“It is not the destination, but the journey” is a quote I heard many times throughout university; maybe too many times from those serious socialites who knew how to live in and enjoy the moment. But, for me, it just didn’t register. I often look back at my time in vet school and think I could have socialised a little more and enjoyed the time with my friends.
This is probably the last chance you have to spend every day with your friends. Once you graduate and start working, it is almost impossible to have all of your holidays aligned together.
Making the most of every day
Even if you can, the time you get to spend with each other is always limited. If your friends move overseas or start a family, it could mean you only cross paths very infrequently. Don’t take this time in your life for granted. I was too focused on the destination and not enough on the journey at the time.
Even though it has led me to where I am today – for which I will be forever grateful – I wish I lived in the moment more.
My advice is find a balance that is right for you; be very aware of where you are and who you’re with, and make the most out of every single day.
Client communication is an important part of being a vet, as building a rapport and gaining their confidence will allow them to trust you.
I would encourage all young vets to practice this skill whenever and wherever they can, and develop their abilities from the feedback.
Communication
My year was the first at the University of Queensland in Australia to have any formal lectures and practicals on client communications, and I cannot tell you how underrated this crucial course is.
In fact, I’d argue having good client communication skills is just as important as knowing the science behind veterinary medicine itself.
You can know every veterinary textbook off by heart, back to front, and be the top graduating student of the class. However, if you are unable to build a rapport with your clients and gain their trust within the first three minutes of a consultation, they may still decline every diagnostic investigation and treatment you recommend, and seek treatment elsewhere.
Complaints
Gerardo Poli during his graduation.
Client complaints are every vet’s worst nightmare, and what is the number one reason for a client complaint? Mis-communication. Therefore, it is vital everyone practices their own communication skills.
For some of us, this isn’t innate and second nature, and that is perfectly fine. Knowing your weaknesses means you can work on them. Communication skills are something that can be learned and enhanced over time.
I encourage every student to go into as many consults with clinicians as you can, observe what the vets do well in and watch out for things not so well received. It doesn’t have to be just learning from the vets, either – you can learn a lot from observing nurses’ and receptionists’ interactions with the clients, too.
Practice on your peers, friends, family, lecturers, vets and nurses, and get them to give you feedback.
So far in this five-part series I have stressed the importance of signalment and finding practical work while studying – both of which should be crucial in student learning.
In this third part I decided to focus on the incredible support nursing and reception teams offer vets – both on a professional and personal level.
Lifeline
I did not appreciate how much I would come to rely on nurses and receptionists for support. For me, the support is both clinical and emotional. Not long after graduation, I remember I asked my head nurse at the time for advice on how to treat a hot spot, as I had never done so before.
It was an extremely humbling experience – especially since it had never occurred to me until that point that I may need my nursing staff to offer clinical tips or perspective. Then again, I forget a lot of the nurses have more experience than me, having assisted vets years before I even graduated.
Support
Nurses are also there for you emotionally – they are the ones with you when you treat your patients; so, just like you, they share all the patients’ wins and also the losses. You will not be able to find someone else who can empathise with you more.
Sometimes, when faced with particularly difficult consults, you will be surprised how often you offload your stress by talking to them, and it’s quite a relief to know you have someone to listen.
I don’t think I could possibly explain to myself when starting out just how much I would rely on support teams.
In the first part of this series, I suggested the younger version of myself would have benefited from having more knowledge of signalment.
The second thing I think the young Gerardo Poli could learn is the importance of practical work and how it can build bridges with potential employers.
Practical work is where connections are built
Coming from my experience as a practice owner, I suggest students do as much practical work as they can in the clinics and hospitals they might want to work in.
This could be part of the formal practical programme, in the form of paid work (such as working in veterinary nursing) and voluntary work.
When you are on practical placement, you build relationships with the team and get exposed to the dynamics. It will give you an insight to help you decide if this is the practice you want to work at after graduation, and also gives that practice an opportunity to get to know you.
If the practice likes what it sees, it is more likely to hire you over someone based on the resume of someone it has never met in person.
We all sometimes wish we could go back in time or redo some situations. Often, when looking back with hindsight and more life experience, we wish we could have done things a little differently, or focused our time and energy in a better way.
I have been reflecting and, while I am incredibly proud of what I have achieved and where my journey has brought me, I have five things I would say to the young Gerardo Poli about to start university. Here is the first:
Signalment
When I was writing my study notes at university in preparation for my exams, I don’t recall writing down a lot about the typical signalment for different diseases. At the time I couldn’t see the relevance, nor importance, of it – especially when so many more pathophysiologies were waiting to be memorised.
