Going into my internship, I had very little experience working with dogs and cats, and none in an animal hospital setting. Through my internship, I have gained a lot of valuable experience on how to properly restrain animals and how to communicate with them through nonverbal means. Beyond just working with the animals, the veterinarians I shadowed provided me with valuable insight on how veterinarians communicate what they are doing and their diagnoses to the animals’ owners. I also now have a basic knowledge of the various breeds, parasites, and diseases that are seen in a veterinary practice. Furthermore, I learned many business skills that translate to any field, such as how the employees interacted and communicated.
I was very lucky to have a mentor that was easy to talk to and ask questions. I think what really set my honors mentorship experience apart was how I was able to interact with the vet one-on-one and was able to ask any questions that came to mind. As I prepare to go to college, the veterinary knowledge I learned will help me differentiate myself from the rest of my class as I prepare to apply to vet school. The application process is also extremely competitive, so the hours I put in will help strengthen my application. Through my internship, I have also gained more confidence and feel as though I am prepared for any challenges that are ahead. Going into my mentorship, I had a somewhat unrealistic expectation of what the practice was going to be like. For one thing, I should have researched more because I thought only dogs and cats were treated, but the practice was mixed. It is safe to say I was surprised a little bit to see a 130 pound pig in the second appointment I shadowed. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much all the vets and techs really did care. They showed such commitment and dedication to their work, and it was very inspiring to see. My advice for any future HMP students is to not be afraid of your mentor. They are there to help you and asking questions will help you make the most of your honors mentorship experience! Also, don’t just sit around and do nothing. There is always some sort of work to be done. In between appointments, I would usually help clean the back area or cages. Lastly, enjoy the mentorship. Even if you realize that the career isn’t for you, there are still many valuable skills to be learned by simply being in a professional environment. And remember, it only lasts for one year, so make the most out of it!
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My name is Sabrina Buck, and I am a student at Forsyth Central High School. Over the course of this last school year, I have been interning at local veterinary clinic as part of my senior capstone. Through my internship, I have had the opportunity to see first-hand how a veterinary practice runs and now have hands-on experience working with the animals. I have learned many valuable skills, such as how to properly restrain animals and run common laboratory tests. This knowledge will not only facilitate my future as I hope to become a veterinarian, but I have also used some of the techniques I learned for safely restraining animals on my own pets at home. Furthermore, I now have a basic introduction to many of the instruments veterinarians use, such as stethoscopes and x-ray machines. Additionally, I have been able to see a variety of animal ailments throughout my internship, from broken bones to skin conditions, and now have a basic background on many common diseases and injuries that will help set me apart from my class as I prepare for vet school in the near future. For my research, I focused specifically on how the veterinarians interact with their animal patients and the owners. Most of my research was observational, and I would watch how the veterinarians communicated as I shadowed them on their various appointments. I now have a better idea of how veterinarians relay information to the owners and keep animals calm under stress. Going into college and as I continue to pursue a career as a veterinarian, the knowledge I learned in this internship has not only boosted my confidence in working with animals and their owners but has also provided me a solid foundation on which to grow my veterinary knowledge.
For my relevant presentation, I plan to start with a brief background on why I chose the veterinary career field and then I will include a quick anecdote about my first day at my internship to lighten the mood a little. I really struggle with forgetting what I am talking about halfway through my presentation, so I am going to write out an outline of my main points and their supporting evidence for me to read over and practice before my presentation. I will also make sure to stand with proper posture and try to keep myself from talking too fast, which I am guilty of slipping into when I get nervous. I want to spend majority of the presentation on my research section, going through each part and connecting my research to my interview, annotated bibliographies, and personal experiences. At the end of my presentation, I am going to make an appeal to the audience's emotions by going on a short spiel about how veterinarians really do care, and their passion and communication is what makes the difference between a mediocre and a superb vet clinic.
