A long break
Yes it has been a long long break since my previous post. All I’m going to say is, I’m still going well. I hope.
A new year, a new semester, which brings a new set of challenges. This is the year for extramural work attachments with vets out in practice. We have to do 12weeks of that within 1.5 years. Sounds simple, but it is quite depressing when you realise that’s about all of your holidays gone. But hey, no one’s complaining!
Ok maybe I feel like complaining, but most of it has got to do with costs and time involvement due to travelling there and back. And maybe sometimes about how boring things can get. No wonder there is such a high turnover rate in small animal vet clinics. This “GP” work is really not for everyone. The daily drones definitely do get to you in a while, and it has got me within 2 days. Not a good sign.
This is actually my 2nd block of 2w attachments. First block was done at an emergency centre. Definitely not the life for me. I’m not really a nocturnal sorta person, so working from 6pm to 6am for 3 days a week nearly killed me. And it was a bit boring there as well because the nurses were more… protective of their work? If you could call it that. Not that there weren’t nice nurses, but just… you find it hard to learn things even if you try to ask to help out. But at this new place, I am pleasantly surprised by how nice everyone is. The nurses are all really friendly, and try their best to include me in their animal-related chores. The vets are really nice too. There is the obligatory strict-ish vet who tests me on stuff (ddx for diarrhoea in dogs anyone?), the cute male vet who makes me feel welcomed by including me in conversations, and the motherly vet who helps to settle me in. Sadly the TCM vet isn’t in, I was really hoping to see acupuncture in action. Hopefully he will be back next week before I leave.
The experience I am gaining at this vet clinic will definitely go a long way. They seem really keen to let me insert catheters and take bloods, which I am thankful for. I also like the friendliness of the atmosphere, which is something I would want to encourage in my own practice if I do have one someday. And I want to chat with the locum vet there, just to gain an insight into what being a locum is like, having to change your habits from place to place. Well I still have 8 working days left to do that. Awesome. Can’t wait for that scheduled ex lap and hopefully some orthopaedic surgery to see the cute vet in action.
