"It's time to practice being a good clinician", that's what Dr. Stimmelmayer told me as she "high fived" to my starting 5th semester news. The shift in how we think has been clear and present from one class to the other. We're starting to throw around a term....diagnosis! My first experience of doing this was during our first clinical pathology lab where we did cell counts, packed cell volumes, and urine analysis. We were presented with a case and blood samples to then analyze.
Dr. Kelly also held a wet lab on physical exams and this coming Friday we will have another wet lab on ultrasound. I got to work on a dog named "Rosa" where I did a head-to-tail physical exam....good times. I hope that someday I can look back on this long journey and only wonder how we did it.
Today we hosted Dr. Casey a racetrack specialist from Maryland. He shared a wealth of information about the latest in joint injections in race horses. Tommorow we will host Dr. McClure an expert and authority in shock wave therapy.
Last Friday we got to do rectal palpations on the cows. Compared to my first experience before I started Ross it was like night and day. Back then I had no idea what I was looking for, all I knew was that the I was supposed to slide my arm all the way IN and feel around. Friday I had a greater appreciation for the anatomy, and got to feel ovaries, and a fetus. You can tell who has done this before: I was covered in cow poop = beginner, other's where clean as a whistle = experts.
I was impressed by a story Dr. Casey left us with: He mentioned various stories about his veterinary school experience in Tuskagee. One of them was regarding a professor whom was known to be super tough on his exams, and not the nicest of professors by far. But what stuck with him was his professors willingness to meet with his students at 4 am twice a week to squeeze in extra surgical practice. Now that's dedication, nice or not, being their when it counts!!
