Wednesday, June 16, 2010

How to Become a Doctor and Other Random Updates


I just found a very easy way to become a doctor. Apparently, all you need to do is get an abstract accepted to present at a meeting. Then all communication with you is addressed as Dr. whoever even if you constantly reply and give no indication that you are possibly a doctor. I get that it's the safe way for these people to address me when they are uncertain, but I am not ready for people to be calling me doctor.

Lesson 1: Spell Good: A doctor was reading a history from a referring vet and came across a misspelling - I think "strider" instead of "stridor". She made the comment that she immediately thinks he's an idiot even though the more likely explanation is that he was in a hurry. It was a good lesson to pay attention to detail because little things like misspellings can decrease your credibility with your colleagues.

I started this a long time ago and there were going to be more lessons, but I can't think of any right now.


Well, just got back from a research trip to Alaska. It was cool since it was my first time there and I got to see a lot of the state and talk with a bunch of mushers. It was awesome to drive around and have mountains in the background everywhere. The rest of the research team was super cool too. We were joking around most of the trip and got serious for business so it was a great atmosphere the whole time despite the very little sleep.

Third year started and it was funny because none of us were prepared. There's a sense of we don't care and don't stress out anymore. We're all sick of the classroom and ready to start clinics in January. I just put in my preferences for clinical rotations which should be interesting. I feel like I have no clue what's going on in school. I just had a lab that I was completely unprepared for but it was very laidback and we were learning how to anesthetize animals. I actually saw a bunch of it on my trip so it was a nice review. I need to get back to watching the lectures I missed and will try to update this more regularly.

A lot of stuff is coming up - I need to make a poster for my research by the end of the month and exams will start soon and then I need to review my presentation from last year to present again in mid-October. I volunteered to help in the anesthesia lab on Thursday to hopefully anesthetize the dog and scrub in (I hope I get to do something because it looked boring from what I saw today) on a spay/neuter. It should be good practice for later this semester.