Vet Times

Tag: Stress

  • The client from hell

    The client from hell

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    “Never work with children or animals,” advised WC Fields – I think I’d be inclined to add “the public” to that. While, on the whole, my client interactions have been good, every now and then you do get the occasional nutter. I’ve had drunk clients, barely able to stand up, let alone comprehend their half-bald…

  • The waiting room

    The waiting room

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    I recently had some “car trouble”. My heart sinks whenever this happens – not only because of the expense, or the hassle, or the stress, but because it means, yet again, I have to visit a mechanic. Despite my XY chromosomal status, I may be missing something important genetically, because I am not what you…

  • Don’t tar all dogs with the same brush

    Don’t tar all dogs with the same brush

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    Pit bulls, mastiffs and German shepherds are some of the breeds regarded by many as being aggressive and dangerous. In the same way some dogs are best known for shedding on beloved white furniture or having deep, dreamy puppy dog eyes, these breeds have an established reputation as dogs to be feared and not raised…

  • Well-being in the workplace

    Well-being in the workplace

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    Well-being. Is it just another annoying buzzword, overused on Instagram and soon be consigned to the hashtag dustbin along with #livelovelaugh, #eatclean and #wellness? It does seem to be the latest fashionable concept in the veterinary sector, but I sincerely hope it isn’t just a fad. Well-being is the state of being comfortable, healthy or…

  • Hollie: a cautionary tale

    Hollie: a cautionary tale

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    “For Hollie, my soulmate, my daemon, my constant shadow”   I saw this today – words I had written elsewhere, but forgotten about – and the stoic face I had worn for the past few months melted away. Hollie died in October and I have been in a strange state of denial, relief and grieving…

  • The unintentional client fondle and what to do about it

    The unintentional client fondle and what to do about it

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    We’re all well aware of what is appropriate physical conduct with others and what isn’t – we’re in the post #metoo period and it’s okay to speak out about issues of conduct and consent. Yet, there is another veterinary great unspoken #metoo problem: the unintentional client fondle (UCF). Vets, vet nurses, male, female – none…

  • Soft skills seem to be the hardest learned

    Soft skills seem to be the hardest learned

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    As clinicians, we’ve spent our whole lives learning, consolidating, revising and sitting exams so, one day, we would finally be practising. You would think after spending a couple of decades or more in full-time education we would be done with lusting after qualifications; that life would be about honing our newly acquired clinical skills, fixing…

  • Handling an Addisonian crisis – part 1

    Handling an Addisonian crisis – part 1

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    Addison’s disease (hypoadrenocorticism) is one of those annoying diseases that does not always play by the rules. One of the main reasons is the clinical signs of Addison’s disease can be frustratingly non-specific and we don’t often see the classic “low sodium, high potassium” electrolyte changes we are attuned to noticing. Therefore, it is important…

  • This one’s for the vets… #PlanVetRVN

    This one’s for the vets… #PlanVetRVN

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    I’m sorry if it looks like November is Schedule 3 (SIII) month for my blog, but I’ve had both posts brewing for some time and other more timely blogs have always taken precedence… but here they are. The results of the RCVS survey on SIII showed many vets aren’t sure what SIII means, which makes…

  • ICU later

    ICU later

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    In a few recent blogs, I have reminisced nostalgically about how things have changed in the profession since I qualified in the distant misty-swirled lands of the last millennium. However, there’s something I don’t miss: blearily sleepwalking my way through morning surgery in the numb haze only familiar to chronic insomniacs, those with young children,…