Imposter syndrome tips for a new grad please!

[KoolKat123]

Hi everyone!

So I'm a 2020 grad that started a job at a GP practice 2 months ago. At first I started off seeing mainly puppies and adults and then they transitioned me to mainly skin/ear/wellness cases. Well now I'm "open for business" for the most part. For this whole time I've been fighting pretty bad anxiety, imposter syndrome, and confidence issues that has been present mainly since my 4th year. I have an amazing mentor who has never made me feel dumb for asking a question but I constantly feel like I'm bothering her. I start panicking when there's any type of emergency even if another vet is taking care of the case. I spend most of my time at work thinking that my support staff are going to realize that I'm incompetent and don't deserve to be a vet. I know that this is a transition that most vets go through but I was hoping that by this time I would at least feel confident in doing something as simple as a dog neuter.

I have dreamed, loved, and worked towards becoming a DVM basically since I could talk. Now that I'm here I dread going into work and I really don't quite know what to do. My fiance and all of my friends are across the country so I have no in person support system (besides my extended family whom I'm avoiding due to COVID concerns). Any advice that you guys have would be much appreciated!

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[DrinkWater95]

Hi everyone!

So I'm a 2020 grad that started a job at a GP practice 2 months ago. At first I started off seeing mainly puppies and adults and then they transitioned me to mainly skin/ear/wellness cases. Well now I'm "open for business" for the most part. For this whole time I've been fighting pretty bad anxiety, imposter syndrome, and confidence issues that has been present mainly since my 4th year. I have an amazing mentor who has never made me feel dumb for asking a question but I constantly feel like I'm bothering her. I start panicking when there's any type of emergency even if another vet is taking care of the case. I spend most of my time at work thinking that my support staff are going to realize that I'm incompetent and don't deserve to be a vet. I know that this is a transition that most vets go through but I was hoping that by this time I would at least feel confident in doing something as simple as a dog neuter.

I have dreamed, loved, and worked towards becoming a DVM basically since I could talk. Now that I'm here I dread going into work and I really don't quite know what to do. My fiance and all of my friends are across the country so I have no in person support system (besides my extended family whom I'm avoiding due to COVID concerns). Any advice that you guys have would be much appreciated!

I’m still a vet student but I recommend you read the book series put out by Dr. April Kung. I haven’t read the third book yet titled “Practicing Small Animal Medicine” but I’m sure it’ll be just as helpful as the first two books which discuss preparing for and getting the most out of vet school. They’re short easy reads.

In general, I hear it takes ~5 years of being in practice before vets start to feel confident in their abilities and for imposter syndrome to fade.

 

[itsrocky]

Do you have classmates or other colleagues you can vent to? They may be sharing some of the same feelings you’re having. I graduated this year also and I regularly discuss cases/frustrations with classmates. There’s plenty of Facebook groups to discuss things/vent over as well. I do worry you’re suffering from anxiety, and it may benefit you to seek some treatment from that. Otherwise it’s only time that will mold you into the doctor you want to be. Best of luck!

 

[genny]

I know that this is a transition that most vets go through but I was hoping that by this time I would at least feel confident in doing something as simple as a dog neuter.

Life is going to be rough if you keep comparing your progress to made-up timelines. Celebrate your achievements. Call up the important people in your life and tell them whatever badass doctor thing you did, or talk to your boss or colleagues about your firsts as they happen, and how awesome it feels to do something right.

I’m 3 years out and I just did my first cherry eye repair this week. I had to call one of the other doctors into the surgery suite to give me a pep talk about how to start my incision. I thanked her afterwards, and called up everyone in my family and told them about this cool eye surgery I did for the first time. It really helps to talk about the successes with both your colleagues and your cheering section.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

You need to accumulate good experiences, so (as genny said), start focusing the positives rather than the negatives. It might not even be a medical or surgical positive - maybe it's about how you got that grumpy cat to cooperate, or explained something complicated to a client so that she understood. Unfortunately we all have a tendency to focus and even obsess on the mistakes, but do your best not to do that. I know it's not easy; I've been out over 20 years, and I still have days of feeling like an imposter.......but that feeling becomes less frequent as the years roll on. I don't say that to upset you ("imposter syndrome never goes away"), but to help you understand that it's not anything unusually bad or a sign that you're on the wrong track or anything. It's perfectly normal, and the more good things that you accomplish, the less frequent they'll be (and the better you'll be able to shift your focus).

You'll be fine. We were all there, and survived.