Training does not have to equal train wreck

I am relieved to discover that after three days of full time work, I appear to have some idea of what I'm doing as a tech. Of course, now I've come down with a horrendously sore throat and still have the prospect of a two more eleven-hour work days this week, but hey, at least I have today off. The supervisor was terribly worried that I traded off an on-call shift three weeks from now, because how on earth will I get experience working in the OR? Aside from, y'know, the EXTRA DAY THIS WEEK that was the other part of the trade.

I was also glad to hear from my dad that, no, his clinic doesn't tell techs to "just dive in," and leave the training at that. They hire all certified techs, first of all, not random first year vet students, and they still have a very well defined training program the techs go through. 

One of my observations from work yesterday is that, as wonderfully effective as learning through (devastatingly bad) experience is, it means no one is sure what everyone else knows. We're just suppose to train ourselves so well we know everything. So we end up with things like an entire batch of medical equipment to resterilize, because one of the student techs didn't realize that the pointy ends were going to poke through the wrappers. It wasn't me! It was one of the "dive right in" proponents, ironically enough. 

Enough blathering for today. It's time for another dose of vitamin C and hot tea.