In anatomy, we have the ongoing debate about whether we need to use the anatomical names for bones or the “common” equivalent. Though we are examined only on the anatomical terms, how important is it to be aware of the others?
Credit: Owain Davies
“In the distal limb, we have the third metacarpal bone, proximal, middle and distal phalanges and the proximal and distal sesamoids.”
Imagine saying that to a horsey client. You’d probably receive a blank look.
Horsey translation: “Cannon bone, long pastern bone, short pastern bone, pedal bone, navicular bone and sesamoids.”
Now the client more than likely has a rough idea of what you’re going on about.
The importance of being able to relate the different terms is not only essential to the client-vet relationship, but also to your credibility. If someone were to ask about swelling around the cannon bone, and you only know it as the third metacarpal, things become somewhat awkward.
Perhaps it comes down to experience. Those of us from horsey backgrounds take things like that for granted. But it’s not just names of bones. I’m sure during our clinical years, we will learn about equine exertional rhabdomyolysis. Again, a horse owner probably won’t have a clue what that is. Mention azoturia, tying up or Monday morning disease, and you’re now on the same page.
Although anatomical names are “correct”, I feel that the importance of common names is paramount, and this should be emphasised more to us as students.
As vet students, welfare is always being rammed down our throats – and rightly so (even after only two weeks of first year). As future veterinary professionals it will be part of our job to ensure the welfare of the animals entrusted to our care.
Deciding what is “the right thing” to do can often be tricky, as there is never a straight black and white answer. Knowing whether an animal’s welfare is at risk is often down to individual opinion and, therefore, relies on experience.
There is a famous quotation: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”
I believe this applies to evaluating welfare. Often, from the outside, without understanding the reasons behind particular procedures or practices, it’s easy to think from a first impression that something is cruel or unnecessary. But, in reality, there is usually a good reason for these practices, particularly in the production industry.
In one welfare lecture, we were made to believe that keeping sows in farrowing crates was cruel. The sow has little room to lie down, she can’t turn round and may bite the bars of the crate in frustration, resulting in mouth sores. But what about the piglets she is about to farrow? It is their welfare that is protected by keeping her in the crate. The crate prevents her rolling on them, allowing them to suckle without the danger of getting squashed. What good is giving a sow more room if it results in half a litter of dead piglets?
A humane twitch: a useful aid for difficult horses, especially when clipping around horse’s head and performing other ‘frightening’ tasks.
On the same note, coming from a pig farming background, I have seen pigs kept in pens of about five, instead of staying in the open pen, opting themselves to lie in the feeding crates if they’ve been left open (not at feeding time). Confining a pig to a small space may seem cruel from the outside, but is it really, when the pigs will lie in feeding crates out of choice, probably to keep cool and avoid fighting with the others in the pen?
Another example of a misunderstood practice is twitching a horse. Twitches may be made of rope or metal, and can look horrific when being used, since they are twisted tightly around the horse’s muzzle.
An outsider would not understand that the twitch is designed to pinpoint a pressure point that induces release of endorphins. Consequently, this calms the horse and is a very useful technique when the horse is being difficult to handle during clipping or other veterinary procedures, and avoids the use of sedatives.
Assessment of welfare is very much based on individual opinion. Personally, I have had little experience with dairy farming so might at first think that some procedures are cruel when I set out on EMS in the summer. But it’s important to remember to stand back and understand the reasoning behind the actions of those who handle the animals every day before prejudging an establishment based on what you see or think you are seeing to begin with.
Is choosing a fully tracked degree like putting all your eggs in one basket?
Earlier this week, I was asked my opinion on the proposal of “tracked” veterinary degrees.
All the time, the bigwigs are trying to think of innovative ways to change veterinary education to produce the best prepared graduates they can for the big wide world. The new idea compromises the suggestion of either “partially tracked” or “fully tracked” degrees.
Partial tracking would involve allowing students to take an elective to allow them to focus on a particular species or discipline. A multi-species exam would be taken and graduates would still qualify to practise in all species.
