#vet techs are scary competent

[eyeofnewtblog]

Things that happen at work:

Me: *while grabbing a part, accidentally does a thing that involves ripping my pinky nail halfway out of the bed in such a way that it’s going to fall off and grow out super funky*

The 19 year old manager who is currently in vet school: OOOHHHH my gosh, you poor thing! Give it here. *doesn’t even wait, grabs my wrist and literally drags me over to the medicine cabinet and proceeds to dress my wound with very gentle but thorough skill*

Me:…you’re really good at this, I’m glad you’re gonna be a vet. You’re the type of person that I would be happy to take my fur babies to.

Her: AAAWWW! That’s so sweet! Thank you! Hey, did you ever get that perfume I was telling you about?

Me:…I haven’t had a chance to get over to Sephora yet, but I still have a picture of the bottle.

The pinky situation is, honestly, completely normal. It’s not bad enough to see a doctor for…also I live in the US, even if I had health insurance it still wouldn’t be worth the copay when I know that the actual treatment is to just baby the finger until the nail falls off and grows back. Plus it honestly is normal to fuck up your hands when you’re dealing with heavy stuff in a hurry so the only actual surprise in all of this is that it took me months instead of weeks.

[bunny-lou]

Happy little brag story at work today.

For those of you who don't know, I'm an LVT, which is like being a nurse for animals. I've been working in a vet clinic for just over 2 years. I love my job, but I'm still kind of new and struggle with some things.

I'm scheduled to work tomorrow, on the 15th, but I had some plans that day. I talked to the manager and asked if it was okay for me to not to come in. I explained my situation, and also pointed out that we're overstaffed that day anyway and I wasn't really needed.

My manager looked at the schedule and considers it, then said "yeah, they'll be okay if you don't come in. If there's an emergency, they'll just have to figure it out."

And I said, "thanks! ...What did you mean by that last part?"

My manager looked at me and I looked back at her.

Slowly, I asked "do you mean...that if an emergency came in...that I would be the one in charge?"

And she just looked at me and said "well, yeah. Of course."

I damn near had a full panic attack because I am not ready for that kind of responsibility. But I had a small talk with my manager and she helped me realize that I am really good at placing IV catheters, giving IV injections, bandaging legs, etc. I have experience in surgery, I can anticipate what a doctor needs and I know where all of our life saving drugs are and how to use them.

Two of the other techs working that day have been there longer than I have, but they don't have my schooling or experience in surgery and life threatening shit. My own experience is pretty minor, but I know the basics.

It's scary as hell, but also uplifting to know my job thinks I'm competent and capable of not only handling an emergency, but of taking charge instead of people who have worked there longer. It made me feel good to have gotten my medical license and be useful to the animals, and the doctor and my coworkers.