Blog #2: My Mentor: Tuesday October 18, 2011

I am interning at UNI Pet Clinic in Union City. All of the staff members there are my mentors, I help all of them. Rubi is a Veterinarian Technician and is my main mentor, Lily is also a Veterinarian Technician, Marco is the Clinic's Manager and also a Veterinarian Technician, and Dr. Kang is the Veterinarian/ DMV. A typical day at UNI Pet Clinic is busy and full of appointments with animals coming in and out, with a few surgeries, a few dentals, and a few x-rays. They all became interested in becoming Veterinarians because they like/or love animals, some skills they have to have are having steady hands, good communication skills, able to hold animals so they do not move while giving shots, knowing how much anesthesia to give an animal, how to take care of the animals, and they MUST know science and math and organization skills are a good thing too. For education they needed to go to a Pre-Vet Program, then attend a Veterinarian school for at least 4 years or longer to get their degree.

Blog #3: My Role: Tuesday October 25, 2011

My role at UNI Pet Clinic is a Veterinarian Technician Assistent, I help get the surgery room ready and clean up afterwards. I also help keep track of the animals Anesthesia records, so the doctor knows how long the patient was under and how their pulse and how much oxygen they were getting during the surgery. Other tasks that I do is clean kennels and the exam rooms when clients leave, I also just learned how to scan records and attach them to the patients folder on the computer. I have to make sure that I have the right records for the right patients so if the doctor ever needed it or if he had to send it to another doctor it is just in the clients folder. A regular Tuesday at UNI Pet Clinic is full of drop off appointments and walk in appointments for exams. There are usually a few surgeries, dentals, and an occasional emergency rush in which is when an animal is in a severely bad state. My first day interning my mentor and I had to get her roommates 16 year old; which is very old for a dog; Pomeranian named Peanut during our lunch break and rush him in because he was not responding to anything and he was bleeding out of his mouth which also stunk really bad. He looked really sick, and I was sad to see an animal like this. Then the Friday after my internship Peanut had to be put to sleep because he had severe kedney failure which gave him a gum disease that made his gums bleed and smell bad. I would never want to go through seeing my own animal in so much pain. Two Tuesday's after that a really fat cat named Patches, that was probably almost 40 pounds was rushed in an hour before closing time, because he could not get enough oxygen and was panting. They put him in the surgery room and Dr. Kang went to exam him to see what was wrong then he had Marco; one of the Veterinarian Technicians; take x-rays of Patches they then found out that Patches had fluid in his lungs also known as Pneumonia. Marco had me hold 100% oxygen to Patches' face so he was able to breathe better, I was able to relate to how he felt because when I was younger I had asthma attacks and was not able to breathe, so I felt like we connected and I tried to make him feel more comfortable. When I left, Patches was still there looking a lot better then when he came in, and my mentor Rubi said she would keep me up to date with him. I found out that, that night he collapsed and passed away and the only reason he was fine at the Clinic was because it was 100% oxygen that we had on him.

Blog #4: Project Brainstorm: Tuesday November 1, 2011

For my project I think I'm going to make flyers for the Clinic for more business, I can also see if the Clinic has any other ideas for advertisement and I can help supplement it. I came up with this idea because I noticed that the Clinic doesn't have that much advertisement and needs it because it is a small business. I'm excited to help advertise the Clinic because it will give them more business and give them positive feedback about their work. In order to finish my project I will need to make flyers to project more business. I will have to go to my WLE to talk about what they want and don't want on the flyers and to have my mentor look over my purposal. I will have to see if I need a budget to make the flyers or other advertisement depending on if I have to buy the supplies.