Fully tracked degrees would mean not all areas of veterinary medicine were covered during the course; the students would choose to study a limited number of species and would take an exam specific to their choice. Therefore, graduates would only be able to practise in the area or species they qualified for.
There are obviously advantages and disadvantages for both ideas. Partial tracking would allow students to take an interest in one area more than others, but still keep their options open on graduation. A possible downside would depend on the proportion of the course that is elective. If choosing to study to a greater depth in one species or discipline would become detrimental to the rest of their studies, then would it just result in the production of students who are slightly stronger in one area but considerably weaker in the other aspects of the profession?
At first, fully tracking seems like a fantastic idea – graduates would be very knowledgeable in their field of qualification. They would be highly specialised and so extremely valuable to the field into which they wish to proceed.
But what if they changed their minds? Currently, it doesn’t matter if you start your veterinary degree thinking you’d like to be a farm vet but finish it thinking you never want to see a cow again. Taking a fully tracked degree would mean you’d be stuck with the path you chose – and how would a vet ever go into mixed practice if this were the case?
I think there is a lot of debate yet to be had on this subject. Personally, as a student, I wouldn’t choose to fully track because I wouldn’t want to have to put all my eggs in one basket just yet. Partially tracking at the later stages of the course could be beneficial though, when we all have a better idea of where we’d like to end up.
I think it’s fair to say I have a less than conventional pre-veterinary school story. In early 2011, after years of working hard at school, gathering experience at different animal establishments and doing regular work experience at a nearby practice, I finally received an offer for veterinary school.
Student blogger Jordan Sinclair.
All I had to do was get the right grades in my final A-Level exams that summer. Or so I thought. In March, a horse I’d been exercising had other ideas.
One moment I was mounting in a car park at a showjumping competition; the next thing I knew, I was waking up in hospital 10 days later.
Involuntary gap year
Despite 12 broken ribs, a punctured lung, a collapsed lung, a broken clavicle and nerve damage, I was still determined to go to the University of Glasgow that year. After a month, I came out of hospital and soon realised I couldn’t fight the sleepy side effects of the morphine long enough to pick up a book, let alone try to catch up with the schoolwork I’d missed.
Glasgow were fantastic – I remember mum being on the phone trying to explain the situation, while I tried to gauge the response from half the conversation. They would not only allow me to defer, but told her I needed to, in order to guarantee full physical fitness for the start of the course.
So what did I do with my involuntary gap year? I spent quite a lot of it recovering. The Air Ambulance Service saved my life by operating at the scene of the accident, and since it is a charity, I started volunteering and fund-raising for it.
When I was well enough, I rode again. Over Christmas, I visited family in Australia and, while I wasn’t allowed to scuba dive due to the previously collapsed lung, nothing was stopping me snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. I then returned to school to finish my A-Levels.
The long journey begins
Finally, after seeing my friends go through it the previous year, results day came. And so began the mad rush to kit up for veterinary school; books, wellies, overalls and goodness knows what else were gathered up and rammed into the car. Unfortunately, my horse wouldn’t fit in the boot, and I heard cats weren’t permitted in halls. So, petless and not knowing what to expect, I started the long journey north.
I thought A-levels were hard; veterinary school is a whole new ball game. You know it’s not going to be easy when even working out your timetable is almost impossible. It was equally daunting to see the proportions of internationals and postgraduates who all seemed to know everything compared to us Brits, who were fresh(ish) out of school.
One moment I was at a showjumping competition, the next I was waking up in hospital.
Anatomy was like learning a new language, with hundreds of obscure words being thrown at you in one lecture; in a whole sentence, the only recognisable words could be “the” or “and”.
Dissections took some getting used to, when you’ve only ever observed surgery and never actually made contact with a cadaver before. However, after a couple of weeks you can actually visualise where everything is and things start to slot into place.
