It's Like Night and Day

I'm learning all kinds of interesting things about small animal veterinary care, most of which I will never divulge here.

Here's something I can discuss. Perhaps you've been to the hospital for an illness or injury and been on an IV. What did you do when you needed to go to the bathroom? Hopefully you were mobile enough to wheel your IV stand into the bathroom with you.

But what about your dog? Dogs on IVs need to be taken out regularly, usually every 4 hours, to potty. We have to turn off the pump, clamp the line at the catheter itself, unscrew the join between the main line and the extension and cap both ends, wrap the foot or so of extension line around the dog's leg and secure it with vet wrap, get the dog up, get a leash around its head, and get it outside. Once we have potty success, we have to perform all of those tasks but in reverse, and add in an additional step: flush the catheter with a milliliter or two of heparinized saline to make sure it didn't clot during the time the pump was off. I am getting much better at this task but it can still take 10 to 15 minutes. In the best case scenario, at the same time the dog is scheduled for a pee, it is also scheduled for a weight and vitals (temperature, heart rate, etc.). If you are unlucky, you have to go through all of that at 2am for a pee then again at 3am for the vitals. Now imagine doing that with a dog that wants to bite you. Tricky!

The clinic I'm working for is open 24 hours a day, every day. When I work (Thursday through Monday nights), there are two night nurses. We clean, we monitor critical patients, we clean some more, we deal with emergencies. In this setting, you have to be able to prioritize and be willing to change those priorities on a moment's notice. We also have to look after all cat and dog boarders (no feeding thankfully, just potty breaks for the dogs and clean litter boxes for the cats), and prepare the exam rooms and treatment stations for the coming day's activities.

Like any large vet clinic, starting at 7am, the place begins to fill up with staff. There is a nurse who assists with surgeries, another who monitors ICU patients, two more who handle regular wellness appointments, plus admin and reception and kennel staff. 

At night, there is just one or two of us to do all of those things, plus the endless cleaning. 

I've learned that there is a significant disconnect between the night staff and the day staff. I come in at 1am and often think, bloody hell, didn't the day staff manage to do even a single load of laundry? In turn, they apparently think the night nurses either sleep or sit around and surf the internet. I guess they also assume that fairies stock their treatment stations every night.

Oh, sorry, did you detect that slightly snotty tone? 

To be honest, I'm learning a lot by working nights. I've just been thrown into it--terribly stressful but the challenge is intense and exciting. I'm working with experienced vet techs who don't have any problems bossing me around but at the same time often take extra time to explain procedures to me. Their willingness to share their knowledge and experience with me will make me a better vet.