Sometimes I am so busy that days blend into weeks, and weeks into months, and months into years. Having time to just sit, and look back at what I have done, is uncommon. So here I am taking a look back…
Years graduated: 3
Consults: 11,000+
Surgeries: 700+
Current role: Intern
I officially finished the CVS New Graduate program in October 2019. For me I found parts of this excellent, and others lacking. One of the highlights was the professional skills days run in conjunction with VDS Training. These helped me develop communication skills, along with how to reflect and learn from mistakes. This was in conjunction with a range of various training days – the majority of these were lecture based – however the dentistry and dermatology were both practical and excellent. The rest of the scheme focused on in-practice mentorship and really depends on the practice you are in. I got lucky here with an excellent mentor who gave me the opportunity to rapidly develop my surgical skills.
I was asked to join the committee of the British Veterinary Dental Association last year to develop the social media side of things and help with building membership. The BVDA Discussion group on Facebook now has over 1700 members! The BVDA are also running our first ever Veterinary Dentistry Virtual Conference in September which has been eating up my time recently.
I started my CertAVP in January 2019, I am now halfway through my fifth module. This is something that has been so much harder than I ever imagined. There is always something to read, a report to write or discussions to get involved in. Whilst I was in general practice I struggled so much to be able to do this at the same time due to time. A lot of the time I was behind, with reading for patients I’d seen that day or had scheduled the following day taking priority. However if I continue to plan hopefully I will finish my CertAVP in December. Then next year I continue with my masters.
Coronavirus came just as I was looking to start my internship with my new practice going to a reduced staffing rota. Rather than be furlough I managed to move sideways to work as a night emergency vet for 2 months back in Norfolk. This was a strange experience. As I’d already moved to my new village it meant I was travelling every week. For the first time ever in the UK trains ran on time, were clean, and I was guaranteed a selection of seats.
Time has always been an issue, and I’ve not been as good keeping my blog up to date as I’d like. I often read something that is really cool and think I have to share it. Start writing, and unfortunately never finish it. Currently my draft posts document is around 27 pages long. Hopefully as I have a little more time I will be able to dust a lot of these off, tidy them up, and share them with you. My goal for the next year is blog at least weekly, especially as my internship gets started.
Hopefully as I write this I will soon be starting my internship and continuing my learning journey. My goal remains as ever to become an ECVS Diplomat.