Vet Times

Tag: Stress

  • Being a millennial vet

    Being a millennial vet

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    Millennials are stereotypically considered lazy, entitled and always wanting something for nothing. And having previously discussed the many advantages of employing new graduates (and, therefore, millennials), this sort of labelling angers me. The choices our generation makes are not due to lack of work ethic and naiveté about the future, but rather a reflection on…

  • Unpredictability: the spice or stress of life?

    Unpredictability: the spice or stress of life?

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    It is said variety is the spice of life – although, as much as I like fiery food, I’m sometimes just as happy with a sandwich. Unpredictability isn’t exclusive to veterinary medicine, of course, but I sometimes fantasise enviously about people who know what they will be doing from the moment they enter work until…

  • You don’t fake your appointments… do you?

    You don’t fake your appointments… do you?

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    Controversial statement alert: I believe every practice I’ve worked in that has an appointments system has had someone working in it who books fake appointments for the final appointment of the day/session/week. Before you all start piling on to agree, disagree or otherwise, let me explain what this is about. I am aware booking false…

  • Home visits: improving lives for vets, owners and pets

    Home visits: improving lives for vets, owners and pets

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    We were disappointed to read Nick Marsh’s recent assessment of home visits as “frustrating and scary”. As the UK’s largest home visit service provider, we are concerned about owners who cannot easily take their animals to the vet. As we are all too familiar with, travelling to the vet can be a traumatic experience for…

  • Peace and quiet

    Peace and quiet

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    It’s hard to find a lot of love in my heart for out-of-hours work. Maybe, as many of my colleagues are finding, it’s a perfectly acceptable and rewarding job all by itself, but being on call on top of working a normal day job isn’t a barrel of laughs – it’s not even a barrel…

  • New year, new me

    New year, new me

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    To many new graduates, beginning a new year without a job would be cause for concern. For Jordan, however, it was a huge relief, having realised her first place of employment was, overall, a bad fit.

  • Enjoy what you can when you can – it’s not a competition

    Enjoy what you can when you can – it’s not a competition

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    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m not always the biggest fan of Christmas. Not from a religious point of view (everyone needs a birthday), but from the social pressure point of view. So, for the 2017 Christmas message from #planetrvn, I want to say this is for everyone who doesn’t…

  • Look after yourself this Christmas

    Look after yourself this Christmas

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    When an owner walks into your consult room with his or her pet for its annual vaccination and check-up, what are the basic questions you ask? How is Fluffy? Then, if the owner does not immediately launch into why his or her darling furry friend is “just not himself”, you’ll probably reel off a list…

  • Pitfalls in the waiting room

    Pitfalls in the waiting room

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    They say never work with children or animals, but I suspect whoever said that didn’t have much of a career in veterinary medicine (or as a paediatrician, come to think of it). In any case, they’re wrong – animals are the easy part. Instead, the question that crosses my mind as I take sink into…

  • Abusive clients

    Abusive clients

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    I’ve read some of the reports of vets suffering abuse from clients and it’s upset me on many fronts. First is the misuse of the term “abuse”, but that’s something I’ll leave for another blog. My main issue today is that, as veterinary practices, we have it within our control to resolve many of the…