Vet Times

Tag: doctor

  • Doc Hollywood

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    We live in troubled times – economically, politically, and socially. This blog being mostly focused on veterinary matters, I’m going to turn my attention to the most animal-relevant of society’s many questions, which is this: How did the Americans get so good at telly? Like many right-minded people, my wife and I have become addicted to…

  • Doctor, doctor

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    I’ve had to face a difficult decision in the last few months. You see, it’s always been a disappointment to me that, unlike many of our overseas colleagues, UK veterinary surgeons have long languished under the tedious titles of Mrs, Miss or Mr. Not only do these old-fashioned prefixes call upon our clients to make…

  • How to survive insomnia

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    It’s examination time and vet students across the UK are frantically trying to fill their heads with long, complicated words they can’t even hope to spell. With exams comes stress (which can manifest in many different ways), but as a professional bad-sleeper I wanted to share some advice on surviving an old adversary of mine: insomnia. Loosely, insomnia…

  • Using a probiotic and antibiotic at the same time

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    I had the privilege of attending the North American Veterinary Community Conference in January. The experience provided me with a number of top tips, which I thought I would pass on to you in the coming few weeks. For those of you who are skeptical of the role professional experience plays in establishing evidence, many authors accept…

  • The Doctor debate

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    One of the big discussion topics within the veterinary profession at the moment is the RCVS consultation on UK-qualified vets adopting the courtesy title of “Doctor”, or “Dr”. Given that the consultation closed on February 16, I may seem a bit late to add my two pennies’ worth, but I didn’t really know how I felt…

  • Doctor?

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    Stuart Reid, current president of the RCVS, wants to revisit the old chestnut of using the title “Doctor” for UK-trained vets. Good luck to him. In the face of widespread protests, the Royal College recently reconsidered its decision to stop publishing additional postnominals a member may have where they aren’t directly relevant to his or…

  • Paging Doctor Google

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    Something I have noticed in the past few years (and mentioned in my last post) is that people are leaving sick animals longer before bringing them to the vet. I wonder if other colleagues have noticed a change too? In the early noughties the norm in canine and feline practice used to be a day or…

  • Suicide: a compound problem

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    The perennial topic of comparative suicide rates in different professions came up this weekend at my course. I am in a group of nurses, lawyers, doctors, dentists, and midwives. Over lunch one of the doctors brought up the comparative suicide rates for the professions represented at my course and, as is well known, vets top…

  • The shadow that stalks

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    As I finished looking at the somewhat dishevelled six-year-old Westie I reviewed my findings; TPR normal, skin a little greasy with saliva stained paws, axillae, groin, ears lichenified and stenotic, abdomen relaxed and nothing abnormal, an overgrown claw (now clipped). Ears really should be seen by the regular day-vet, but not really the realm for…

  • Revalidation and us

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    As part of my studies at the moment I have to get up to speed with regulation of other professions. Part of this made my heart sink: in December 2012 the General Medical Council acquired the statutory powers to require revalidation of medical staff on a regular basis. Looking at the wording of the regulations…