What is the hardest thing you've done as a volunteer/intern?

[Thought Hammer]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I know I'm comparing it to something stupid but I am afraid as hell about giving subQ fluids to animals. I never took any classes or training on giving injections, animal constraint, what to do if something went wrong. All these things make it exponentially worse when I try to give the injections and stuff.

Anyone know of similar experience or more importantly, how to overcome it? The place I volunteer at doesn't give enough hours for me to have gotten used to it.

 

[breenie]

There usually aren't formal classes on these things and most of us have learned on the fly.

When presented with a technical skill I haven't done before/mastered, I generally ask if one of the knowledgable people can tell me how they would do it, "show" me how they would do it (without actually doing it), and then watch me do it and give any feedback on how I could do it better.

Then keep doing it. You'll figure all this stuff out. Just keep calm, ask questions, regardless of how stupid, and practice practice! I ruined like 3 vacutainers the other day drawing blood on a really cranky goat. I hadn't done it before and I was sloppy, but after 39 more goats, I was a pro. 🙂 Nobody made fun of me for my first few screw ups, and they were happy to give guidance.

Everyone started from scratch.

 

[Dsmoody23]

Get a good reference book, write down what you don't know during the day, and learn at night.

This is the book I have, which is good for filling in the blanks.

http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Practice-Veterinary-Technology-third/dp/B004W443TO

Also, it's animal restraint. That one's free. Next one is 5 bucks.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I know I'm comparing it to something stupid but I am afraid as hell about giving subQ fluids to animals. I never took any classes or training on giving injections, animal constraint, what to do if something went wrong. All these things make it exponentially worse when I try to give the injections and stuff.

Anyone know of similar experience or more importantly, how to overcome it? The place I volunteer at doesn't give enough hours for me to have gotten used to it.

Just take comfort in the fact that the people around you should know what to do if something goes wrong! That's not your job as a layperson. And until you're trustworthy and competent, no one should be asking you to do anything that is a matter of life or death. (well... if those things aren't true, run, run away and never look back)

If it's just a confidence issue, have someone watch you until you feel comfortable doing it yourself. Or if you're really uncomfortable and feel clueless, ask them to explain it a couple of times while you observe.

And don't be scared of making stupid mistakes 'cause it happens to all of us. I've definitely done vaccinations and subQ fluids where I realized I'd gone all the way through when I saw liquid shooting out of the animal. And my first couple of microchips, I was such a weenie and couldn't get myself to jab the animal hard enough, so the needle didn't go all the way in and the microchip fell out. I was so embarrassed, but the vets and techs around me were really nice about it.

 

[Thought Hammer]

Get a good reference book, write down what you don't know during the day, and learn at night.

This is the book I have, which is good for filling in the blanks.

http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Practice-Veterinary-Technology-third/dp/B004W443TO

Also, it's animal restraint. That one's free. Next one is 5 bucks.

well the problem is that I can't write down things i don't know if it involves some practical technique like injections. I guess experience and support is all you really need from what I've read. Thanks for the link and advice!

Other forum dwellers, if you have some input please share 😀

 

[jmo1012]

honestly, the best way to get comfortable is by doing. ask for help and voice if you aren't comfortable doing something, just be careful not to come off as too shy/fearful, because then they wont ask you to help at all and you wont get the fun hands on experience. it all starts off overwhelming but a few years from now you'll look back and chuckle at your hesitation. its also fun to look back on how far you've come!

for me, the scariest thing i've had to do was scrub into surgery. it was the middle of the night, the dog had been a referral through ER and looking at the radiographs, the radiologist said the bowel definitely looked twisted on itself so immediate surgery was the next step. i had wandered in to watch because it sounded interesting. usually theres more than just the surgeon and the tech because theres an intern and/or ECC/IM resident doing a surgical rotation. however, this just happened to fall between intern transition so there was no intern. when the doctor turned to me and said scrub in, i immediately offered to go find her someone more qualified, i had never done that before! she gave me no choice (i know she was less than thrilled at the less than ideal situation) but both she and the tech were great. the tech helped me get sterile and then from there on i pretty much kept my mind on one thing-not doing anything to compromise sterility! it was really cool, but i was terrified the entire time!

