Work, work...
Once again, life has changed. I've moved from a tiny vet practice to the biggest one in DC. It's definitely been a great move for me - more money, benefits, shorter hours, and swing shift. And it's been a great experience to get back into emergency and critical care medicine, which to my surprise I've discovered I really love.
Right now I'm mostly assigned to the dreaded "B ward". That's the intermediate care zone for patients who, well, don't really need to be hospitalized. Mostly it's routine post-ops (things like spays, neuters, and lumpectomies), post-dentals, drop-off appointments, elective hospitalizations (what most places call "medical boarding"), and boarding for employee pets. Patients range from those who are recovered from surgery and just waiting to go home to elective hospitalizations that are really very debilitated - such as the Boxer with megaesophagus who has to be held vertical for 15 minutes after eating or drinking anything so she doesn't aspirate and develop pneumonia on top of everything else.
At this point my biggest challenge is figuring out how to juggle everything when everything seems to be happening at once - treatments that need to be completed on schedule, clients who are here to pick up their pets, the dog who just pooped in his cage and needs to be cleaned, clients calling to check on their pets after surgery...it's a lot to juggle and I admit I'm not all that good at it yet. Skill-wise, it's less demanding than what I'm used to, but it's forcing me to find ways to work as efficiently as possible and that's definitely a good thing.
Once I've passed a couple more tests I'll be ready to work in the ICU, which essentially means fewer but much sicker patients. This is something I'm really looking forward to - I love critical care nursing and can't wait to learn new technical skills.
The emergency end of things is fun too. Obviously it's sometimes heartbreaking, but it can also be really rewarding and sometimes highly entertaining. Toxicoses are really fun. You'd be amazed at the stuff dogs can eat - and at what it looks and smells like when we make them puke it up! Chocolate has been the preferred doggy snack this week, but some dogs seem to prefer things like underwear, socks, or human medicines.
It's also funny how we seem to run "specials" - times when we have lots of the same sort of emergency. For instance, yesterday was a pretty slow day in emergency but we had four dogs come in for seizures. A few days ago, the "special" was dogs who'd eaten rat poison. And one day last week, the "special" was DOA's - that one wasn't very much fun.
So all in all I'm definitely enjoying my new job - it's a great opportunity and every day I laugh and learn something new. To me, those are the two biggest components of a great day!
Right now I'm mostly assigned to the dreaded "B ward". That's the intermediate care zone for patients who, well, don't really need to be hospitalized. Mostly it's routine post-ops (things like spays, neuters, and lumpectomies), post-dentals, drop-off appointments, elective hospitalizations (what most places call "medical boarding"), and boarding for employee pets. Patients range from those who are recovered from surgery and just waiting to go home to elective hospitalizations that are really very debilitated - such as the Boxer with megaesophagus who has to be held vertical for 15 minutes after eating or drinking anything so she doesn't aspirate and develop pneumonia on top of everything else.
At this point my biggest challenge is figuring out how to juggle everything when everything seems to be happening at once - treatments that need to be completed on schedule, clients who are here to pick up their pets, the dog who just pooped in his cage and needs to be cleaned, clients calling to check on their pets after surgery...it's a lot to juggle and I admit I'm not all that good at it yet. Skill-wise, it's less demanding than what I'm used to, but it's forcing me to find ways to work as efficiently as possible and that's definitely a good thing.
Once I've passed a couple more tests I'll be ready to work in the ICU, which essentially means fewer but much sicker patients. This is something I'm really looking forward to - I love critical care nursing and can't wait to learn new technical skills.
The emergency end of things is fun too. Obviously it's sometimes heartbreaking, but it can also be really rewarding and sometimes highly entertaining. Toxicoses are really fun. You'd be amazed at the stuff dogs can eat - and at what it looks and smells like when we make them puke it up! Chocolate has been the preferred doggy snack this week, but some dogs seem to prefer things like underwear, socks, or human medicines.
It's also funny how we seem to run "specials" - times when we have lots of the same sort of emergency. For instance, yesterday was a pretty slow day in emergency but we had four dogs come in for seizures. A few days ago, the "special" was dogs who'd eaten rat poison. And one day last week, the "special" was DOA's - that one wasn't very much fun.
So all in all I'm definitely enjoying my new job - it's a great opportunity and every day I laugh and learn something new. To me, those are the two biggest components of a great day!