A space to learn..... Phoebe Grant

October 25, 2022

Phoebe Grant, AVC 2023, travelled to Port Hope Simpson in 2022 as one of the student participants on the Chinook Project. As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of reflective writing.

Pheobe and Ray checking calculations

Leading up to our Chinook Project trip we held multiple meetings discussing every aspect of the trip from scheduling appointments to anesthesia protocols. Many parts of these meetings were a review, but still at times it felt overwhelming how much there was to remember. It was discussed that for one of the first times, students would get to experience some autonomy and put everything we have learned in the past three years into clinical practice. To prepare for this big step forward in my veterinary medicine journey, I reviewed notes from anesthesia to surgery to parasites.   

I was definitely nervous about the prospect of taking the lead and starting to make my own decisions, but it was also exciting. It was comforting to know that I could have some independence but still have the support of my peers and instructors. Once we began the trip, and started seeing patients there was hesitancy in decision making at first. I found myself doing a lot of triple checking of dosages and still asking a lot of questions during surgeries about how to proceed in certain circumstances. 

As the trip went on, I found it easier to make decisions. I think this is because you start to trust yourself once you can see that the choices you are making are working out positively. On the other hand, I was even able to learn from decisions that didn’t go so smoothly. One of my peers and I were preparing a patient for anesthesia and things were going well. We got to the step of intubation and we both used our rules for confirming endotracheal tube placement. When this patient was moved to the surgery table it was noted that his oxygenation levels were low. The tube placement was reassessed, and it was found the tube was no longer in place. As much as it was stressful to experience thai issue , it was an excellent learning opportunity. Specifically, in this instance I learned to check endotracheal tube placement with the capnograph and not just visualization. Throughout this , my peers and colleagues made it a positive experience by working efficiently to rectify the situation and then ensure that we understood how to avoid this  in the future.  

Team huddle at end of trip

In general, my peers and colleagues made clinical decision making comfortable and easy. Everyone was encouraging and eager to collaborate when questions arose. After the Chinook Project I felt rewarded knowing that I am capable of making my own decisions and can make them successfully. It worked really well to have a group of people that were always there to help, but who encouraged us to work through issues to find solutions. It was a very safe space to learn. It was truly a collaborative space in which ideas were shared. I think these reasons are why the trip was such a success and the students came away with a big sense of accomplishment and confidence moving forward with clinical practice.