 

[Whyevernot55]

Here's the thing about working in vet med, especially as you are learning early on - there is ALWAYS going to be a new "scariest thing," every day. I started out as an assistant 4 1/2 years ago in a SA clinic. I was terrified of giving SC injections, including SC fluids, vaccines, etc. I learned. I teach our newbies and clients how to do it regularly now. Then I had to learn how to monitor anesthesia, and that was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Drawing blood, doing cystos, scrubbing in to surgery, helping with necropsies, doing my first solo decapitation - all of these were, at the time, the hardest thing I'd ever done. There's always something terrifying and new to learn.

I'll tell you what I tell my clients when I'm teaching them to give SC injections at home - it's all about attitude! You are an Amazon. You can do it. Hundreds and thousands of people have learned to do it before you, and you can do it too! Even if you poke through and some leaks out, it's ok. Get someone confident to teach you and supervise you while you build confidence.

 

[that redhead]

I worked at a small animal clinic for a couple years off and on and was invited back for this summer. Awesome. However, they've changed a lot of things and there are things I just don't remember. Everyone is really good about reminding me where such and such is found but when it comes to hands on things like fluid pumps for example, I have another person sit down with me and watch me do it, or talk me through it the first time to make sure I'm doing it right. Sometimes just having another knowledgable person right there is comforting and even if you're doing it yourself you still feel as though all the weight isn't on your shoulders!

If something is really tough for you and you're terrified, let someone else do it. But I would suggest asking another more experienced person to watch you do it a couple of times before writing it off as scary. The more you do it, the easier it becomes but baby steps make it less of an ordeal 🙂

 

[shortnsweet]

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/resources/techniques/index.aspx

Don't worry...you'll learn as you work in more practices and go through vet school. I have more equine experience than SA, so I've been trying to get as many SA experiences as possible. I'm still not very good at drawing blood, but I know everyone started out the same way , and it just takes practice! Find a good tech or two that have been there a while, and be willing to learn as much as possible from them!!

 

[Dsmoody23]

well the problem is that I can't write down things i don't know if it involves some practical technique like injections. I guess experience and support is all you really need from what I've read. Thanks for the link and advice!

Other forum dwellers, if you have some input please share 😀

That book is filled completely with practical, daily tasks you do not know how to do.

Want to know how (and theoretically why,) to give a subcutaneous injection?

Page 168.

If you see something during your volunteer shift, ask 'what is that?'

Then go home and look it up.

 

[nyanko]

That book is filled completely with practical, daily tasks you do not know how to do.

Want to know how (and theoretically why,) to give a subcutaneous injection?

The written "how" isn't going to be helpful for everybody for something like that. It certainly never is for me.

Definitely the "why" is helpful to understand though.

 

[DVMDream]

Here's the thing about working in vet med, especially as you are learning early on - there is ALWAYS going to be a new "scariest thing," every day. I started out as an assistant 4 1/2 years ago in a SA clinic. I was terrified of giving SC injections, including SC fluids, vaccines, etc. I learned. I teach our newbies and clients how to do it regularly now. Then I had to learn how to monitor anesthesia, and that was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Drawing blood, doing cystos, scrubbing in to surgery, helping with necropsies, doing my first solo decapitation - all of these were, at the time, the hardest thing I'd ever done. There's always something terrifying and new to learn.

100% agree with this. It is all about practice and building confidence, the more you do it, the more confident you get and the better you are at it. After 6 years of working in a clinic, I now teach the newbies and of course clients too. When I go to teach them how to do it; I explain the procedure to them all the way up to right before poking the pet, then I hand the needle over and tell them, "all you." Especially, when I am teaching clients how to give SQ fluids because they often only come in once to be taught how and then they do it on their own. Everytime you learn something new it is always scary.