Blog #5: Progress on my WLE Project, part 1: Tuesday November 8, 2011

Today was slower then usual, there were no surgeries and only one dental cleaning. But there was one dog that was rushed in and had to be carried in, he wouldn't walk. He was an older dog around 12 years old and he didn't look good, he wasn't responding to anyone or anything. He didn't change even when we gave him medicine, I thought he should be put down because he looked really bad and still wasn't responding to anything but at five o'clock he was checked out and the family carried him out to their car. I don't know what happened to him but I think the family didn't want to put him down because it was their mother's dog and she passed away, but they were considering the worst to have to be done. I understand how hard it would be to put down your animal because I wouldn't want to, but you have to consider how the animal feels and if they are in pain they shouldn't have to suffer. My mentor and I talked about what I should do for my project and how I should set it up. We also talked about how much my project would benefit the Clinic and they appreciate me helping them create more advertisement. So far I haven't started the project, I am still brainstorming the layout and what information I should use on the flyers.  

Blog #6: Leadership Skills: Tuesday November 15, 2011

I am using all of the Leadership Skills: Thinking Critically by using resources at the clinic to help me understand things, Complete Projects Effectively by doing a project to help the clinic and reaching my own goals, Collaborate Productively by asking what the doctor needs at the clinic and helping fulfill his expectations. These Leadership Skills help me work on my own and think of different techniques for working. The staff use Thinking Critically the most to know how much medicine animals need or if they run out of a certain type of medicine they have to think how to improvise that medicine and give the clients something else that will help the patients.  

Blog #7: What I Learned, Reflection: Tuesday November 22, 2011

Before I started at UNI Pet Clinic I kinda thought I wanted to work with animals but now I know for sure that I want to work with animals. I learned that I am able to rely on myself more and I am trying to become more independent so when I go off to college it isn't hard for me to be on my own. At first I was afraid to answer the phones because I didn't know how to answer peoples questions. Now I am more comfortable with answering the phones and talking with clients because I have the support of the staff to help me with answering questions I don't know. A challenge I face is still not knowing where everything is and if someone asks me to hand them something I have to ask where that is or what is that. Another challenge I face is not knowing a lot of the medical treams the staff use at times I have to ask them to explain what it means, even though they don't mind it still puts me at a disadvantage when working there. A life lesson I learned is to not be afraid to ask what things are or mean and it's better to ask then to assume things. I am happy to be working at UNI Pet Clinic because they are so friendly and they get to know their clients and patients, interning there helps the staff because I am their extra set of hands. Before this experience I thought I wouldn't be able to handle seeing animals dying or watching surgeries but during this experience I realized that I am capable of handling these things, even though seeing animals being put down and going through pain I am able to stay professional. Everything I learned at UNI Pet Clinic will help me in the future because I will know what I want to do for a career and already know some techniques of how to do things.

Blog #8: Professionalism: Tuesday November 29, 2011

In order to find my WLE and get hired, I had to search through Google and look through all the different places reviews to see which place was nice and which place was bad. The most effective way of looking for a job and getting hired is by talking with the staff at the pace you would like to work, be friendly and respectful. As a result of my WLE, I think being a professional adult in the work world means to be responsible and collaborte productively with others at your workplace.

Blog #9: Life at my WLE: Tuesday December 6, 2011

Today I helped do the same things as usual, answer phones, scan papers and upload them to the cliets file, clean, and help hold. I feel I improved on my answering phones skills because when I first started I didn't want to answer the phones but now I am confident when talking with customers on the phone. I love working at my WLE because they are very friendly and professional and I get to work hands on with the animals. I think my workplace has a lot of strengths by being organzied, not letting the phone ring more then three times and the staff work really well together they never clash with eachother.

Blog #10: The End: Tuesday December 13, 2011

I wish I could go every Tuesday for the rest of the school year because I learned so much working there. They were so nice to me and explained to me the things they were doing with the animals and when I asked them questions they never ignored me or got annoyed by me they explained the procedures to me thoroughly. This experience will affect where I choose to work next year because now I know I like to work hands on and also with animals. This experience also made me realize that I want to go to college to become a Vet Tech and work in this field as an adult.