News & Reports BSAVA CONGRESS
Making the transition from veterinary student to practice team member ‘NEW graduates often struggle when making the transition from student to staff. In first opinion practice you have a limited amount of time to examine the patient, write up your notes and decide on tests. And yes, money is an object.’ So said Mark Hedberg, a US veterinary graduate with clinical experience in the Middle East and the UK, during a presentation as part of a stream of sessions for veterinary students on April 10 at the BSAVA congress in Birmingham.
In at the deep end
Dr Hedberg told students of his own experience being ‘thrown in the deep end’ when, as a newly qualified vet, he decided to take a job as a sole charge veterinary surgeon in a practice in Saudi Arabia. He was suddenly faced with having to treat all manner of cases (including conducting genital surgery on a Sheikh’s crocodile),with a limited number of licensed medications on hand. While reassuring his audience that the average experience of entering practice was not usually that extreme, Dr Hedberg explained that, like so many new vets, stepping into that first role made him feel like an imposter. ‘Imposter syndrome’, he explained, was when ‘people were unable to internalise their accomplishments’ and ended up feeling unworthy of their role. It was common for students to have those kinds of thoughts during the transition from university to practice, he said. In part, this was due to the very different nature of the two; within such a competitive field, students tended to be high-achievers and perfectionists, who were used to getting good exam results, whereas practice was full of uncertainty, with the presentation of unfamiliar diseases or comorbidity, and cases often resulted in disappointing outcomes like death or euthanasia. He stressed that it was important for veterinarians who were just starting out to not interpret such endings as failures that reflected badly on their skills. He suggested that, rather than feeling like an imposter, new vets should ‘fake it till they make it’, by aiming to project confidence through their speech and body language with clients.
Responsibilities
After asking for a show of hands from students who had not been allowed to do or even touch anything while seeing practice
(which resulted in a room full of extended arms), Dr Hedberg discussed the issue of drastically shifting responsibilities for new vets. Suddenly being held responsible for the successful examination and treatment of an animal, after previously having little clinical freedom, could be stressful for those who were newly qualified. Mark Hedberg talks students through the common challenges of their This was especially first veterinary job, during a session at this year’s BSAVA congress true when things went wrong. However, he He gave students some advice for emphasised that responsibility simply managing expectations in such difficult meant that vets had a duty of care to work situations, including: to the best of their ability, with the resources at hand and within the given financial n New graduates might not be as familiar parameters; it did not mean ‘fault’, nor with costings, so it was helpful to provide did it equate to inevitably being ‘reported clients with slightly higher estimates in to or struck off by the RCVS’ as so many order to come in or under budget. students feared. n Clients could get aggravated when lots of diagnostic tests were run but, when these When to lead, when to follow were necessary, it could help to treat the A vital way to make the transition easier presenting clinical signs while waiting in day-to-day work, Dr Hedberg suggested, for the results to come in. was to know when to lead and when to n It was useful to present more than one work alongside more experienced staff plan to owners during diagnosis or members. While it was important for newly treatment; this helped with informed qualified vets to be confident in their skills consent, allowed them to feel in control and knowledge, they should equally be and could provide options if finances polite, deferential, and ask for advice from were problematic. team members when they were unsure n Clients could become a vet’s ‘partners’ about something. This, he explained, was a and feel empowered when given a way great rule of thumb in interactions, not just of helping (eg, wiping crust away from with more senior veterinary surgeons but an eye infection). with the nursing and administration staff as well, as their expertise and insight could Seeking support make a new vet’s life in practice run much Finally, Dr Hedberg discussed the more smoothly. importance of seeking practical advice and emotional support when students or Great expectations graduates felt overwhelmed. He suggested Dr Hedberg stressed that it was important talking about work-related problems, not to ‘set your expectations and the client’s just with colleagues, but also with family expectations, especially when dealing with members and friends or, alternatively, difficult cases’. Recent graduates should be contacting Vetlife (www.vetlife.org.uk/ prepared to see difficult cases, such as those about-us/vet-helpline) which offers a in which a definitive diagnosis was never helpline and other resources. The most reached, in which patients did not survive, important thing was not to negate one’s or when an animal’s condition might need thoughts. ‘Bottling your emotions is to be managed long term rather than cured. like squeezing a full bottle of shampoo. Beyond the clinical difficulties, there were Eventually it will burst and make a big also practical problems, such as when an mess.’ owner was unable or unwilling to examine a doi: 10.1136/vr.h2207 certain health issue. May 2, 2015 | Veterinary Record | 453
Copyright of Veterinary Record: Journal of the British Veterinary Association is the property of BMJ Publishing Group and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Making the transition from veterinary student to practice team member ‘NEW graduates often struggle when making the transition from student to staff. In first opinion practice you have a limited amount of time to examine the patient, write up your notes and decide on tests. And yes, money is an object.’ So said Mark Hedberg, a US veterinary graduate with clinical experience in the Middle East and the UK, during a presentation as part of a stream of sessions for veterinary students on April 10 at the BSAVA congress in Birmingham.
