AutoSuture Training

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Anonymous

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I am currently considering an offer w/ Covidien on the AutoSuture side of the company. Everything sounds great from speaking with current contacts and other reps; however, I keep reading horror stories about how 'impossible' training is and how easy it is to get sent home/fired.

I have an OR sales background focusing in laparoscopy. I'm apprehensive about this training, being that the economy is awful and the job market is thin. Obviously, if I take the position, I am not looking to coast through this by any means...but need a serious response on the scope of this training endeavor.

Can I get an honest opinion from those who have gone through this training....what is it REALLY like?
 






why is it that suture companies put you through all this training to what amounts to box counting and doing inventory? in 5 years of OR sales I have NEVER seen a rep help a surgeon close or do anything more than inventory or try and keep the ethicon reps out or vice versa. you guys get all this training and ball breaking for nothing. good pay though.

let the suture/pharma people start to scream and defend what they do.
 






They are not kidding about the training. It is fucking hard, not matter how smart you are. Usually a month away from home, sleep deprivation, and being treated like shit is enough to put a normal person over the edge. The hardest part for me was when my classmates got fired. It really sucks. They will fire you the day you're supposed to graduate if you're not up to speed...or even if you are up to speed, but they don't like you.
Think twice about quitting your job. I have friends in very bad situations becuase they didn't make it through training.
Study your ass off. People come in thinking they are special (ie president's club, honors in college, etc) and get their asses handed to them.
Say goodbye to your social life for a few months, study 12-15 hours a day during the home study, and be psychologically prepared when you go back to headquarters. It's really about having the right mindset. There is no time to bitch and moan about it not being fair. Sink or swim.
Good luck!
 






AutoSuture is the endomechanical side of Covidien; mostly focusing on open/lap. stapling. Selling suture is a completely different position, with different training.
 












Hardest part was having to kill dogs in the animal labs - if you can't do that don't go. I understand the importance of animate labs but it sucks if your a dog lover.
 


















Animal Labs

I think animal labs are the hardest part about some of these jobs.

With some products you can have a frozen animal part to practice using the product. We had a physicians lab and training lab with frozen cow limbs when I was in ortho. No body, just the frozen off limb, no face. However the next two jobs were live animal labs and that is hard. After they teach you what you need to know, they sacrifice the animal. It is a shot and fast but it is sad.

Generally, for live animal labs, they need to teach you on something that bleeds, or in cases of cardiac etc, they are teaching you using the animals real organs, real surgery. The anmila is drapped and under anesthesia for the lab. If labs on on too long, the animal will start to come out of anesthesia and start to shake and they will need top to put them back under further. That is a dose of reality. Then, as said above,when all is done, the animal lab staff will end the life of the animal(s). It is sad.

Live animal labs only take place at certain places, certain certified factilites. You can't run a live animal lab in the conf room at the airport Hilton. Live animal labs w/ serious live surgery, as in cardiac devices are run at even fewer facilities. They need all the medical equipment for such a lab.

That is the reality and certainly this may not be something a new or perspective rep think of if they are coming from office supply sales or disposables like diapers/paper etc.
 






Please dont come to work here. Telling you the truth is the only way to help you. Training is very hard, but the job you wind up with will make you miserable. Utterly and completly miserable.
 






okay the live animal labs may be a deal breaker for me - that is the saddest thing ever. are they humane? how often do the animals wake up during the surgery as described - shaking etc. -

I have been contacted about an opening but several of these post seem like people are pretty miserable despite covidien being a solid name in the business. These posts are older - do you all still feel the same or have things gotten better?? Thanks for your insight!
 






Animals are totally under anesthesia and do not wake up. Not sure who is telling you lies about them waking up. Would you rather they operate on a "frozen limb" and while the Dr. begins surgery on your parent/sibling etc, bleeding begins and now what do you say. Or would you rather drs. not learn at all on the animal and just practice on your family?
 
















































Anonymous said:
The managers go through the training with the reps? Really? They hire a Regional and then they train them for 2 months before they start leading?
Click to expand...

They used to and if they aren't, they should be. What good is a manager who has zero knowledge of the products his team is selling? Now, the real difference is whether or not that manager actually chooses to uses those skills in the OR. I've been around some who absolutely refused to step into an room for fear they'd screw it up (which they probably would have).

All that being said, I've heard that some of the newer managers, particularly those who were promoted via the ELD from suture and hernia or came from other Covidien divisions, didn't have to go through training or weren't held to the same standards as the reps, which is a shame.
 






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