Just started back to school a few weeks ago, and already feeling the effects of lack of sleep and over-exertion. Where did my carefree summer go? Right now, my class is stuck right in between times of excitement: Fourth years are excited to be planning after graduation, first years still have bright innocent smiles from getting into vet school, second years excited to be finished with first year and still naive to the brutal year ahead of them. Where is my class? My class is at the point where they are tired of studying after last semester’s brutal schedule, along with the thought of entering clinics being dangled right in front of our noses. What is standing in the way: that pesky last semester of third year. While the material is much more interesting, the constant 8-5 schedule followed by hours of studying takes quite a toll.
Despite the fact that I am already sleep deprived, I can tell that I am starting out this semester ahead of many other students. We have a class called clinical competencies that focuses on small animal physical exams, restraint, blood draws, placing catheters, etc. Because of my previous two years at Banfield, I have not only learned these techniques, but have become proficient in each of these. Since my preparations have allowed me to excel in this class, it gave me the opportunity to pay it forward and help fellow classmates who have not been able to get previous experience with these techniques.
In addition to being clinically prepared, I was also fortunate to scrub into many surgeries over the past two years. This allowed me to not only become more familiarized with the process of scrubbing in, but also enabled me to become more confident with my surgery skills. Since I will be starting surgeries within the next week, I feel much more prepared for the procedures to come. While there is much preparation still required before each surgery, I at least feel confident that my acquired skills will aid me in my preparation. Moreover, one of my surgery partners has not had experience with small animal surgery, so I am looking forward to being able to help her through our operative surgery course. In return, I hope to learn how it differs from large animal surgical medicine.
I am grateful for all of the experiences that I was able to get during my years at Banfield because it has made my semester slightly less stressful . . . slightly. Amongst the numerous intense classes, Ophthalmology and Neurology, Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases, Theriogenology and Urinary Diseases, Hematology/Oncology/Dermatology Diseases, Digestive Diseases, Surgical Anatomy, and Applied Diagnostic Imaging, it is a very wonderful feeling at least to feel partially ahead in Operative Surgery and Clinical Competencies. While the average person would look at that class list and would cringe, I feel very excited to getting my feet wet in areas that will be vital in every day practice.
Good luck to those fellow students who are dangling between the wonderful world of clinics, and the dark hollows of the last semester. With the right amount of coffee, it will be hello to clinics in January!
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