Vet Times

Author: Kele Harris

  • Fortnight of firsts at practice placement

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    Kele Harris

    I spent a couple of weeks at a mixed practice on extramural studies. It was a placement of firsts – first experience at a very “young” practice (lots of newish graduates), first clinical farm experience and first surgery experience. It gave me an insight into the difference between older, more experienced vets and new grads – from the…

  • What is normal in the veterinary world?

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    Kele Harris

    As veterinary students (and probably later as vets), we have a very distorted view of “normal”. Exam season (for Glasgow) is now over, but during revision, the social media stakes noticeably increase. While many of my non-veterinary friends share photos of their piles of notes captioned “T-minus 2 weeks”, “Revision hell” or the like, in…

  • How to survive insomnia

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    Kele Harris

    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…

  • The value of a vet degree

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    Kele Harris

    With the general election fast approaching, there’s been a big push to encourage 18 to 25-year-olds to vote, since a huge proportion of us didn’t last time. I’m not well versed in the intricacies of politics, but general consensus among young people after the last election was disappointment with regards to the tripling of university tuition fees.…

  • Corporate feminisation

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    Kele Harris

    In a previous blog, I alluded to the feminisation of the profession. Here, I speak very carefully to avoid confusion of this with feminism. I’m not going to preach equal rights or pick holes in generalisations, but the facts are unavoidable: feminisation of the profession is happening and we need to find the best way…

  • Crash prevention

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    Kele Harris

    Following the devastating news of the Germanwings crash last week, the co-pilot’s torn-up sick note and the early implication of mental health issues (later suspected to instead be eyesight-related), I witnessed a shocking flare-up of defence regarding mental health on social media. My gut reaction was of absolute disgust. Whether said sick note referred to…

  • The unfortunate adventures of Lucky the horse

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    Kele Harris

    Although the UK’s fire and rescue services are not obligated to rescue a cat stuck up a tree or a horse stuck in an overturned trailer, the skills and resources of their firefighting teams lead to the assumption that they are the best people for the job – but while they are excellent at what…

  • Big decisions

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    Kele Harris

    At the end of this month (March), my year group has to submit their choices for final year selectives. Over the coming week we will have a number of presentations on the different options to help us decide – which will no doubt cause further confusion. For a number of us, fear has ensued. Others (perhaps the…

  • The Doctor debate

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    Kele Harris

    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…

  • Represent, support, engage!

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    Kele Harris

    The AVS (Association of Veterinary Students) Congress marks one year since my involvement with the association began. Last year, in Nottingham, I stood up at the AGM and gave a hustings speech. Before long, I found myself elected the editor of JAVS (the Journal of the Association of Veterinary Students), which is sent out to students…