Final blog of the penultimate vetschool term is being written in my foster practice, it's a quiet morning and so ideally I've found time to get this rattled off during my lunch break. Things to consider in this blog; the last week of rotations, couple of nights out, rounding things up and finally getting home and being able to spend a short amount of time with my family before work begins again... The last week of rotations for me was the behaviour/avian/exotics wk. An incredible week not only because you get the Monday and Friday off and there's no on call but the work is really interesting (something I don't say very often). However there was a distinct negative side to the wk which was a hellish day on rabbits. The rabbit day involved no tutorials, very limited teaching and generally moping around watching surgery which was so busy viewing the op site was not worth fighting the way to the front for. Though it wasn't all doom and gloom as I got to do some of an overly pampered spay. The avian and behaviour days were awesome, the clinicians involved gave some excellent, highly interactive tutorials and I really enjoyed the content as we covered many aspects that we could expect to deal with in general practice. One item I failed to mention concerning the wk before last was that we had an African Tawny Eagle come into the SAP that had eaten half a dead rat. The bird was incredible and worth a fortune as it was set to become a star in the upcoming planet earth movie. Thankfully we weren’t involved in the GA but the clinician in charge looked pretty stressed.
Theoretically rotations have now finished but there’s still the 3wk surgical elective to contend with and so until that’s over I’m not going to be really celebrating the end of electives. However the end of rotations does have an important significance as I’ll never work with my rotation group again, which is highly unfortunate as we were one awesome team and had some utter comedy times, I’ll not get too emotional until the year’s properly over.
Other than work the last wk has revolved around jobbin…i.e. tying up all loose ends, getting things sorted that have been put to one side and generally trying to reorganise my life after spending all my time either in SAP, at band practice or organising VetAid2. Thankfully alls back on track and I’ve only finals to worry about (only a little something then hey).
Couple of big social nights worth mentioning include a trip to the preclinical panto and an end of rotations extravancanza. The preclinical panto this year was excellent, comedy script and quality acting. I’d planned to not go out after but some how ended up in Lounge planning on driving back into SAP the next morning, unfortunately I got clocks muddled and ended running across Bris to get my car from the union and arriving SAP an hr and half late, thankfully much grovelling saw me through the clinician wrath. Comedy part of the evening has to be miniMat unable to get me out the club unless I sang all the songs out of bed knobs and broomsticks (can’t remember a thing).
End of rotations started very sociably at Dave’s with a rotation group Chinese and then we all trotted off into Bris for Lounge festivities. Not much to say really just a quality no fall outs end of term (quite a rarity as most term endings end up with carnage).
Also over the past wk I had a very pleasant evening in with Sinead watching a movie and eating a ready steady cook style dinner cooked by me, Sinead was much impressed.
This week I’m doing EMS then it’s revision then elective then revision then vivas, so not at all far off now. Honestly I’m not too afraid yet, I think the big fear will set in when I start revising properly and I realise I’ve a lot of work to do, it’ll be fine (always is).
I’ve had feedback from SAP and Liverpool, didn’t get Liverpool job and in SAP they say I’m either excellent or awful (least I know I can do the job when I feel like it and to be honest it’s quite hard to get motivated when you’ve zero responsibility). Current work plans now lie in general practice, hopefully close to home, 100% smalls with no on call or out of hours, plus I’ve embarked on a few entrepreneur schemes.
On a final note to round of the penultimate vetschool term, the final year of vetschool is god dam fantastic. This has been the best year by miles, no lectures, practical work, some sense of responsibility and a sort of psuedo work environment which is highly enjoyable and a quality place to learn in. However, I feel it’s definitely now time to flee the nest and I want to actually join the real world at last and have an income in a job I’ll hopefully enjoy.
No doubt will be logging back in next term so until then avid fans don’t work too hard, remember it’s EMS quality as well as quantity and respect your Nan.
xx
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
One week of rotations to go and it’s Easter hols, the end of final yr is drawing ever closer and the onset of the last wk brings the next stepping stone towards graduation ever closer. Once Easter is over I’ve a 3wk surgical elective to contend with and then it’s revision and hopefully vivas plus graduation. Great Scot is the quote that springs to mind and there’s a fair chance I could even end up resembling the doc after what’s gonna be one reclusive couple of months of revision!
