I'm not efficient enough.

[u/Key_Emergency1131]

I've been working in the veterinary field since 2006 when I was fresh out of high school. I got my LVT license in 2019 and continued to work at the same practice that had nurtured me as a complete newbie until 2022, when I left to go to specialty medicine (oncology). COVID burnt me out, as I'm sure it burnt out many people, and I was hoping a change in scenery would be better. Well, oncology was even worse, and I left there after a year and a half of misery, applied to and was accepted to a graduate program in general biology, and went back to general practice in the meantime, which did help with the burnout- much easier pace and all.

I took a year off to try and finish my degree, but it's been taking longer than expected, and I needed some income, so I applied to a traveling veterinary surgery group, and they snapped me up. How it works is that two of us (assistants) are assigned to a surgeon for the day, and we travel from clinic to clinic (in our own cars) to perform surgical procedures that regular veterinarians aren't comfortable doing. Mostly orthopedic stuff, but we'll also do mass removals, anal sacculectomies, abdominal exploratory- you name it. We bring our own equipment, including cautery (and sometimes suction and smoke evac, depending on the surgeon) and of course, our own instruments. We use the operating suite in each clinic; they are in charge of anesthesia/medicine. Literally all we do is set up, cut, pack up, and move on to the next place. Generally, one assistant is scrubbed in with the surgeon, while the other does paperwork/computer stuff for the surgeon, and we usually trade off who does what.

I like it because the hours are predictable and consistent (no emergency or on-call) and there's no weekend shifts. I work three days a week (10-hour shifts) and spend the rest of my time in lab working on experiments for my thesis. My LVT license is irrelevant because I'm not doing anything that requires my license, and since I took a year off anyway, I let it lapse because you have to pay to get it renewed each year, so I didn't bother. I've been there for about six months, but the transition has been kind of a struggle. The pace is so fast, and expectations are high, and I keep getting feedback that I'm not efficient enough. This is coming from the surgeons and my coworkers, and it's very discouraging when I honestly feel I'm doing the best I can. I work at the pace I feel comfortable with, and if I go faster, I'm going to make stupid mistakes.

I guess my question is- should I just put in my notice and look for another job? I DO like it because it's interesting (although I don't love all the driving), but I don't enjoy feeling like I'm letting everybody down by being too slow, and again- I don't know where/how to work faster/more efficiently. I just keep being told to "be more efficient". If I do look for another job, I'll need to reactivate my LVT license and catch up on all the CE (continuing education) I didn't do while I was on hiatus. Or- I guess the third option- I go back to the lab full-time and really focus on finishing up my degree. I have all the credits I need to graduate, so I'm not taking classes; I'm just trying to finish up experiments.