need serious advice about career/life :(

[K07d]

hey everyone,

I am a certified veterinary technician. i've been one for about 4.5 years and I just feel like i'm confused. Are you supposed to feel so much anxiety/stress over working? When I had attended school for this career, one of the first things they told us was that vet tech was one of the fastest burnout rate jobs because of how much stress is involved....and I learned they were right pretty fast. I feel like I've been struggling with this since about 6 months into this career.

Some days I feel ok, as long as its not a crazy day and I get done on time. But MOST days-it is VERY high stress and high volume and I don't usually get done right on time. It frustrates me because I feel like I have no time for my own life. I literally go to work, come home, have 3hours to try and get dishes, laundry, cleaning, and taking care of the dog done and then I need to go to bed so I can get up early and do it the next day. And I dread it. I just want to hide in a corner because there is so much involved in my job.

For those who don't know, a vet tech is like 10 jobs in one. We assist in surgeries, we see appointments, we draw blood, give vaccines, run labwork all the way from fecals, urine, to blood. We take xrays and my clinic has ultrasound and endoscope as well. And then there's the cleaning because most vet clinics do not have a cleaning service so vacuuming, mopping, etc is all up to us. I feel as though somedays I'm going to just snap because its so much to do and I just feel like I can hardly function somedays because i feel so exhausted. The Drs (veterinarians) are jerks, pretty similar to human medicine actually. Rude, disrespectful, bossy, helpless, etc and I have a hard time handling it. My schedule gets jerked around a lot....it can be long days (730am-6pm, 8-5pm, etc) and remember, i'm hardly ever actually done at closing time.

I have never been good at school, so its been hard for me to try and think of going back to school for something else, but I just cannot see how I can go on like this when I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack in the next 10years from this job. I guess I'm just curious as to how this seems from an outsiders view...I know its kinda hard to squish all the emotion and involvement into this forum but i thought i'd give it a shot because i'm at my end of handling it

My one and only other thing I can think of to do is to try phlebotomy in human medicine. I draw blood all the time on animals so I already know a lot of whats involved and all the different blood tubes, etc but I just cannot decide if its worth it or not....am I always going to feel so stressed out about work?

Also, vet clinics arent all that big and so there is so much drama that goes around almost everyday. Its a female-dominant work environment and there is ALWAYS gossip and attitude and its so hard to escape. I'm wondering if working in a bigger place like a hospital doing phlebotomy if it'd be an easier environment?

Please, if anyone has felt this way as well, or has any advice that would be helpful I would greatly appreciate hearing about it. Most days I want to come home and cry from the frustration and I just don't know anymore....

Thank you in advance..

[catfeeder]

How many places have you worked this role? I'd test whether a new work environment might suit me better before I toss in the towel. I'd rule out my assumptions about 'all' vet clinics by working in a few of them. It might be a matter of finding the right match with a place that isn't abusive.

 

Fingers crossed for you, and THANK YOU for the work you do for the animals.

[Heather Dawn]

How many places have you worked this role? I'd test whether a new work environment might suit me better before I toss in the towel. I'd rule out my assumptions about 'all' vet clinics by working in a few of them. It might be a matter of finding the right match with a place that isn't abusive.

 

Fingers crossed for you, and THANK YOU for the work you do for the animals.

 

Everything catfeeder said, down to the thank you.