The rest of SAP last wk was incredibly useful. I had a fair sized phobia of consultations before this rotation, not that I particularly struggle in any particular aspect of the skills required for consulting, I was very unsure of my ability to cumulate the skills. Thankfully all good though and my wks feedback basically said that I can consult really well (and also quite badly) and that my biggest problem was consistency, which is fair enough as I think once I’d discovered I could consult fine the challenge aspect diminished and so I couldn’t gather the enthusiasm to consult well when I knew everything I did was checked and the final decision isn’t mine anyway. I’m sure in practice when the responsibility for an animal’s health care is actually my own I’ll keep up the consistency of good work.
This wks rotation is exotics, one of the easiest wks, plus it’s non-assessed. Today and Fri are both off and the other 3days involve rabbits, birds and behaviour. The wk is non assessed and so passing SAP shouldn’t be an issue. Also I’ve got my feedback now from the last rotation (small animal medicine and ICU) and I managed a merit, though the comments were interesting. It stated that my strongest areas were academic/practical skills and that I was weak communicator which makes no sense as communication skills are by far my strongest area, comedy feedback really as just goes to show how much the clinicians can actually remember about each student.
Last wk a social live didn’t really exist as I gave my life to the band, practising pretty much every night. Though Fri night I did get chance for a couple of beers with JP and analytically viewing of one major chic flick…Devil Wears Prada (Hugo’s Choice).
The big event of the past wk was VetAid2 on Sat night. I organised one a yr ago with the help of Chris which was a fair success, however this years was even bigger and the night raised aprox £2k for charity. The evening’s line up went as follows:
- Doors 7
- Acoustic acts 8 (Prof Barr playing instrumental, myself playing time for heroes and lights go out in Langford, Chris and JP playing Bedouin Soundclash)
- Indecent Exposure (played 4song set).
- Blue Juice (played 40min set)
- Clinician auctions.
- Levator Ani (played 40min set)
- The Langford Stranglers (1hr set)
- Disco to the early hrs (inc. TT vs 50cent)
The clinician auctions went amazingly well and included some quality promises including a meal for 12, 6, 4 and 2 people, a bike ride, art work, cookies, fly a falcon, 4people canoeing trip, French maid house cleaning etc. Me, Dave, John, Paula and 8others won the 12person meal for £525 (£43 each) which sounds a lot but the promise is amazing…All picked up and dropped off at home, a 5course dinner cooked by 2 of the senior farm clinicians, beer and champagne for the evening and waiting services provided by the farm interns/residents…ideal! Think we’ll do it after vivas.
I was fairly stressed about the night until we’d played, the Stranglers set had gone well and everything was removed for the conference. I was then able to get incredibly drunk and dance about in the bar to the early hours, plus we had a mic and amp separate to the bar PA so karaoke was sort of possible and much comedy singing was achieved, including ranting to the likes of bat out of hell. However 50cent Vs Thomas the tank engine and the William Tell Overture win the most entertaining music prizes for the evening.
Today’s been a jobbin day, trying to get everything sorted I haven’t had time for over the past couple of weeks. Later I’m going swimming then meeting Dave, John, Pablos for dinner in Bristol to discuss summer travelling plans.
Still haven’t heard back from Liverpool interview yet.
xx
The rest of SAP last wk was incredibly useful. I had a fair sized phobia of consultations before this rotation, not that I particularly struggle in any particular aspect of the skills required for consulting, I was very unsure of my ability to cumulate the skills. Thankfully all good though and my wks feedback basically said that I can consult really well (and also quite badly) and that my biggest problem was consistency, which is fair enough as I think once I’d discovered I could consult fine the challenge aspect diminished and so I couldn’t gather the enthusiasm to consult well when I knew everything I did was checked and the final decision isn’t mine anyway. I’m sure in practice when the responsibility for an animal’s health care is actually my own I’ll keep up the consistency of good work.
