Author: Kele Harris
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The two-year niggle
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At two years qualified, I was no longer the baby vet in my practice; I suddenly found myself in a position of teaching more often than being taught myself. This had happened to many of my friends already, but somehow my practice had not employed a new grad since me (as a recent rather than…
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Unable to escape
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As I scrubbed flea tablet-induced cat vomit from the floor for what felt like the hundredth time, I thought maybe I should just learn my lesson and do battle with spot-ons instead, no matter how much my cats scowl at me for days afterwards. Or, worse still, I could try a collar, but I suspected…
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Mastering the art of veterinary medicine
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Veterinary medicine, veterinary surgery, veterinary science; whatever you want to call it, veterinary has all these academic connotations – and rightly so. But a lot of what we do is not black and white – very few “textbook cases” or one-size-fits-all diagnostic approaches exist. There are so many balls to juggle – client requests, patient (and…
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15-minute consults: a waste of time?
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Many practices still have 10-minute small animal consultations – mine included – until recently, when we made the move to 15-minute appointments. It was initially debated as to whether we could offer longer consultation times in a specified time block, reserved for “sick pets” only. However, this was decided against due to the difficulty of…
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Get ready for the grads
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It’s that time of year again – with vet school graduations done and dusted, new graduate vets up and down the country will be embarking on their first steps into the world of veterinary. The first few weeks are crucial for both the new grads and the practices employing them – this time frame can…
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Screen burn: thoughts on telemedicine
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With the recent announcement that the UK’s first veterinary telemedicine service is set to launch, there is much debate over whether this type of service is a good thing. The major bugbear most vets have with telemedicine is the absence of a physical examination. While teleconsultations (or, indeed, just a telephone call) can allow a…
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Recognising clients
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Any vet will see numerous clients on a daily basis, with small animal vets in particular often interacting with more than 30 in a day. There are, of course, a number of “regulars” that have many animals, or seemingly a spate of bad luck and end up bring their beloved pet to us repeatedly, which…
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Brexit and vets: providing lactose against the intolerant?
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I often wonder what we would pad the daily news out with if the UK hadn’t voted to leave the European Union on 23 June 2016. Last week, it was shaken up a bit with incidents of “milkshaking” – trending on Twitter as “lactose against intolerance” (was it British milk they were using?). Even so, it seems…
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Online vet grad bashing
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I’m generally a big fan of the various vet-related Facebook groups – they provide a less formal way to keep in touch with veterinary news, while offering a wealth of information from numerous different types of people across the profession. In minutes, a post looking for opinions can offer a “thousand ways to skin a…
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From the other side of the fence: how to help students make the most of EMS
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Not long ago I was shadowing vets on placement, but now I’m on the other side of the fence – the one being shadowed. As a student, I found EMS placements variable – some were great, and some… not so much. This often depended on the individual vet, some of whom would be naturally better…