Fast forward a few years when I started working, and the first thing I want to know – even before I lay eyes on the patient – is its signalment. It is the one crucial clue that helps me narrow down a long list of differential diagnoses and, from there, help develop a diagnostic plan.
Starter for 10
Signalment can be so telling in some cases that my colleagues and I will often guess what the patient presented for.
For example, a young Labrador retriever that presents with protracted vomiting is most likely going to be an intestinal foreign body, until proven otherwise, while a geriatric cavalier King Charles spaniel with dyspnoea is likely in congestive heart failure, secondary to its genetically predisposed mitral valve disease.
Obviously, just knowing the signalment isn’t everything to reaching a diagnosis, but it gives you a place to start.
With age comes wisdom
The difference between an experienced and inexperienced vet is the former is a lot more familiar with the types of disease and illness a particular demographic of patients is predisposed to, whereas the latter is not.
My advice is to read up on as many clinical cases as you can, and don’t forget to look at the patient’s signalment.
Finishing vet school feels like the end of a race I’ve been running for more than a decade. I don’t remember when exactly I started running it, or if there was ever even a conscious starting point, but it’s incredibly surreal to get to the end of such a long journey – and I’m still suffering with a heavy dose of denial.
When will it feel real? When I don my cap and gown? When I first sign my name as “Dr”? Or when I walk in for my first day at work?
The past few months have been both a whirlwind and an anticlimax all at once. There is nothing like stepping out of those final exams, feeling like the gazelles and giraffes blinking at the rising sun in the first scene in The Lion King – except far less magnificent and far more bedraggled because we truly had forgotten what sunlight was.
Time to go
Packing up my last ever student digs was also an emotional experience that felt more akin to dismantling an entire chapter of my life than simply packing boxes.
Eleanor Goad (centre) with her “comrades-in-arms”.
I remembered standing in my bedroom two years earlier thinking how weird it would be to leave this house one day a real, qualified vet. I’d like to go back to past me and let her know she was wrong – it is so, SO much weirder!
It’s hard to be sad, however, when the end of university life opens far more doors than it closes.
If I’m honest, I’ve always felt quietly smug for knowing what I wanted to do with my life since I could draw my first rudimentary cow. Up until this point I’ve been guided down a predetermined path of hurdles in order to achieve a particular goal. Now, rather abruptly, there’s nobody telling me where to go or what to do with my time.
Where do I work? Where do I live? Do I specialise, or just get my feet on firm ground first? It seems very strange to me that a decision I made so early in life has since dictated every decision I have ever made up to this point, and I’m only now gaining true autonomy in my mid-20s.
Not that I should really call them that because, after vet school, they’re more like my comrades-in-arms.
There are a couple of friends in particular who got me through this intense roller coaster of a course, and from late night study sessions to a constant supply of baked goods, I will be eternally grateful to them for keeping me sane (as much as was possible).
I know how grateful I’ve been to have a place to go for home cooked Sunday dinners; comfort on the other end of the telephone at all hours of the day or night.
Mum: thank you for the monthly post cards.
Dad: thank you for the six-hour round trips to bring me home for those aforementioned Sunday dinners.
Obviously, it goes without saying that I’m immensely grateful to all of the university staff for the work they do, but some amazing interns and residents at Langford got me through this last year of rotations. They represent a bridge between where you’ll soon be and the “god tier” level of an attending that seems completely unobtainable – which does wonders for the ol’ impostor syndrome.
Nothing hits you quite as hard as reality, as you walk out of your final fifth year veterinary exam.
Up until this very moment, your life has followed a structured timetable, carefully planned by the veterinary school. Now, with it all finished, who is there to lead you from here onwards? This is probably the most daunting question every final year vet student faces. University lecturers can only help you get so far, then you’re on your own.
Forging your own path
For those of us who are lucky enough to know exactly what they want in life, the path is quite clear. As the saying goes, “where there is a will, there is a way” – and it doesn’t get more true than that, for the rest the path is unclear, and there is uncertainty and doubt.
In this post I share my thoughts about the three main options that for new graduates: general practice, rotation internships and emergency internships.
General practice
Great at putting the last five or six years of learning into perspective, it will solidify what you have learned.
After one to two years you will have something to fall back on if you decide to try something else later.
You will have primary case control this will allow you to develop and fine tune your communication, medical and surgical skills.
The more remote the general practice, the likelihood you will be required to perform more advanced or complex diagnostic, medical and surgical procedures increases; therefore, the learning curve will be steeper.
Generally, this is a good place to start, especially if you are uncertain as to what direction you want to head in. I started here. My only caveat is that you select a practice you feel best suits you and offers the best environment for learning.