This wks rotation is exotics, one of the easiest wks, plus it’s non-assessed. Today and Fri are both off and the other 3days involve rabbits, birds and behaviour. The wk is non assessed and so passing SAP shouldn’t be an issue. Also I’ve got my feedback now from the last rotation (small animal medicine and ICU) and I managed a merit, though the comments were interesting. It stated that my strongest areas were academic/practical skills and that I was weak communicator which makes no sense as communication skills are by far my strongest area, comedy feedback really as just goes to show how much the clinicians can actually remember about each student.
Last wk a social live didn’t really exist as I gave my life to the band, practising pretty much every night. Though Fri night I did get chance for a couple of beers with JP and analytically viewing of one major chic flick…Devil Wears Prada (Hugo’s Choice).
The big event of the past wk was VetAid2 on Sat night. I organised one a yr ago with the help of Chris which was a fair success, however this years was even bigger and the night raised aprox £2k for charity. The evening’s line up went as follows:
- Doors 7
- Acoustic acts 8 (Prof Barr playing instrumental, myself playing time for heroes and lights go out in Langford, Chris and JP playing Bedouin Soundclash)
- Indecent Exposure (played 4song set).
- Blue Juice (played 40min set)
- Clinician auctions.
- Levator Ani (played 40min set)
- The Langford Stranglers (1hr set)
- Disco to the early hrs (inc. TT vs 50cent)
The clinician auctions went amazingly well and included some quality promises including a meal for 12, 6, 4 and 2 people, a bike ride, art work, cookies, fly a falcon, 4people canoeing trip, French maid house cleaning etc. Me, Dave, John, Paula and 8others won the 12person meal for £525 (£43 each) which sounds a lot but the promise is amazing…All picked up and dropped off at home, a 5course dinner cooked by 2 of the senior farm clinicians, beer and champagne for the evening and waiting services provided by the farm interns/residents…ideal! Think we’ll do it after vivas.
I was fairly stressed about the night until we’d played, the Stranglers set had gone well and everything was removed for the conference. I was then able to get incredibly drunk and dance about in the bar to the early hours, plus we had a mic and amp separate to the bar PA so karaoke was sort of possible and much comedy singing was achieved, including ranting to the likes of bat out of hell. However 50cent Vs Thomas the tank engine and the William Tell Overture win the most entertaining music prizes for the evening.
Today’s been a jobbin day, trying to get everything sorted I haven’t had time for over the past couple of weeks. Later I’m going swimming then meeting Dave, John, Pablos for dinner in Bristol to discuss summer travelling plans.
Still haven’t heard back from Liverpool interview yet.
xx
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Crazy amount of time since my last blog but with fair reason, I know I always say I’ve been busy but the past 2wks have been ridiculous!..
Currently I’m in one of the consult rooms in SAP hoping I can get all I’d like to say down before I get dragged away to watch a dental…
Work wise over the past 2wks have included finishing my ICU days rotation, starting the SAP rotation and preparing for a job interview.
The ICU days rotation was quite enjoyable and though I mainly looked after one patient for the wk who had laryngeal paralysis/mega-oesophagus and a tracheostomy I felt I got a lot out of it. I also got a bit of spare time which was ideal as I was able to get some general revision done.
The past week I’ve been working in PDSA in Bristol which has been absolutely fantastic. My general fear of consults is now completely destroyed and I feel I actually had a fair clue as to what was going on with the animals I saw and what treatment to administer. Best thing about the wk was the vet responsible for our time there as he was an absolute legend. He talked things through with us, helped us come to our own conclusions concerning cases and generally provided a quality stress free atmosphere to sort out our consultation skills.
This week I’ve just started is small animal 1st opinion practice in Langford Site in the shiny new practice. I missed my first day yesterday due to an interview in Liverpool but I’ll come onto that in a min. It’s excellent that I had my PDSA week before this SAP wk as it means I’ve sorted out my consultation skills before the wk when they’re properly assessed. This wk revolves around morning and 4-6pm consults with tutorials run in the afternoon, the one today being on geriatric patients.
