Community Practice (aka Cprac) is the VTH's own small animal clinic. Anyone who lives within a 30-mile radius of the vet school can use Cprac as their regular vet clinic. I wasn't really looking forward to this block because I loved Medicine so much, and I knew that the busy schedule in Cprac wouldn't allow as much time for researching cases and really going in depth. By the end of the 3 weeks, though, I found that I really enjoyed my time there...I'm actually sad to leave, and I wish I'd had the foresight to schedule an elective rotation through Cprac at the end of the year (when I'll have had much more experience!).
Cprac is like a self-contained clinic just off the main waiting room of the VTH. It has its own pharmacy, supplies, doctors, techs, exam rooms, surgical suite, and, of course, paperwork! With 8 students on this block, we didn't usually have more than 1 surgery and 2 or 3 appointments each per day. With only 3 clinicians, things were still really hectic! It still took over an hour for simple vaccine appointments, because there was the same routine of exam/fill out form/present to clinician/exam again/treatments, bloodwork, vaccines, etc/paperwork/discharge. The best part of the Cprac experience is that I got to make more independent decisions and spend more time talking to clients. It was much more of a real world experience than the "ivory tower" of Medicine, so we got to develop skills and habits that were more practical.
I completed my first dog neuter, ran anesthesia 3 times, and did 2 cat dentals (including extracting a canine tooth and performing a crown amputation on a premolar). I drew blood from several sites, gave lots of vaccines, worked really hard on ophthalmic exams, and restrained many dogs. I did get to see a LOT of cats this block! Cprac also tends to be a drop off point for wildlife that clients "rescue" (which means: find baby animals in their yards or on the side of the road and assume that the mother has abandoned them...this is usually not the case). We saw a 3-day old turkey, fledgeling robin, woodpecker, and 2 fawns. They all went to wildlife rehab, but they all would've done just fine without any human intervention! Juniper (yes, we named her) is pictured above.
Although the days in Cprac were shorter (10-12 hours versus 14-16 on Medicine), I found myself much more exhausted by the time I got home. Part of that was the faster pace, and part was being in such a small space constantly surrounded by people and dogs! I told quite a few people that I was living out my Myers-Briggs personality test results: I'm an introvert, which doesn't mean I'm shy...it means I draw my energy from quiet time spent alone rather than spending time with other people. Being surrounded by 15 people (wonderful, helpful, smart, funny people) in a small space with no windows all day made me really tired! I learned to take the long way through the hospital to go to the bathroom, stop by the ICU, or pick up lab results just so I could have a few minutes to myself. I was lucky that I was already good at tuning out distractions, so I never had a problem concentrating on paperwork or phone calls with barking and talking in the background.
I do wish that this rotation had been closer to the end of the year. It's great practice for what I'll be expected to do on the first day of being a doctor. On my mid-block evaluation, I was told that I was well-rounded and level-headed, had a professional attitude and an appropriate amount of confidence, and that I took criticism and instruction well. I'm really proud of that, because those skills as well as client communication and teamwork are the "soft" skills that are learned over a lifetime. I don't mean to brag...I'm just lucky that I've had so much work and life experience prior to vet school that I've had the opportunity to hone those skills. My physical exam and surgery skills will improve over the next year...although I'm a bit of a perfectionist, those are things I know I will be working on for the rest of my career.
Fourth year is really flying by! I can't believe I'm already done with 2 blocks and my family has made hotel reservations for graduation! I have to register and pay for the NAVLE (national board exam) by August, sign up for a NAVLE prep program, and take the exam in November. I've also planned my elective blocks (yay for time away from Blacksburg!) for August-October.
Next stop: Specialty Medicine-Neurology.
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