My First Mistake

I was asked a question via my twitter friend OnTheFloor @Dove, who hosts a FABULOUS veterinary site to provide training to all veterinary professionals on almost every veterinary topic, the following question;

(Boy, how I remember that exam like it was just yesterday).

How long did it take you to make your first big mistake at your FIRST veterinary job? Comment and tell us what it was!

My first mistake when I was a new grad and it was on my first day practicing. Unfortunately the practice I started at left me alone day one minute one..(P.S. my first HUGE red flag that this wasn't the place for me). I remember being in the exam room and a very sweet middle aged Golden Retriever with an elderly woman came in. 

She said to me "Doc, I think Daisy's ears are bothering her. Can you take a look?" 

I carefully looked in both ears with the otoscope and said, "We'll Mrs. Jones they are......ummm...I think they might be infected. Could I bring her in the back for a closer look?"  

Thankfully she said "yes."

When I brought Daisy back I had to ask the techs to look at the ears for me..you see the problem was that I knew they were bad, I just didn't have an internal reference range to assign them as far as being "not so bad" from "atrocious."

Thank goodness the techs knew.  Turns out to this day they were the worst ears I have ever seen.

You can learn about veterinary medicine in school but its an acquired skill, not a book skill.

I left that practice 7 weeks later.

On the Floor @Dove gives your entire veterinary team on-demand training that’s real, useful and never boring.

On the Floor @Dove