Inexperience

Sometimes It’s hard being the most recent graduate in the practice. There are clients who have followed some of the other doctors over the (10-20) years and who have a lot of history with them. I’m certainly not offended when they prefer to schedule their appointments with the doctor they know – particularly if their pet has a long and complex history.

I had one such client agree to see me a couple of days ago because I was the only one with appointments available and their pet was sick. Our practice has a policy of doing blood draws and injections in the exam room wherever possible, so I attempted to do so. If I had known (or picked up on?) the fact that the client was SUPER protective and nervous about their pet, I would have brought the pet to the back. Instead it took a couple of attempts to do the blood draw (my fault) and a couple of attempts to get the injection fully in (the tech’s fault).

The client emailed their “regular” doctor and asked them to take over the case as a result, which is hugely embarrassing. Now that doctor (who is my boss and an owner) wants to talk with me and the tech about how to improve.

I know that this is how you learn but it really bruises the ego. One of my mentors says that veterinary medicine is a constantly humbling endeavor – whenever you feel like you know what you’re doing you get knocked down a couple of pegs.