Searched and couldn’t find a relevant topic. So I made one. What did you learn at work today? It can be something huge! It can be something tiny. But I figured we could all mind dump things here and maybe it would help someone in the future. Because sometimes accessing the database in our heads is hard when a topic is posted.
I’ll go first. My things will probably never ever help anyone, but I’m proud of me for learning them so too bad!
So far this year I have learned how to repair a jaw fracture, neuter a guinea pig, perform a perineal urethrostomy (look it up if you dare), and tomorrow I’ll be learning an fho. On top of that I’ve been honing up on exotics.
I’m the most senior vet there, even moreso than the owner, and I’ve been pushing myself to learn as many new and useful things as I can to increase my value to the practice. This is not easy for me, because I have a very big case of imposter syndrome. So not only do I think I already don’t know what I know, but it’s hard for me to push myself to learn new because I worry I will mess it up. But I have made it a point to force myself so maybe I will get over this imposter thing and increase my self-confidence. And in the meantime at least I’m learning new things and getting more valuable.
Good on you! I have worked with so many cats that have gotten PUs, encouraging them to eat and assessing them in the isolation ward. So many very sweet boys, surrendered because of the cost of the surgery. Thank you for helping them.
Not technically work related, but there was a great episode of Adam Savage’s podcast I listened to on the way to work in which a guest discussed his study of a disease known to snakes called ‘Stargazing disease’ in which they stare at the sky and wave back and forth until dead.
Turns out it’s got a viral cause that involves the brain of the snake being destroyed, and has weird links to possible ebola studies.
Also, apparently it’s really hard to give snakes shots (for vaccines or, in this case, injecting viruses to test a theory. Don’t get your snake drunk, folks). I never thought about this topic.
No matter how many times “$Problem has always been caused by this” comes up, I got a reminder today not to suprised about having to modify it to say “almost always”. Apparently, someone involved in designing a piece of equipment thought putting in a new confirmation step that’s never been needed before was a good idea.
Fortunately, it can be shut off, but it took two hours to find this obscure nuisance. Sadly, there’s no matching setting to activate a sound clip of Vinny Gambini saying, “Are you shurrrree?”
It’s not exactly work-related, but since I use Wordpress for my blog and my blog is related my career, I’m going with it.
I started using the new “Block Editor” in Wordpress 5 and it’s really growing on me. It was recommended by a fellow SQL community blogger and while I started out skeptical (preferring to use Markdown in the past), as I use the Block Editor and understanding how it works, it’s making a lot of sense and, in some ways, much easier to get great results.
“Good enough” may have cut in the past, but no longer when it comes to electronics. A diagnostic utility I hadn’t used before led the way to a solution for an intermittent power issue. Me haz a new toy to play with. Me happy.
I tell the staff all the time if it’s not written down it didn’t happen. Every interaction. Every message. Every single little thing. Write. It. In. The. Chart. For us, it’s literally the law, if it’s in the chart it is fact no matter what the other person says unless they have like a real-time recording or something. It’s amazing how often we need it.
To the point I even make them chart when an owner calls and asks for our hours. Write it in the chart. More than once we’ve had people complain that we were closed and no one told them, but it’s in the chart we gave hours.
Same thing I tell my students. If it’s not in the ticket, it didn’t happen. If another tech picks up the phone and can’t pick up where you left off, you made a bad ticket.
It’s not a ticketing system, but what we use sometimes does not show any previous notes. When we asked about it, we were told that if we don’t have the option to see previous notes, there aren’t any previous notes to display.
If you’ll pardon me, there’s a bridge I have to buy.