Kogan LR, Oxley JA, Hellyer P and Schoenfeld-Tacher R (2017) United Kingdom Veterinarians’ Perceptions of Clients’ Internet Use and the Perceived Impact on the Client–Vet Relationship. Front. Vet. Sci. 4:180. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2017.00180 A study was conducted surveying 100 UK Veterinarians on how they felt the Internet impacted their practice and how it affected their patient/client communication. “More veterinarians reported feeling that clients’ use of the Internet for pet health information has had a negative impact on the vet–client relationship (54%) compared to those who felt it has had a positive impact (37%).” The veterinarians reported that although the Internet provided easy to access information, it was often unreliable or over-exaggerated. They would rather their clients come in and see them in person to get an accurate diagnosis than for the owners to self-treat their animals with tactics that are unlikely to work or are misdiagnosed. Furthermore, “no veterinarians felt that the Internet had reduced the amount of time they need to spend with clients.” While a wide breadth of information is available, it is often either hard to understand or is inaccurate, so the amount of time they spend explaining animals’ diagnoses to clients isn’t reduced in actuality. Lastly, very few veterinarians suggested any websites to their clients, with “28% stating less than once a month, 27% several times a month, 21% several times a week, 15% at least once a day, 3% many times a day, and 6% never” recommending websites to owners. Thus, the UK veterinarians felt that the overall impact of the Internet on their practices has been a negative one. The information can be misleading, downright inaccurate, and hard to understand, and they rarely recommend reliable websites to their clients, preferring to explain animal care and treatment to their clients in person. The research and article was reliable as it was published on Galileo, a reliable resource, was approved by Colorado State University Research Integrity and Compliance Review committee, and was edited and reviewed by refutable people from Virginia Tech, University of California Davis, and Lincoln Memorial University. I plan to use the article in my final presentation for my Capstone in the section analyzing client-veterinarian relationships. It is applicable to my essential question as it discusses how veterinarians communicate with the pet owners, with research indicating that veterinarians prefer face-to-face communication over Internet communication and that they possess a general distrust of the Internet. In my internship, I have never seen any of the veterinarians recommend any websites, so my personal experience supports the findings in the article. This week I updated the layout of my website so now there are more pages needed for my final capstone and not just the blog portion. I also am in the process of making a survey. The questions are going to relate to how the owners feel the veterinarians communicate with their animals and what the vets do well/need to improve on. I am still thinking about how I am going to distribute the survey though because I can’t simply pass it out at the vet clinic I intern at because that is unprofessional. Right now, I am thinking that I may create an online form. For my final presentation, I am making a PowerPoint for my final presentation as well as a short brochure. I have started on the PowerPoint and plan to begin the brochure next week. For my presentation, I am either going to present to my IF class of STEM seniors or to my physics class. To gather more information on my essential question, I will continue to go to the vet clinic that I intern at and make sure to pay extra close attention as to how the vets interact with the animals and their owners.
Claude, Andrew. "4 Keys to Communicate Clearly about Pain in Pets."
Firstline, Mar/Apr2017 Supplement Pain Control, pp. 18-21. EBSCOhost,proxygsusfor. galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth& AN=122236089&site=eds-live&scope=site. The article “4 Keys to Communicate Clearly about Pain in Pets”, discusses how veterinarians should approach prescribing pain medication to animals, focusing on how to communicate with and educate the owner about the pain medication. First of all, the veterinarian should “NEVER allow clients the choice of whether or not pain management should be used in their pets” (Claude 3), as they didn’t go to vet school and aren’t educated enough to make those decisions. Thus, it is the vet’s responsibility to prescribe pain medication for the well being of their animal clients. Also, the vet should, “Present a brief tutorial of the physiology of pain in dogs or cats and how it is similar to that in people” (4) to help the owner understand why the pain medication is needed and how it will affect their pet. The vet should also relate the surgery/illness that requires the pain medication to a human equivalent, to give the owner an idea of why the pain medication is needed and make the pain level personally relatable. It is important to include the owner in the process of prescribing an animal pain medication because not only does the owner have the right to be involved in their beloved pet’s life, but they also know the animal best and will be able to tell if their pet is in discomfort.The source is reliable because the author, Dr. Andrew Claude, was a practicing veterinarian for over a decade before becoming the assistant professor and service chief of veterinary anesthesiology at Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. The article also came from a reliable source (Galileo) and is up to date on its information, as it was just published last year. I plan to use the article as part of my final capstone project to help answer the part of my essential question related to owner/veterinarian communication. In my internship, I will watch to see how the veterinarians prescribe pain medication and compare their communication to that of which the article recommended. Source/Bibliography
