Minutes Crawl By

[ladysprite]

I'm never quite sure what to do with myself on the days that I'm working, but there's nothing to do.

The clinics I work at pay me to be a veterinarian. Even if there are no appointments to see, I feel like I should be doing something vet-ish. Unfortunately, that's hard to do when, in a six-hour shift, there are two patients, no phone calls for me to return, no ongoing cases to research, and no backlogged tasks that I can help out with.

There's also the thought that, since I'm at work, I should at least be working on improving my skills and making myself a better doctor in the time between appointments. On the other hand, there's a limited number of veterinary journals that I can carry in my satchel, and I can only stretch reading a journal out for so long.

And so ultimately I start out with the best intentions of being productive and learning something new, and eventually wind up photocopying recipes out of last month's issue of Ladies' Home Journal and peeking over the tech's shoulder as she searches Petfinder for a new dog, before sighing, giving up, and at least sparing a moment to feel guilty as I pull out my paperback novel and wonder if it's possible for medical skills to atrophy from non-use.....

Comments

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Netbook & browse the internet to amuse yourself? It's what all of us programmer types do. :)

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

Even if there are only two patients in six hours, you're there in case someone comes running in with an emergency (like a fireman waiting around for a fire).

If you had a small laptop computer, could you download journals to read at work?

[joannahurley.livejournal.com]

At least this is the exception, not the rule?

Any office cats to play with?

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

I slack off by reading LiveJournal ;-)

I don't think your skills will ever atrophy. You're too good a vet.