A few weeks ago I was monitoring a cat during an exploratory surgery; at the same time the doctor hit a vessel the cat's blood pressure disappeared. I tried repositioning that doppler the rest of the surgery and I could never get the BP back, I was terrified because that had never happened, but I just grabbed a stethoscope and listened directly to the cat's heart every couple of minutes as well as watched the rest of the monitoring equipment very closely.

Funny story: The first time I was passing a urinary catheter into a male dog to get a urine sample the doctor started telling me a story about one of his friends who during their fourth year of vet shcool was passing a urinary catheter into the bladder. His buddy kept pushing the catheter in and no urine was coming, so the doctor supervising told him to pull out the catheter and the catheter tied into a knot while in the bladder and the had to go in to surgically remove it. Of course he had to tell me this story at the same time that I am putting in my first urinary catheter. 🙄 I was terrified that entire procedure, but it worked out well and he was there to help.

Just remember practice and reptition are going to be the key in building confidence. Once you are confident in yourself; it won't seem scary anymore. 🙂

 

[heylodeb]

Here's the thing about working in vet med, especially as you are learning early on - there is ALWAYS going to be a new "scariest thing," every day. I started out as an assistant 4 1/2 years ago in a SA clinic. I was terrified of giving SC injections, including SC fluids, vaccines, etc. I learned. I teach our newbies and clients how to do it regularly now. Then I had to learn how to monitor anesthesia, and that was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Drawing blood, doing cystos, scrubbing in to surgery, helping with necropsies, doing my first solo decapitation - all of these were, at the time, the hardest thing I'd ever done. There's always something terrifying and new to learn.

I'll tell you what I tell my clients when I'm teaching them to give SC injections at home - it's all about attitude! You are an Amazon. You can do it. Hundreds and thousands of people have learned to do it before you, and you can do it too! Even if you poke through and some leaks out, it's ok. Get someone confident to teach you and supervise you while you build confidence.

👍👍 It's true. Just when you get comfortablet doing one thing - you learn something else even scarier. It's kinda why I like it, though. There isn't much time to get bored!

oh and scariest thing to do - CYSTOS. omg. that freaking artery is RIGHT there and it's so easy to hit it. I'm MUCH more comfortable letting a doctor do it. Then I remember...hang on...I'm going to be the doctor!

 

[Whyevernot55]

👍👍 It's true. Just when you get comfortablet doing one thing - you learn something else even scarier. It's kinda why I like it, though. There isn't much time to get bored!

oh and scariest thing to do - CYSTOS. omg. that freaking artery is RIGHT there and it's so easy to hit it. I'm MUCH more comfortable letting a doctor do it. Then I remember...hang on...I'm going to be the doctor!

God I love cystos. So satisfying. Lol! I was TERRIFIED when I learned to do them, tho. It's all about practice. And having a good restrainer!

 

[sunnyshine]

I would agree that it is important to ask questions at work and to do some outside research where necessary to get a leg up on some of those more difficult technical skills. I used to have alot of trouble with jugular venipuncture when I started working at my clinic. So I asked the docs tons of questions, practiced at work, and looked at some stuff online. The WSU CVM actually had a good webpage on how to do jugular venipuncture, so I read it, and tried it at work. Now I hit the the jugs all the time and actually prefer to pull blood there.
Jugular venipuncture used to scare the heck out of me. I kept thinking that my hand was going to slip and that I was going to puncture through a cat's throat and kill it.

 

[twelvetigers]

And I have never done jugular venipuncture before. I can count blood draws and catheter placements on two hands. So... yeah, for anyone here worrying about what they don't know how to do, don't sweat it. You will learn.

For learning something new at work, remember that the vets and techs have probably taught plenty of others before, and will be fine teaching you. Just show some interest, and watch carefully. You'll do fine.