Claude, Andrew. "4 Keys to Communicate Clearly about Pain in Pets." Firstline, Mar/Apr2017 Supplement Pain Control, pp. 18-21. EBSCOhost,proxygsusfor.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http: //search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=122236089&site=eds-live&scope=site. Summary/Annotation The article discusses how veterinarians should approach prescribing pain medication to animals, focusing on how to communicate with and educate the owner about the pain medication. First of all, the owner should not have a choice of whether or not pain medication will be used in their pets, as they didn’t go to vet school and aren’t educated enough to make those decisions. It is the vet’s responsibility to prescribe pain medication for the well being of their animal clients. Also, the vet should compare the physiology of pain in animals to that of pain in humans to make it more relatable for the animal’s owner. The vet should also relate the surgery/illness that requires the pain medication to a human equivalent, to give the owner an idea of why the pain medication is needed. It is important to include the owner in the process of prescribing an animal pain medication because not only does the owner have the right to be involved in their beloved pet’s life, but they also know the animal best and will be able to tell if their pet is in discomfort. Potential Quotes “NEVER allow clients the choice of whether or not pain management should be used in their pets.” (page 3) “Present a brief tutorial of the physiology of pain in dogs or cats and how it is similar to that in people.” (Page 4) “Clients are uniquely qualified to assess pain in their pets because they know what the normal behavior is.” (Page 4) Assessment The article was originally published in Firstline, a magazine made specifically for veterinarians. The article was also found from a credible database (Galileo) recommended by my teacher. Reflection I will use the article as part of my final capstone project to help answer the part of my essential question related to owner/veterinarian communication. In my internship, I will watch to see how the veterinarians prescribe pain medication and compare their communication to that of which the article recommended. Through my mentorship, I have been shadowing vets at a local animal clinic. My research is being driven by the desire to know how veterinarians communicate with the animals they treat and their owners. Because animals obviously can’t simply talk to their veterinarians, I want to know how veterinarians keep the animals calm when working with them and how the vets relay care instructions to their animals’ caregivers.
My current essential question is “How can I communicate with animal patients and their owners to maximize an animal’s quality of life and general level of comfort?” This has changed from my earlier essential question, which was more so focused on the actual diagnosing of animals. Given that I am still in high school and have not gone through the extensive education required to be a veterinarian, I feel as though my research is better centered around observational criteria, such as communication. Other than this website, I also plan to create a pamphlet and Powerpoint for my final presentation. Unfortunately, I can’t video myself working at my internship for security reasons, so as much as I would like to include a video, I am unable to do so. For the “real inquiry” portion of my project, I plan to interview the vets at the office I am interning at and to continue to shadow them on their appointments. I am always welcome to ask them questions, and I learn just as much from observing them as they interact with their clients. Also, I plan on asking the vet techs for their opinions on how to best handle animals as they are often the ones doing the restraining and handling of the animals. While I cannot survey the clients at the practice I shadow at, I plan to also ask for my peer’s opinions on how vets handle their animals to also gather information from an owner’s perspective. Below is an interview I conducted with a veterinarian as part of my Honors Mentorship class. The interview was held with a veterinarian outside of my internship because I wanted to get another vet's perspective for my research. For each question, there is a response from the vet as well as my own personal reflection to their answer.
1) How do you know when it is time to euthanize an animal? Response: When making the decision to euthanize an animal, we look at several criteria.1) Is the animal still eating? 2) Are they in pain? 3) Are they having more good days than bad? Each animal is unique, and in the end, it is the owner’s call as they now their pet the best. Reflection: Euthanasia is never taken lightly. Unfortunately, there is no black and white answer for making decisions like this. On one hand, an animal could potentially live months after it was euthanized. On the other hand, they may have been in too much pain to enjoy life in those last months had they stayed alive. Thus, there is no “right” or “wrong” time. 2) What is your favorite part of being a veterinarian? Response: I like knowing I relieved an animal’s pain and made a difference in their life. There aren’t many careers that you know you have made an impact with your life. Reflection: Everyone always thinks that veterinarians want to become vets because the salary. In reality though, the long hours and emotional toil veterinarians go through wouldn’t be worth the money if they didn’t truly love their job. The veterinarians I intern with truly don’t care about the money. They just really love the animals. 