In at the deep end
Dr Hedberg told students of his own experience being ‘thrown in the deep end’ when, as a newly qualified vet, he decided to take a job as a sole charge veterinary surgeon in a practice in Saudi Arabia. He was suddenly faced with having to treat all manner of cases (including conducting genital surgery on a Sheikh’s crocodile),with a limited number of licensed medications on hand. While reassuring his audience that the average experience of entering practice was not usually that extreme, Dr Hedberg explained that, like so many new vets, stepping into that first role made him feel like an imposter. ‘Imposter syndrome’, he explained, was when ‘people were unable to internalise their accomplishments’ and ended up feeling unworthy of their role. It was common for students to have those kinds of thoughts during the transition from university to practice, he said. In part, this was due to the very different nature of the two; within such a competitive field, students tended to be high-achievers and perfectionists, who were used to getting good exam results, whereas practice was full of uncertainty, with the presentation of unfamiliar diseases or comorbidity, and cases often resulted in disappointing outcomes like death or euthanasia. He stressed that it was important for veterinarians who were just starting out to not interpret such endings as failures that reflected badly on their skills. He suggested that, rather than feeling like an imposter, new vets should ‘fake it till they make it’, by aiming to project confidence through their speech and body language with clients.
Responsibilities
After asking for a show of hands from students who had not been allowed to do or even touch anything while seeing practice
(which resulted in a room full of extended arms), Dr Hedberg discussed the issue of drastically shifting responsibilities for new vets. Suddenly being held responsible for the successful examination and treatment of an animal, after previously having little clinical freedom, could be stressful for those who were newly qualified. Mark Hedberg talks students through the common challenges of their This was especially first veterinary job, during a session at this year’s BSAVA congress true when things went wrong. However, he He gave students some advice for emphasised that responsibility simply managing expectations in such difficult meant that vets had a duty of care to work situations, including: to the best of their ability, with the resources at hand and within the given financial n New graduates might not be as familiar parameters; it did not mean ‘fault’, nor with costings, so it was helpful to provide did it equate to inevitably being ‘reported clients with slightly higher estimates in to or struck off by the RCVS’ as so many order to come in or under budget. students feared. n Clients could get aggravated when lots of diagnostic tests were run but, when these When to lead, when to follow were necessary, it could help to treat the A vital way to make the transition easier presenting clinical signs while waiting in day-to-day work, Dr Hedberg suggested, for the results to come in. was to know when to lead and when to n It was useful to present more than one work alongside more experienced staff plan to owners during diagnosis or members. While it was important for newly treatment; this helped with informed qualified vets to be confident in their skills consent, allowed them to feel in control and knowledge, they should equally be and could provide options if finances polite, deferential, and ask for advice from were problematic. team members when they were unsure n Clients could become a vet’s ‘partners’ about something. This, he explained, was a and feel empowered when given a way great rule of thumb in interactions, not just of helping (eg, wiping crust away from with more senior veterinary surgeons but an eye infection). with the nursing and administration staff as well, as their expertise and insight could Seeking support make a new vet’s life in practice run much Finally, Dr Hedberg discussed the more smoothly. importance of seeking practical advice and emotional support when students or Great expectations graduates felt overwhelmed. He suggested Dr Hedberg stressed that it was important talking about work-related problems, not to ‘set your expectations and the client’s just with colleagues, but also with family expectations, especially when dealing with members and friends or, alternatively, difficult cases’. Recent graduates should be contacting Vetlife (www.vetlife.org.uk/ prepared to see difficult cases, such as those about-us/vet-helpline) which offers a in which a definitive diagnosis was never helpline and other resources. The most reached, in which patients did not survive, important thing was not to negate one’s or when an animal’s condition might need thoughts. ‘Bottling your emotions is to be managed long term rather than cured. like squeezing a full bottle of shampoo. Beyond the clinical difficulties, there were Eventually it will burst and make a big also practical problems, such as when an mess.’ owner was unable or unwilling to examine a doi: 10.1136/vr.h2207 certain health issue. May 2, 2015 | Veterinary Record | 453
Copyright of Veterinary Record: Journal of the British Veterinary Association is the property of BMJ Publishing Group and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
