Anyone ever felt lost in their career?

RE: Anyone ever felt lost in their career?

VetNurse Anon a/c — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 21:57:42 GMT

I frequently feel the same and have contemplated re training to do something else and entirely leave the profession but it took me so long to get here.

I too qualified three years ago. I mostly locum now as my last permanent job didn't utilise the nurses never mind career progression. I then left and took a permanent job in a hospital after my stint as a locum hoping to expand my skills and knowledge but was unfortunately bullied and lost all my confidence in my skills and abilities, I now locum again but in a small animal general practice which is my comfort zone but I really want to learn and specialise and go down the referral route. There are not any referral practices within driving distance near me so would have to relocate.

So I am at a loss as what to do, I am happy to move for a great career boosting opportunity but after my previous experience I don't feel like I am a good nurse and will be out of my depth. The practice I was at where I had a bad experience if I was unsure of something and asked, all I got was "your meant to be a qualified nurse" so it just completely knocked my confidence!

So yeah! I feel at a loss what to do!

RE: Anyone ever felt lost in their career?

Sal the 1st — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 00:18:01 GMT

I think if everybody in the practice (and I mean everybody) has a clear picture of where the practice is going and where it is aiming it becomes easier to make the job more meaningful to both yourself and the practice as a whole. Where there is no clear vision it becomes a game of second guessing and then its bloody hard work, its frustrating and you never really know if you are doing what is needed or wanted and certainly for me it always leaves me with a sense of doubt and/or dissatisfaction

RE: Anyone ever felt lost in their career?

Alison Clare Hickman — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 13:52:55 GMT

Totally agree - I found myself veering towards specialising my interests that coincided with what was missing from my practice services - in my case Geriatric Clinics. Found a whole lot of patients could be referred to a vet for diagnosis and onward treatments that had previously been considered by their owners as "just getting old" .

I saw a really good tip the other day - offer a 'Tangled Pet' de-matt / shave service. Most owners notice their pets tangles and wonder what to do. A grooming parlour is expensive and difficult to book into (popular) so a freebie or £10 dematt (conscious) for a pet that has (minor-medium) issues and is compliant a. keeps on top of the minor tangles and prevents them getting to GA requirement proportions and b. enables you to check their health status e.g. not jumping up or down from surfaces so much? Stiff after walks? May be a vet check for pain relief and see how we go? Vet might diagnose other things...

At the very least you've got the owner thinking about health monitoring and a de-tangled and more comfortable animal.

So - my short-winded answer is... there's not much upwards progression in our profession so move sideways to re-ignite your fire. And. Potentially improve practice profits and then bid for a salary increase. (I'm writing a Blog series about how best to ask for a Pay Raise - if anyone is interested?! - There's value in your skills )

Hth

Ali h

RE: Anyone ever felt lost in their career?

Ems — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 21:09:39 GMT

I feel totally in the same boat, I’ve been worked in GP for 4 years and moved into referral work which I loved but left because I was bored with my role after 3 years. Now I’m feeling in limbo, not sure where I want to take my career anymore. It’s quite sad really, I used to have such passion for veterinary nursing but I feel like I’ve lost it over the last few months. As Sal has said, I still love learning new things through CPD but I’m struggling to find my niche and we don’t have a huge amount of referral job options in my part of the country. I’m reluctant to move and I’m trying to find something that works for me. Would you want to specialise? Do you have a lot of options where you are? There are also qualifications you could maybe work towards like the Vets Now Cutting Edge course?

RE: Anyone ever felt lost in their career?

Sal the 1st — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 16:13:35 GMT

Frequently. There is a lot I would like to do - but then I have to ask the question is it really relevant in the practice I am working in? - and to some extent I don't really know what to do about it any more. Sure, I am learning through cpd and I can still soak up the new stuff like a sponge but getting the opportunity to apply it - lets just say the opportunities don't seem to present themselves that often these days.

At the moment i am burying myself in H+S audit - its as dry as hell but there is always something new coming out to keep track of