs, clients, etc. It can make your day go a lot more smoothly, and add levity to the equation, in the right company.