Rotating internships at specialist hospitals/referral centres
Gerardo Poli during his graduation.
Some new graduates go straight into rotating internships because of the opportunity to see a variety of cases and also because they wish to proceed down the pathway to specialisation.
Generally limited primary case responsibility as you will be following and assisting a specialist or registrar.
Offers the best exposure and foot in the door for a career as a specialist.
Exposure to a wide variety of complicated cases.
Opportunity to be involved in and possibly perform complex diagnostic, medical and surgical procedures.
Build connections and network within the specialist or referral community.
Most only last one year before a new pool of interns come through.
If you have experienced general practice and you know it is not for you then a rotating internship at a specialist referral hospital will allow you to get a taste of what is available.
Emergency internships
I do not generally recommend emergency internships to new graduates, despite the fact I have developed training programs to assist in the transition into emergency and critical care. There are large emergency practices part of a specialist referral centres and small centres running within a general practice hospital, but not all emergency hospitals offer internships.
Before deciding, here is what you need to know:
It has t best opportunity for a softer entry into an emergency career.
Generally prior experience is recommended as it can be a very steep learning curve.
The abnormal hours can be isolating socially and adjusting sleeping patterns can be difficult.
Most emergency internships are designed to retain interns not rotate them through, such as they “train to keep”.
You will get primary case control and exposure to more critically ill patients.
Depending on the type of practice and the arrangement you may get to perform more complex diagnostic, medical and surgical procedures as opposed to referring them to the associated specialist service.
If you are looking at a career in emergency I would recommend a larger hospital where multiple vets are on at the same time and you have the support you need.
Regardless of where you find yourself, the most important thing to realise is you have to start somewhere. Decide and take action. If you find yourself doing something you don’t like then you have learned what you don’t want to do. That is a valuable learning experience in itself. There are many ways to a destination, and no experience, whether it is good or bad, it is never wasted. Even in the darkest of days, remember, with every closed door, if you are looking another will open. Best of luck with all your future endeavours.
It had been an ambition of mine since the beginning of vet school to do some type of work abroad, whether it be preclinical or clinical, a paid position or volunteer work.
A big reason I undertook an intercalated MSc was for the option it presented for a three-month research period in Western Australia. Sadly, COVID-19 put a stop to that and my research never wandered further than my desk – but, if anything, the pandemic made me feel even more passionate about travelling for my EMS.
Gone to Goa
Weekends spent “lolling on the beach” were well-deserved, says Eleanor.
A friend and I both settled on a small rescue centre in Goa, India, for the placement (neither of us feeling quite brave enough to go it alone) and despite planning it almost a year in advance, the date caught up with us quite quickly. Before we knew it, we were there.
Let the record show that the motivation for this trip was not to escape from the harsh English January weather, nor to fill up on delicious curries, although the temperature did make a welcome change and I’m unsure a takeaway will ever cut it again.
The whole reason for the placement was to gain the kind of surgical experience that just isn’t readily available to students in the UK.
Understandably, vet practices can take a while to warm up to students enough to trust them to carve into somebody’s beloved animals, but this makes for generation after generation of new grads who feel completely out of depth with a scalpel in their hands.
Great(er than our) expectations
The placement’s main advertising pull had been as an opportunity to gain incredible surgical experience, but we had gone into it with some trepidation that it wasn’t going to be nearly as busy and hands-on as we’d hoped. It turned out to surpass our expectations and go right out the other side…
Weekends spent lolling on the beach were well-deserved after numerous 11-hour shifts with numb fingers and thumbs from uncooperative clamps and needle holders.
The surgical side of the trip deserves an article of its own – but suffice it to say that, between the two of us, my friend and I neutered almost 50 dogs and cats, including 15 unassisted but supervised dog spays. It was an incredible rewarding feeling when each surgery finished, knowing we were doing even just a small bit in the effort to reduce India’s stray population.
Eleanor found her EMS placement in Goa “incredible rewarding”.
Learning valuable lessons
Let it be said, I am not the most confident of travellers, and 18 hours of travel across three planes and four airports are not for the faint of heart, but neither is India – and while I have entirely fallen in love with the country, its beauty and its animals, there was a lot of disorganisation that made my poor little control-freak brain spin.
I think that learning to take each day as it comes, and constantly adapting to new situations or pressures has taught me a lot of valuable skills in a very short space of time.
In particular, the vet who taught and supervised us was invaluable in making the placement such a success. She gave us an incredible amount of patience and taught me skills in both surgery and how to face a stressful situation that I will carry with me throughout my career.
Whether you’re a student making your way through vet school or a practising veterinarian, nurse or technician, mastering time management is essential if you want to balance study, work and self-care.