After this wk I finish my rotations with the exotics wk which includes Mon and Fri off (breaks I’m going to much need following the manicness of the past couple of wks and this one).
Big work related event since last entry is my interview for the internship in small animal studies at Liverpool. The interview was on Monday and I prepared pretty well for it after having spent most evenings in the library over the past 2wks. I got the train up on Sat so I didn’t have to travel the day before with plans to study in Liverpool’s library. It was quite useful having my friend Nick studying at Liverpool as I was able to crash at his place though unfortunately I’ve being trying to find time to go see him over the past couple of terms and the time I can make it up I had little time to see the dude.
The interview itself went fairly well with just basic questions on why I want the placement/what I think it involves/ can I teach etc. The hard part was the 15min written exam before hand which I hadn’t expected. This went quite terribly as I only answered 1 out of the 3 questions, though I answered the one fairly well I thought. However after speaking to others applying it seems very few people actually make much progress through the paper. After the interview a few pints in Liverpool were essential before getting the train back here to rejoin the bizarre pseudo-reality little insular world of Langford (love it really).
Main social events include (not as numerous as norm due to wrk efforts) a gig, a trip north, a band night and upcoming VetAid2…
The gig was Ash last Thursday. Myself, Sarah, Ian and his little bro went along and it was one of the best nights I’ve had in ages. They played a great selection covering all albums though unfortunately the Ash highlight of Charlotte wasn’t present as apparently she’s on solo projects.
The trip North was a weekend in Newcastle to see Rich. I always like to make it up there once a term and unfortunately couldn’t make it last so we had to ensure a quality weekend which was definitely achieved. The highlights included…
- Both Newcastle uni’s and Northumbria’s big weekly student nights out were attended where nothing especially comedy took place just the usual antics of much drunken crazy dancing fun, singing and lying around on pavements.
- A trip to the seaside in the bitter cold, including a walk round a market straight out of Bed Knobs and Broomsticks.
- A curry (always essential).
- Theatre excursion (highly cultural) to see Martin Freeman and guy out of Only Fools and Horses staring in a play about the importance of comedy and past war efforts with modern day implications.
- Quality feast and multiple film night in including The Goonies and Full Metal Jacket (definitely a contrasting combination).
Weekend before last there was a band night on the Sat which Blue Juice played in and organised, before hand though numerous people including myself played a few acoustic numbers. I got in Hard fi-tied up too tight, get cape/bright eyes song, view same jeans. Went down pretty well and rest of night was excellent fun, thought the William Tell Overture wasn’t played at the end which is always important for a quality night.
Presently the main things taking my time up are SAP, practising for this Sat coming, trying to start finals revision and generally juggling a million and one things I’m trying to sort/organise.
Sat looks to be a quality night, I’ve got 4bands lined up, a clinician promise auction, a dj set and a disco on the cards, all of which takes a fair amount of effort to ensure it doesn’t screw up on the night. Will report back next wk in regards to the level of success of the evening and the fate of the Langford music scene when I depart
Think that’s enough for now, it’s never a good idea for me to miss out blogs as the next one I right then becomes and essay. Expect to get one down Mon when the final week of rotations start, sounds scary stuff but quite looking forward to it, rotations have been awesome but I’m feeling it’s time to move on, grow up and face the music of the real world.
TTFN x
Currently I’m in one of the consult rooms in SAP hoping I can get all I’d like to say down before I get dragged away to watch a dental…
Work wise over the past 2wks have included finishing my ICU days rotation, starting the SAP rotation and preparing for a job interview.
The ICU days rotation was quite enjoyable and though I mainly looked after one patient for the wk who had laryngeal paralysis/mega-oesophagus and a tracheostomy I felt I got a lot out of it. I also got a bit of spare time which was ideal as I was able to get some general revision done.
