Reflections of My Mentorship

While at my mentorship, my mentor likes to discuss several different topics even if it does not involve veterinary medicine or animals in general. Over the course of the week we can talk about Star Trek all the way to politics and government taxation, so even if it is a slow day at the animal hospital, I'm always learning something I didn't know before. Each day I come in around 8:30 and usually my mentor doesn't arrive till about 8:50. The minute Dr. B arrives I am bombarded by the statement "ASK ME QUESTIONS" "DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS?" Sometimes I get eager to talk about something and other times I would rather just observe the scene. When a patient arrives I always go in the room with him and listen to how he talks to patient's parents. After we leave the room if I don't understand something, he explains to me the diagnosis or talks me through what could potentially be wrong with the patient. On some special days like Wednesday, surgeries such as neuters, spays, and dentals take place. It is always interesting to watch these surgeries because each animal is different and either have different teeth or different private areas. I have seen so many neuters I could probably perform one my self. One special event that really stands out to me that has happened in the last month is when a patient came in and had a really hard time breathing; Dr. B didn't know what exactly was wrong with it but they had to give it oxygen right away. When they tried to place the tube down her throat, the tube wasn't fitting, and he had to open the trachea right away and perform emergency surgery. It turned out the dog had so much blood in its lungs and everywhere else, that he wasn't going to make it. The dog died while it was under anesthesia from getting into rat poison. This is unusual to happen at the animal hospital, but crazy events such as that could happen unexpectedly and everyone must be ready for it.

 

One class that has helped me while I have been at my mentorship is probably psychology. I believe this has helped a little because we discussed certain behaviors. Although that class wasn't focused on animals really, you can take the things you learn in psych about humans and carry some of them on to animals like dogs and cats. I can almost relate every topic learned in psychology to the animals at the hospital such as nature vs. nurture or even classical conditioning. Even in some experimental studies in psych, animals are used to prove or disapprove a hypothesis. Psychology also, is a area of study included in the marine biology curriculum because dolphins and other marine animals are so similar to human behaviors.