"It's easy. Just like riding a bike."
This is how Mbatshi, one of the veterinarians in the clinic, described placing a catheter. Once you've done it, you never forget how. It becomes second nature.
I didn't find this piece of advice even remotely helpful earlier in the week as I tried time after time to stick a needle in the cephalic vein of numerus patients and failed every single time. The real thing is not at all like the styrofoam covered tubing that they have us practice on in vet school, and I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated and disappointed.
By Wednesday I had gotten to the point where I almost wanted to stop trying. I didn't want to go through the embarrassment of missing the vein (yet again) or make an animal suffer due to my incompetence. However, Mbatshi and Lawrence, another vet, gave me a lot of great tips and really challenged me to keep trying. They would not take no for an answer.
Since Allie left for Thailand on Tuesday, I've become the only student in the clinic. Whereas last week I could always turn to Allie for help or pass off a job that I didn't feel comfortable with, this week there was no one to turn to or hind behind.
Finally, I stopped getting preoccupied with the details: At what angle do I hold it? How do I know how deep to go? Instead, I made an attempt based on feel alone and was rewarded with a flash of blood inside the catheter, a sign that I was in the vessel. Two days later, I still may not get it every time, but I feel much more comfortable with the skill.
This is only one example of how much I have learned this week and how much confidence I have gained. I was also able to perform my first solo cat castration, scrub into a reconstructive eyelid surgery and a pyometra surgery, and assist when a dog crashed during surgery rather than moving away and letting someone else take over.
Mbatshi was right in the end. Like any other skill, placing a catheter is like riding a bike. I just had to take off my training wheels (and fall a few times) before learning how.
This is how Mbatshi, one of the veterinarians in the clinic, described placing a catheter. Once you've done it, you never forget how. It becomes second nature.
I didn't find this piece of advice even remotely helpful earlier in the week as I tried time after time to stick a needle in the cephalic vein of numerus patients and failed every single time. The real thing is not at all like the styrofoam covered tubing that they have us practice on in vet school, and I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated and disappointed.
By Wednesday I had gotten to the point where I almost wanted to stop trying. I didn't want to go through the embarrassment of missing the vein (yet again) or make an animal suffer due to my incompetence. However, Mbatshi and Lawrence, another vet, gave me a lot of great tips and really challenged me to keep trying. They would not take no for an answer.
Since Allie left for Thailand on Tuesday, I've become the only student in the clinic. Whereas last week I could always turn to Allie for help or pass off a job that I didn't feel comfortable with, this week there was no one to turn to or hind behind.
Finally, I stopped getting preoccupied with the details: At what angle do I hold it? How do I know how deep to go? Instead, I made an attempt based on feel alone and was rewarded with a flash of blood inside the catheter, a sign that I was in the vessel. Two days later, I still may not get it every time, but I feel much more comfortable with the skill.
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| First success! |
This is only one example of how much I have learned this week and how much confidence I have gained. I was also able to perform my first solo cat castration, scrub into a reconstructive eyelid surgery and a pyometra surgery, and assist when a dog crashed during surgery rather than moving away and letting someone else take over.
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| Reconstructive eye surgery |
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| Solo castration |
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| Fractured radius and ulna |
Mbatshi was right in the end. Like any other skill, placing a catheter is like riding a bike. I just had to take off my training wheels (and fall a few times) before learning how.
omg you are too cute! You are a great writer and I love reading your blogs about the "aminals."
ReplyDeletePippa, Francesca and I were actually walking down the street the other day and we happened to see a little boy learning to ride a bike. His dad let go of him and he literally went head first over the handlebars. I expected him to cry (it looked like it really hurt), but he didn't. As Pippa and Francesca and I passed the little boy, the dad said to us, "Two more days. Two more and he'll get it." Sounds like you have had the same experience!