Work Experience Week 2 (same practice as last week)

Day 1:

• Observed rabbit castrate
• Helped clean theatre walls
• Cleaned theatre floor
• Cleaned prep room
• Observed blood being drawn from dog
• Visual check of rabbit castrate through kennel bars
• Blitzed (thoroughly cleaned) the food store due to a nasty lingering smell from out of date and opened pet food
• Observed hydrotherapy sessions

Day 2:

• Learned how to tell the reception computers that patients have arrived
• Swept floors
• Polished in reception
• Swept up wasps from kennels (I did recommend a reliable pest controller, who was bought in to get rid of the wasps)
• Showed clients up to cat waiting room
• Helped move R.A.T.S. donations (the donations, kept in the food cupboard, included the nasty dog food that had to be gotten rid of yesterday) into collection persons car

Day 3:

• Swept staff room
• Helped hunt down the head vet nurse to help with busy phones at reception
• Dusted in private areas of clinic
• Dog pooped on clinic floor - I tried to tell the owner I'd clean up the poop and the mess on the floor, Owner wouldn't have any of it and I had to let her clean up the poop and left over mess on the floor, However she did let me take the used paper towels to the bin.
• Observed health check, pedicure and vaccination of small obese dog.
• Sat with dog castrate through recovery (very distressed and thrashing around in kennel)
• Cleaned kids finger prints off mirrors
• Swept private areas.

Day 4:

• Observed taking blood from a cat
• Observed blood test (cat)
• Swept up dead wasps
• Observed taking blood from a dog
• Observed blood test (dog)
• Observed cat castration (C4 - charity funded)
• Observed dog dental / extraction (stinks)
• Observed removal of fly strike larva from cat. Owners wife bathed affected area in detol. Luckily the cats thick fuzzy fur stopped both the larva and detol from touching the cats skin.
• Observed cat dental (stinks)
• Cleaned inside the microwave
• Cleaned the toaster
• Washed 2 mugs and some cutlery
• Cleaned kennel of dog dental
• Cleaned the toilets.

Day 5:

• Observed prep for PTS (put to sleep)
• Assisted in giving a pug a pre med
• Retrieved pet food for prescription
• Observed pug spay
• Helped clean theatre walls
• Mopped theatre and prep room floors
• Put theatre and prep mop head in for a wash
• Emptied and put away mop bucket
• Wrote a note of thanks to the staff
• Observed hydrotherapy
• Observed reception
• Observed taking blood from a cat
• Observed testing of cat blood

Work Experience Week 1

Day 1:

• Observed a consultation
• Saw how reception works
• Helped in the difficult removal of some grass seeds from  German Shepherds ear. He was a pain in the bum to sedate which turned a half hour procedure into an hour long procedure - at the end of which we found out that the poor dogs ear drum had been perforated, ouch!! No wonder he didn't want to sleep or have anyone go near his head!!
• Polished in reception
• Observed hydrotherapy.

Day 2:

• Cleaned reception
• Swept all areas
• Observed Cystotomy
• Disinfected theatre walls after cystotomy
• Cleaned two kennels
• Observed consultations

Day 3:

• Observed prep of drugs
• Observed bitch spay (uterine infection - Pyometria)
• Helped clean theatre
• Aided in the bagging of a deceased dogue du bordeaux

Day 4:

• Attempted to comfort grieving owners (dog put to sleep)
• Polished cat waiting room and that hall to within an inch of their lives
• Swept reception floors
• Observed an ECG and learned how to read them
• Cleaned staff room counter top
• Washed bowls, cups and cutlery in sink
• Observed consultations

Day 5:

• Observed admittance of patients
• Observed prep of drugs
• Observed dog castration
• Cleaned theatre walls
• Observed dog dental (this stank)
• Observed attempt to find an apparently non-existent foreign body in a dogs foot.
• Observed cocker spaniel ear flush (both ears had a horrendous smell. I personally nicknamed this dog "Stinky" - although affectionately of course!!)
• Checked on Op patients (visually, through kennel bars)
• Observed hydrotherapy
• Put away cat food tins in food cupboard
• Helped unload large container of water from delivery van to shelf under auto clave.
• Ferried blood results from the lab to the vet

I STARTED UNIVERSITY

So. I graduated college with the grades Merit, Merit, Pass which equate to 2 B's and a C in A-Level language.

Unfortunately I was unable to become a vet, BUT I was eligible to do a course in veterinary NURSING.
When I was told I could become a nurse I felt rather unsure about whether or not this was what I wanted to do if I couldn't be a vet.
However I did three weeks work experience at two different practices so that I might be able to get into university.

I regret nothing. Nursing is amazing! There is so much to this job - much more than I ever thought.

As a nurse you clean (boring I know, but necessary to protect the health of your patients, clients, YOURSELF and your co-workers), you prepare drugs for operations and the like, you dispense medications to owners*, you can do operations that DON'T enter body cavities (clipping claws and that sort of thing), you can prep for operations and you can do SO MUCH MORE!!!

I have started my course at Anglia Ruskin and it's great. I've made friends too.

I'll upload my diary from my work experience at a later date!!

See you all later,
J



*When handling any type of drug or medication at a practice I highly suggest checking what you've picked up three times at the very least before you hand them over to the vet or owner just to be sure you haven't made a mistake