A whole new world
For those not from farming backgrounds (I’m not sure what I consider myself – my horses were kept on a pig farm), husbandry was a whole new world. We all have varying degrees of experience in some area of farming or animal care, otherwise we wouldn’t be here, but trying to learn a lifetimes worth of experience in keeping sheep from someone in six hours seemed crazy. Now, it’s easy to see the importance of preclinical EMS – you can’t learn everything from a book. Though it is good to take a break from bookwork and head out to the uni farm for handling sessions every so often.
After my riding accident, I was given a CD with all of my radiographs and CT scan pictures on. Although the idea of having my own x-rays was novel, aside from seeing the obvious snap in the collar bone, they meant very little. After being shown an example of a radiograph showing the collapsed lung in a dog in the first couple of weeks at Glasgow, I went back to my stashed away x-rays. To my delight, I could see things more clearly, although did find it odd being able to understand how smashed up my insides had been. So far, the CT pictures still remain a mystery though.
I’m not sure if the beginning of vet school is what I expected or not. In some respects, it seems very real now, with professionalism being drummed into us from the outset. And in others, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel from here.
Not everyone loves children and, certainly, a proportion of people who choose to become vets would rather avoid them and stick to dealing with animals.
However, it’s important to realise early on that, depending on the type of vet you become, you’re likely to see a large number of worried pet-owning children walk through your consulting room door.
Practice types
In general practice, farm vets are most likely to have adult clients to deal with, although some children will be very involved in the family business from an early age and may attend appointments.
Equine vets will treat a lot of children’s ponies and, as such, may be expected to discuss the pony’s health and prognosis with the child as much as the parents.
However, it is the small animal practice vet who is most likely to meet children as the owners of small, caged pets, as well as part of family units worried about their dog or cat.
Appropriate communication
Not everyone is comfortable with children, but you must be able and willing to hold a conversation with them to ensure you fully explain the care and treatment of their beloved pet and the importance of their role in that.
If the thought of this causes panic, consider becoming a farm vet rather than a small animal vet, where you are likely to encounter young owners most often.
If a child is obviously interested and asking lots of questions about pet care, try not to get frustrated and do your best to answer in a way the whole family can understand. Remember, you are providing a service to all the family, not just the bill payers.
Saying goodbye
Unfortunately, many young owners attend with older, ailing small pets, including rodents and rabbits. Treatment options in these cases can be limited and humane euthanasia may be required.
Parents may have anticipated this. However, life and death is a difficult concept for children, and the family may prefer to outline the situation their own way.
If possible, before proceeding, allow parents a few minutes alone with their children, so they can explain the fate of the pet in a way they are comfortable with.
When many people think of veterinary jobs, they think of those in the industry who work in veterinary practices, dealing with pets and farm animals who need examination or treatment. The truth, however, is that veterinary training can make it possible to work in a variety of different roles for different organisations – it’s the key to a career that can be incredibly varied.
Those who work in a general practice will find their roles are quite diverse: day-to-day tasks could include the diagnosis and treatment of animals, operations, diagnostic tests, health checks, vaccinations, neutering and more. However, there are other career options that those with veterinary training may like to consider.
Some vets choose to work in industry rather than choose to have daily contact with animals, with industry roles available for those interested in working with biological products, chemicals and drugs to develop, test and work on the production of such substances.
Others may opt for a career that is more about regulation and standards, choosing to focus on a career that involves inspecting premises such as pet shops, zoos, farms, cattle markets, riding stables, catteries and kennels, in order to ensure the standards of care and hygiene present in these places comply with legal requirements.
Alternatively, there are openings available for those who are veterinary trained and are looking to work in the public health sector.
Bodies such as the Department for Environment, Health and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) work to help to both prevent and control outbreaks of disease that are spread by animals, with roles like these possibly including such tasks as working on the prevention of foot-and-mouth disease, or visiting slaughter houses and food processing plants to assess the ways in which the risk of the spread of disease can be reduced.
It is clear that good veterinary training – and the right skill set – can open doors to a variety of different careers. The important thing for you is to decide just which one is the right one for you…