 

[heylodeb]

God I love cystos. So satisfying. Lol! I was TERRIFIED when I learned to do them, tho. It's all about practice. And having a good restrainer!

ahhh...liquid gold! 😀

 

[alwayslistening]

ahhh...liquid gold! 😀

I prefer jugular bleeds on horses myself. Might be a bigger vein, but I like red gold, personally 😀

 

[alwayslistening]

Although, honestly, one of the hardest things I have done was walk away from an opportunity that I had to continue volunteering at a wildlife rehab facility. I had gotten it in my head that I wanted to be a veterinarian for injured raptors, and that was IT, it was the ONLY thing I wanted to do. Well, I volunteered at the facility, and the environment was not nurturing towards future aspirations at all (they would not even let me shadow the veterinarian who came in on weekends to do surgeries, and yelled at me when I tried asking him questions, even after everything else was finished). This was waaaayyy back in HS. I realized that the opportunity was not going to lead anywhere, and I was going to stay as basically a free volunteer, and not get anything useful out of it. It killed me to leave, because the vet, when I had talked to him, was an excellent teacher 🙁

 

[alliecat44]

I'll tell you what I tell my clients when I'm teaching them to give SC injections at home - it's all about attitude! You are an Amazon. You can do it. Hundreds and thousands of people have learned to do it before you, and you can do it too!

FWIW, this attitude helps tremendously in vet school as well. From being terrified of failing certain exams the first semester of vet school (no idea what to expect and felt like I knew nothing!) to performing my first surgery, I would calm myself down by telling myself, "alliecat, there are plenty of people who have successfully done X/passed Y test before. Plenty of people smarter than you but plenty of people dumber than you. You are definitely not the most unintelligent/unskilled person to have ever done this before...so go do it and you'll be fine."

Silly as it sounds, it really worked to help make me much more relaxed about everything, especially when it was all a huge unknown. 🙂 Great thing to learn now as a pre-vet!

 

[deleted387118]

FWIW, this attitude helps tremendously in vet school as well. From being terrified of failing certain exams the first semester of vet school (no idea what to expect and felt like I knew nothing!) to performing my first surgery, I would calm myself down by telling myself, "alliecat, there are plenty of people who have successfully done X/passed Y test before. Plenty of people smarter than you but plenty of people dumber than you. You are definitely not the most unintelligent/unskilled person to have ever done this before...so go do it and you'll be fine."

Silly as it sounds, it really worked to help make me much more relaxed about everything, especially when it was all a huge unknown. 🙂 Great thing to learn now as a pre-vet!

That is what I'm doing about second year entirely! We haven't even started the material yet and I'm scared sockless! I just keep telling myself that the majority of the class passes.

 

[LetItSnow]

I would calm myself down by telling myself, "alliecat, there are plenty of people who have successfully done X/passed Y test before. Plenty of people smarter than you but plenty of people dumber than you. You are definitely not the most unintelligent/unskilled person to have ever done this before...so go do it and you'll be fine."

👍👍👍

My sister is a board-certified pediatric intensivist sub-specializing in cardiology. I have no idea what it takes to get there, but I assume you can't be a slouch.

After I got accepted, she and I were chatting and I noted some ... lack of confidence in myself ... and she said that when she was in school she told herself almost word for word exactly what alliecat just posted. I plan to repeat it regularly.

 

[ORvetgirl]

The WSU CVM actually had a good webpage on how to do jugular venipuncture, so I read it, and tried it at work.

Would you mind sharing the site address for that? I found a dx/treatment technique page, but only saw jugular catheterization...if it's a good resource, I'd like to read how they describe jugular venipuncture.

 

[Thought Hammer]

OK, i think i just realized the main cause of my fear and lack of confidence.

It's lack of knowledge/experience as well as being scared of hurting the animal.

I feel I can overcome the lack of knowledge/experience part over time.
Still, I'm still scared as f!@# though when I'm treating an animal; I'm deathly scared of the animal getting frightened and

(I know, probably the best thing to do is to "grow a pair" as they say. I guess I was just always a bit squeamish when I saw animals in pain)

 

[breenie]

OK, i think i just realized the main cause of my fear and lack of confidence.

