Vet Times

Tag: RCVS

  • AGM traditions

    AGM traditions

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    As July is the month of the RCVS Annual General Meeting (AGM), I thought it would be a good time to share a few nuggets of history from RCVS AGMs back in the 1840s and the first few years of the college’s existence. Initially, the AGM was scheduled for the first Monday in May each…

  • Doctor what?

    Doctor what?

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    With recent discussions (VT52.07) about the historic use of words related to our profession, I wanted to answer a question that seems both historic and current: Why were vets not called “doctors”, or “dogtors”, from the establishment of the RCVS in 1844? Currently in the UK vets can use Doctor (or Dr) as an honorary…

  • Veterinary history

    Veterinary history

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    Is it really 2022, and am I really into the third year of my PhD? Well, it would appear the answer to both questions is “yes” – so I thought I’d offer a little insight into the things I have discovered throughout the course of my research so far. The project is to look at…

  • Trust and risk

    Trust and risk

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    PhD life continues and I’ve had a blast in the RCVS archives this summer, but as term is in full swing, I’m back to checking in on other schools’ courses and seeing what I can learn from them. As a PhD student I get to dip into other postgrad courses. It’s almost like the Trivial…

  • Anaesthesia update: VNs no longer just ‘the hands of the vet’

    Anaesthesia update: VNs no longer just ‘the hands of the vet’

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    Despite having celebrated a “COVID freedom day” it would appear that, in the veterinary world, the Groundhog Day of anaesthesia monitoring debates continues. I have seen posts recently by vets and vet nurses that seem to not understand the wording or interpretation of the Code of Professional Conduct around registered vet nurses, laypeople and anaesthesia…

  • Diarrhoea at midnight: the OOH conundrum

    Diarrhoea at midnight: the OOH conundrum

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    The veterinary staffing crisis is hitting out-of-hours providers, which could potentially have a huge impact on the rest of the profession. Practices that outsource their out-of-hours care have been warned to have a contingency plan, while those struggling to staff their own in-house OOH services won’t have the option to outsource. There is no ideal…

  • Diversification – from historian to vaccination

    Diversification – from historian to vaccination

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    In my recent interview on VN Happy Hour I was asked an interesting question on diversifying. The question was about how I remained connected with being an RVN now I’m technically a historian. This is a question I’ve asked myself a number of times across my career. I have diversified in several ways – and…

  • Email etiquette

    Email etiquette

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    In these times of “communicating more, talking less” I have made a couple of changes to how I write my emails. It’s amazing how quick it can be to fire off an email – but does that mean you have to respond quickly, too? We seem to have decided that this is the case, and…

  • A dog is for life, not just for Christmas… or lockdown

    A dog is for life, not just for Christmas… or lockdown

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    In the first lockdown in March, we saw a surge in puppy purchases. With vets up and down the country struggling with staffing issues, and trying desperately to heed RCVS and BVA advice to see emergencies only, new owners requesting puppy vaccines just added to that pressure. We waited with trepidation, expecting the craze to…

  • Lockdown 2.0 as a vet

    Lockdown 2.0 as a vet

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    During the last lockdown, I wrote about the struggles of working in a veterinary practice through COVID. And while that has changed slightly, it has still been an extremely tough year for all members of staff throughout the profession. In March, practices up and down the country resorted to emergencies only, and postponed all routine…