One of the most popular methods is the Pomodoro Technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s and named after his kitchen timer that was shaped like a tomato.
The principles of the Pomodoro Technique can be broken down to:
Identify the tasks/goals you want to achieve. This can be anything from finishing a draft assignment, completing study notes, reading x number of journal articles, or finishing all your histories.
Break them down into shorter tasks (Pomodoros). It’s important to approach this reasonably. What can you realistically achieve in 25 minutes? Keep these tasks small so you don’t fall behind and lose morale.
Work on the task for 25 minutes. This is an intense work period where you’re completely focused, so switch your phone to silent and avoid distractions.
Take a break. At the end of the 25-minute period, leave your workstation and stretch, and get a drink. Do whatever you need to do to reset your brain and get ready for the next work stretch.
Limit distractions. Try to work somewhere peaceful where you won’t be distracted by anyone. However, if you are disturbed by someone, the Pomodoro Technique has you covered:
Inform: let them know what you’re doing.
Negotiate: give them a time when you’ll be free for them.
Call back when your Pomodoros are finished and you can give them your time.
No tomato?
If you don’t have a tomato shaped kitchen timer at the ready, you can set a countdown timer on your phone or computer, or there are a number of free apps available that utilise this technique and can help you manage your time:
This technique is a guideline that you can adapt to suit how you study or work best. For some people, taking a regular break when they’re really focused on a task can be interruptive, in which case just reward yourself with a longer break when the task is complete.
Break it down
If the task is not something you particularly enjoy then you can break it down to 12-minute time slots. Often you’ll find that, once you get started, you can usually knock off two 12-minute time blocks.
Time management is something we all struggle with, no matter what field we’re in. For those in the veterinary profession, getting to grips with your time management approach, and fighting procrastination and distraction impulses, can give you more control over your time, therefore your life and general satisfaction.
From the moment you decide to become a vet, the road before you – from the start to the end of your course – is paved with decisions.
From where to go, to what to look for in a job (although vet students do get to put off the dreaded entrance into the “real world” for a couple more years than the average student), the next choice to be made is always around the corner.
Where to study
When it comes to picking the right veterinary degree, my opinion (which is by no means gospel) is that it’s:
10% course content
90% location, location, location
For students having a tough time choosing where to attend vet school (although, understandably, most are happy to go anywhere they receive an offer), it can be important to look above and beyond the curriculum. After all, the veterinary course in the UK is heavily standardised and, as much as every school wants you to believe that theirs has something special that nobody else’s does (and maybe they do), at the end of the day, you will leave each university with the same qualifications.
I’m not studying where I am today because I fell in love with Bristol vet school, I fell in love with Bristol itself.
I still remember getting off the coach with my dad for an open day and having the biggest smile on my face from the moment I stepped on to the cobbled streets. To this day, I’ve no idea why – perhaps it’s the multi-coloured Balamory-esque buildings, or the accents and calls of “my lover” that made me feel like I’d stumbled into a remake of Hot Fuzz, or maybe it’s the fact there are sheep and cows roaming just a stone’s throw away from the clinical campus.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t the labs, the course brochures or the lecture theatres…
For some, staying closer to home is what’s important; maybe for childcare, financial or emotional support. For others, moving away from what is familiar and stepping out of your comfort zone can play a vital part in learning independence and gaining a wider perspective.
What to study
Selective/elective weeks, while only making up a small component of your final year, are a rare opportunity to tailor your education in what is otherwise a very nationally homogenised learning infrastructure.
Work experience is another excellent outlet through which vet students can customise their teaching opportunities and prioritise what is most important to them. Practices where we feel most immediately at home are the ones that reflect our values around the profession, and the teams and individuals we bounce off easily are often indicative of the type of professional that you would/aspire to be.
Where to work
With the average retention of a veterinary professional standing depressingly at just seven short years, there’s been a massive drive from the ground up to improve the quality of the profession, and to make the career more mentally and emotionally sustainable.
We’re taught about developing resilience and mindfulness from the first year of vet school, and in the past half-decade, four-day weeks have become the standard for a lot of vets up and down the country.
With vets in such high demand, new graduates currently have a plethora of jobs to choose from. Considerations over commute times, staff retention, caseloads, OOH work, and weekend rotas (let alone salaries) are now luxuries that are becoming more and more affordable.
I would personally love to see a day when vet students can take modules in their final year – and with mixed practices decreasing in number, there may eventually be separate institutions for small animal and large animal vets.
As somebody soon to be entering the job market, I can tell you that decision paralysis is most certainly real, but I still believe that the more choices we are able to make, and the more control we have over our careers, will make us better and happier professionals.