The past week I’ve been working in PDSA in Bristol which has been absolutely fantastic. My general fear of consults is now completely destroyed and I feel I actually had a fair clue as to what was going on with the animals I saw and what treatment to administer. Best thing about the wk was the vet responsible for our time there as he was an absolute legend. He talked things through with us, helped us come to our own conclusions concerning cases and generally provided a quality stress free atmosphere to sort out our consultation skills.
This week I’ve just started is small animal 1st opinion practice in Langford Site in the shiny new practice. I missed my first day yesterday due to an interview in Liverpool but I’ll come onto that in a min. It’s excellent that I had my PDSA week before this SAP wk as it means I’ve sorted out my consultation skills before the wk when they’re properly assessed. This wk revolves around morning and 4-6pm consults with tutorials run in the afternoon, the one today being on geriatric patients.
After this wk I finish my rotations with the exotics wk which includes Mon and Fri off (breaks I’m going to much need following the manicness of the past couple of wks and this one).
Big work related event since last entry is my interview for the internship in small animal studies at Liverpool. The interview was on Monday and I prepared pretty well for it after having spent most evenings in the library over the past 2wks. I got the train up on Sat so I didn’t have to travel the day before with plans to study in Liverpool’s library. It was quite useful having my friend Nick studying at Liverpool as I was able to crash at his place though unfortunately I’ve being trying to find time to go see him over the past couple of terms and the time I can make it up I had little time to see the dude.
The interview itself went fairly well with just basic questions on why I want the placement/what I think it involves/ can I teach etc. The hard part was the 15min written exam before hand which I hadn’t expected. This went quite terribly as I only answered 1 out of the 3 questions, though I answered the one fairly well I thought. However after speaking to others applying it seems very few people actually make much progress through the paper. After the interview a few pints in Liverpool were essential before getting the train back here to rejoin the bizarre pseudo-reality little insular world of Langford (love it really).
Main social events include (not as numerous as norm due to wrk efforts) a gig, a trip north, a band night and upcoming VetAid2…
The gig was Ash last Thursday. Myself, Sarah, Ian and his little bro went along and it was one of the best nights I’ve had in ages. They played a great selection covering all albums though unfortunately the Ash highlight of Charlotte wasn’t present as apparently she’s on solo projects.
The trip North was a weekend in Newcastle to see Rich. I always like to make it up there once a term and unfortunately couldn’t make it last so we had to ensure a quality weekend which was definitely achieved. The highlights included…
- Both Newcastle uni’s and Northumbria’s big weekly student nights out were attended where nothing especially comedy took place just the usual antics of much drunken crazy dancing fun, singing and lying around on pavements.
- A trip to the seaside in the bitter cold, including a walk round a market straight out of Bed Knobs and Broomsticks.
- A curry (always essential).
- Theatre excursion (highly cultural) to see Martin Freeman and guy out of Only Fools and Horses staring in a play about the importance of comedy and past war efforts with modern day implications.
- Quality feast and multiple film night in including The Goonies and Full Metal Jacket (definitely a contrasting combination).
Weekend before last there was a band night on the Sat which Blue Juice played in and organised, before hand though numerous people including myself played a few acoustic numbers. I got in Hard fi-tied up too tight, get cape/bright eyes song, view same jeans. Went down pretty well and rest of night was excellent fun, thought the William Tell Overture wasn’t played at the end which is always important for a quality night.
Presently the main things taking my time up are SAP, practising for this Sat coming, trying to start finals revision and generally juggling a million and one things I’m trying to sort/organise.
Sat looks to be a quality night, I’ve got 4bands lined up, a clinician promise auction, a dj set and a disco on the cards, all of which takes a fair amount of effort to ensure it doesn’t screw up on the night. Will report back next wk in regards to the level of success of the evening and the fate of the Langford music scene when I depart
Think that’s enough for now, it’s never a good idea for me to miss out blogs as the next one I right then becomes and essay. Expect to get one down Mon when the final week of rotations start, sounds scary stuff but quite looking forward to it, rotations have been awesome but I’m feeling it’s time to move on, grow up and face the music of the real world.
TTFN x
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