3) What is your least favorite part of being a veterinarian? Response: It is hard to euthanize animals, especially if they have been at your practice since they were a small puppy or kitten. Reflection: Even though their patients aren’t human, veterinarians do truly care for the well-being of the animals they see. It is tough for everyone involved when a pet is put to sleep. The owners are grieving, and even if the veterinarian doesn’t show it, they are grieving too. They are just very good at putting up a strong front and reminding themselves that the animal is no longer enjoying life and this is the best option. 4) Name 3 qualities you think are the most important for a vet to have. Response: Critical thinking, patience, passion Reflection: Because animals can’t tell the veterinarians what is wrong with them, it is imperative that veterinarians are able to think critically to come up with possible causes of the animals’ ailments. Also, the animals don’t always understand what the veterinarians want. Unlike a human, vets can’t tell their patients to sit still and explain to them what is happening. Animals are often very frightened at the vet’s office as they don’t understand why they are there or what is happening, so vets must be patient when dealing with them. As for passion, every career is better if you truly love what you are doing and the end result is better as well for the animals. 5) Has anything surprised you over the course of your career? Response: A lot of people don’t understand basic animal care and never did any research before buying a pet. They think that they can treat an animal like a tiny person and fail to realize the responsibility that comes with owning an animal. They aren’t bad people, but I wish people did more research before buying themselves a pet. Reflection: I completely agree with this. Pet owners often come in with an animal that is in pain and ask if they can give them an aspirin, but animals don’t process aspirin like human do and aspirin can actually do a great deal of harm to a pet. There are also cases where people didn’t research the dog breed before they bought one, like when people bring in German Shepherds and are surprised by their protective nature and aggression or when people living in apartments are upset by their herding dog’s hyperactivity. 6) Have you ever made a mistake? Response: Every single vet has made a mistake at some point in their career. The important thing is to minimize them and to learn from them. I’m fortunate to have an excellent team of vets and techs that I work with and we all serve to check one another and minimize those mistakes. Reflection: One of my biggest fears about becoming a veterinarian is that I will mess up and accidentally harm someone’s animal. It is reassuring to know that every vet has made a mistake at some point in their career. While I have seen small blunders, the veterinarians and technicians that I have observed both at the place of my internship and at other practices that I have observed have done an excellent job of checking one another and I’m yet to see an animal come out with more harm than good done to them, which is reassuring. 7) How do you communicate with your patients? Response: Obviously, animals don’t talk to me. But, they have non-verbal cues, like wagging their tails or bearing their teeth that give me an idea of their mental state. They also whimper when in pain or avoid pressure on sensitive areas, which can help me locate a specific area causing them discomfort. It is also important to be gentle and calm when handling the animals to help reassure them that they are safe in your company. Reflection: I really like how my interviewee answered from both the vet’s and animal’s perspective. Communication is always a two-way street. Just as vets need to be able to understand what the animals are trying to communicate, the animals also need to know that they are safe in the vet’s presence, which will make the entire process easier for everyone involved. They also never look dogs directly in the eye, as that is a sign of aggression. 8) How do you stay up to date on current veterinary medicine? Response: There are always conventions and books I can buy. I also work with a team of vets with varying ages and experience, which provides a range of different perspectives for each case. Reflection: I never thought about using people as a resource to stay current on information. Of course new textbooks can be bought and there are constantly presentations on new veterinary technology. However, I had never previously considered that simply working with other coworkers can help vets stay up to date. Younger veterinarians are constantly asking for advice and recommendations, and I appreciate that they also keep their older mentors up to date in the process of working with them. 9) If you could go back, would you still become a vet? Response: No career is perfect, but I absolutely would. I love my job. Reflection: The veterinarians that I have had an opportunity to work with have all expressed this sentiment. Most of them wanted to be a vet from a young age and couldn’t imagine themselves as anything else. Beyond that, they are supportive of me and encourage me to follow my dreams too. 10) Have you ever had a client that wasn’t happy with their animal’s treatment? If so, what did you do? Response: Of course, I have had clients that weren’t happy with one of my diagnoses or didn’t agree with my plan of action for their pet. I understand this, and if a client is unhappy with my work or wants another opinion, I am glad to refer them to a specialist or another clinic. I just want everyone to remember that I am human, not a miracle worker. Try as I might, I can’t cure cancer or bring back the dead. I can only do my best. Response: The only people I have seen that were unhappy with the vets were those who had unrealistic expectations for their animals. They expect the vets to be able to perform costly surgeries for free or want the vets to tell them that their dying animal is okay when it clearly is not.
https://www.emaze.com/@AOOZOCIQC/hmp-midterm
Follow the link above to access my midterm assignment, which is an emaze about the veterinary career field.
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