It's lack of knowledge/experience as well as being scared of hurting the animal.

I feel I can overcome the lack of knowledge/experience part over time.
Still, I'm still scared as f!@# though when I'm treating an animal; I'm deathly scared of the animal getting frightened and

(I know, probably the best thing to do is to "grow a pair" as they say. I guess I was just always a bit squeamish when I saw animals in pain)

You're going to hurt animals. Being poked with needles hurts. Being dehorned hurts. Yeah, good technique and lidocaine helps these things, but you need to understand. YOU WILL HURT ANIMALS.

Your goal is to minimize that pain and suffering. You only hurt animals when it is in their best interest. That animal needs SQ fluids or insulin or whatever. They can get over it, and so can you, if its for their health and well being.

Don't think about how you're hurting. You're helping.

 

[shortnsweet]

Would you mind sharing the site address for that? I found a dx/treatment technique page, but only saw jugular catheterization...if it's a good resource, I'd like to read how they describe jugular venipuncture.

That's the right website. I posted the link in my earlier comment.

 

[heylodeb]

(I know, probably the best thing to do is to "grow a pair" as they say. I guess I was just always a bit squeamish when I saw animals in pain)

I handle this situation by classifying two kinds of pain. I can't stand seeing an animal in pain, either - hit by a car, beat up by another dog, painful from an abdominal mass....Then there is the pain I cause by treating that animal: doesn't bother me. It's for their good!

Don't lose your respect for their pain, though. Seeing a technician fish around a neck for a vein for 30 seconds or watching someone completely ignore a patient while it's being restrained and ripping off 7 yards of tape without thinking about it....THAT bugs me.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Something to also remember is that there are also things that you won't ever be amazingly proficient at - so don't beat yourself up because you aren't a master of every little thing.

Example - I can hit any vein you want - except small animal jugulars. One of the most basic draws, and I never got any good at it. In fact, I'm awful at it. I can hit a tiny cephalic on a newborn alpaca first time, but not a jug on a 60 lb dog. 😆

 

[Whyevernot55]

Something to also remember is that there are also things that you won't ever be amazingly proficient at - so don't beat yourself up because you aren't a master of every little thing.

Example - I can hit any vein you want - except small animal jugulars. One of the most basic draws, and I never got any good at it. In fact, I'm awful at it. I can hit a tiny cephalic on a newborn alpaca first time, but not a jug on a 60 lb dog. 😆

Lol I have this too. Give me an 8wk old kitten and I can get you 3 cc of blood from the inside of a back leg. Or an 18yo dehydrated kitty in renal failure, sure! But lateral saphenous draws on big dogs? God help us. It takes me twice as long and it's SO much harder for me.

 

[sunnyshine]

Would you mind sharing the site address for that? I found a dx/treatment technique page, but only saw jugular catheterization...if it's a good resource, I'd like to read how they describe jugular venipuncture.

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/resources/techniques/catveni.aspx

 

[lareinesoleil]

The experience will come with time, but you also have to be proactive. Don't let your fear get the better of you; you have to be as hands-on as possible. Find a tech that enjoys teaching, if you can. Don't beat yourself up if you don't get it right away, keep a positive attitude and try again. Take a look around at your coworkers and remember that they didn't master this stuff on their first tries, either.

And think about pain this way: the little poke to get a catheter in to provide life-saving fluid therapy, the discomfort of a BORD vaccine, those things you can very easily accept because you KNOW how inconsequential that tiny bit of suffering is compared to the benefit you are providing. The animal can't understand that, so we have to keep it in mind on their behalf. (Also, sometimes it's just the restraint itself they hate - the thing a lot of dogs and cats seem to hate more than anything is nail trims! We have pets who will stand totally still for jugular venipuncture, getting staples put in incisions they tore open, etc - but flip the f*** out if you go near them with the nail clippers )