Found on another vet student blog..
Rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum.... udder? Hmm, I sure hope not! That tube should be leading somewhere else...
Anyway, life feels quite relaxing in this soft squishy place between a biochem test and Thanksgiving break. Lab today was short, and lab tomorrow is optional. I went out with some people last night to Buffalo Wild Wings, which, for having "wings" in their name, did not have such impressive wings. Maybe I just don't know wings? I dunno. They also charged me $6 for a hard cider, which could have bought me an entire six pack of ciders. Rip off! The company was good, though, so that made up for it. We talked about Thanksgiving and where we're from and how much we dislike biochemistry... ;-) Then we went to a pet store, where they had a "corgi" puppy that looked as much like a corgi as Winnie looks like a pit bull. They also had some adorable hedgehogs... aw, I want one. Then, we wandered over to Barnes and Noble, where I found a book about being a holistic vet. Only $2.50! Not bad. It's an okay book, a little "touchy-feely", but it seems to be hard to find holistic-type books that aren't.
We had a great lunchtime lecture today from Dr. Peggy Root, a theriogenologist (reproductive specialist), about how to deal with difficult clients. Dr. Root is hilarious, and very insightful. Important points from her lecture:
-sometimes people just need someone to yell at. Try not to take it personally, and it's okay to scream after they leave.
-stand by your staff when a customer complains about them. If they are your staff, you should trust them, and if you don't trust them, why are they your staff?
-document EVERYTHING, including if you called a client, if you left a message, and how often you tried to contact them. A complaint that "you never told me those test results, so I couldn't breed my dog" turns quickly into "Well, my daughter is really bad about giving me messages..." if you have the exact date, time, and number at which you tried to contact them.
-no matter how difficult the client, always remember that their pet's needs come first. Whether they are nice or nasty about telling you that their dog is sick, the dog is still sick and still needs to be treated.
-if a client gets so unreasonable that nothing you do can please them, when they say "I'm never coming to this clinic again!"........ your clinic is better off without them.
-it is ILLEGAL to dispense medications for an animal without having a meaningful doctor-client-patient relationship!
Anyway, it was nice to have a break from basic sciences and get a glimpse of what life will be like in the real world.
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