MY younger colleagues in practice
at Westover Veterinary Centre are
very kind to me. We have a small
tear-off calendar. The advice for me
on the Monday morning after
attending the latest congress of the
Association of Veterinary Students
was: “Rest is for the weary. Sleep is
for the dead.”
I very rapidly departed for my first
call which was to shoot a
smallholder’s
pig. I don’t
relish these
types of call
but at least I
do not hate
them as much
as my younger colleagues. However, I
do admire them all as they all have the
appropriate firearm licences and
regularly have to do such duties.
Naturally, being a mainly equine
practice, the call for a firearm is less
than the “injection”. We always give the
client the option after we have
explained that the phrase “putting to
sleep” is not an option with a standing
horse. I think destroying is perhaps a
better use of words. From this
introduction the readers can appreciate
that I am a real fan of modern
graduates.
The congress of my youth
I am a silly old fool but I can’t
remember if the last AVS congress that
I attended, which was at Liverpool, was
at the end of 1965 or at the beginning
of 1966. Joe Brownlie and I attended to
represent the Bristol vet school.
There were several highlights which
I remember. Some of these the great
Professor Brownlie may choose to
forget. Our hosts challenged a joint
rugby team made up of all the other six
veterinary schools.
I as “middle of the back” took
charge of the forwards. The biggest
man I have ever seen from Glasgow
announced that he was open-side. I
noticed that the smaller prop from
London did not argue and said he was
happy to be the tight-side prop! My life
was fairly easy as the rest of the
forwards roughly sorted themselves out.
Joe, who was fly-half, took charge
of the backs. He was not so lucky. One
of the wings and our full-back were
from Dublin. Both were the worse for
drink: in fact, if the wing did not hold
him up the full-back fell over.
Needless to say, although the
forwards did their best we were 48
points down at half-time. I suspect it
was Joe’s idea: at the break he emptied a
bucket of cold water over both of the
Irishmen.
In fact they were both very good players. I think the full-back went
on to play for Ireland. The cold water sobered them and
made all the difference. Not only could
they both run liked hunted wildebeest
but the full-back was a great goal kicker.
We ended the match walking off with
our heads held high, losing by the very
respectable score of 54 to 24.
More problems awaited Joe and me.
There were no showers available for the
rugby players so we went back to the
student union. There did not seem to
be any showers there but we did find a
student washing room with washing
machines and large sinks for hand
washing.
We were both sitting happily in two
sinks when the tough Liverpudlian
janitor arrived. He was not amused. So
the future professor and the author
were thrown out in the public area
wrapped in rather small towels!
Learning past and present
Back in the sixties there was only one
AVS meeting each year which included
sports and learning. Joe and I were
lucky enough not only to hear a
memorable lecture by the great Joan
Joshua but also to attend a small group
workshop.
Sadly, I cannot remember the
content of the lecture but I do
remember the start. The lecture hall
was crowded and very noisy. Joan
entered and the noise continued. She
did not open her mouth but just stood
glowering at us. Within 30 seconds you
could have heard a pin drop.
She started he lecture with no visual
aids, no microphone and no notes. We
were all enthralled for the full 40
minutes. The workshop consultation
was on progressive retinal atrophy
(PRA). Joan gave us five students a
short talk on PRA and then her
veterinary nurse brought in the client
with a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
Believe it or not, the client was called
Lady Bowels.
“It is very kind of you, Lady
Bowels, to let these students examine
your little dog. I will just have a look
into the eyes with my ophthalmoscope
first.” None of us dared smile, let alone
laugh. As Joan bent towards the dog it
growled and bared its teeth.
“Do you mind leaving us for a
second, Lady Bowels?” Turning to me
– I was probably standing transfixed
with my mouth open – she said, “Open
the door young man.” After I closed
the door Joan tried again to examine
the dog. It was more aggressive. “Give
it what it deserves, Roger.”
The nurse gave it two sharp slaps to
its body. The dog stood like a rock as
Joan examined it for the third time.
“Ask Lady Bowels to join us.” After I
had opened the door again, Joan gave
us all a short talk on PRA as we each
examined an acquiescent dog. We not
only learnt about PRA but also a useful
lesson in client management.
The modern students have two
meetings a year. The one I attended was
the congress and the second at a
different time is the so-called sports
weekend which I understand is a very
good excuse for some serious drinking.
The congress
My reason for attending was on behalf
of the British Veterinary Camelid
Society (BVCS). I had a stand as did
some veterinary companies, the BVA,
BSAVA, BCVA, the Sheep Veterinary
Society, the Veterinary Public Health
Association and the Laboratory Animal
Veterinary Association.
It was strange that the British
Equine Veterinary Association was not
represented. The PDSA and Cats
Protection were there, together with the
Royal Army Veterinary Corps. This
career fayre was well-attended with
many enthusiastic students showing a
lively interest.
I was interested to find that the
students were not totally focused on
just future first jobs but also in long-
term careers.
All the students were worried about
their lack of knowledge of South
American camelids as the lectures on
this species seem to be few, certainly at
Edinburgh. The students were amazed
that there over 40,000 SACs in Britain.
The two Dublin students I spoke to
confirmed that they had seen several
herds in Eire.
Obviously I stressed the need to
join the BVCS as a means not only to
increase their knowledge but also to
obtain help with their problems when
they come into practice via the BVCS
e-mail forum. I was interested to see
that there was a lecture on backyard
poultry as well as two
sessions on poultry handling.
Poultry is also an area which
does not feature highly on
university curricula.
The lack of BEVA
presence at the career fayre
was compensated by two
excellent lectures: one by
Caroline Hahn on Ataxia in horses and another by Neil Hudson on
Equine dysphagia.
Certainly there was ample scope for
student learning and I think the AVS
organisers can be congratulated on
putting together such a good congress.
Further career paths
I alluded earlier to the interest shown
by students in further learning after
obtaining their degree and coming into
practice. All the 4th and 5th year
students were aware of the requirement
to complete a professional development
phase (PDP) with the RCVS.
I was very pleased to find an
interest in further RCVS qualifications,
namely the RCVS certificates. Students
were well aware of the clinical
certificates available and were very
interested in the hopeful certificate in
SAC medicine and surgery.
They showed a surprising interest in
the Certificate of Advanced Veterinary
Practice (AVP) run by VetLearning
through Middlesex University. This
certificate includes the real building
blocks for becoming a successful
practitioner, e.g. communication skills,
evidence-based medicine, clinical audit
and clinical governance.
Modern students are highly
motivated to keep on learning. There
was interest shown in more advanced
qualifications such as the Middlesex
MSc in Advanced Veterinary Practice
and even the Middlesex DProf.
The students were particularly keen
on the idea of work-based learning
with all these qualifications obtainable
while still working full-time in general
practice.
Obviously there were many more
ladies at the career fayre than men so
the fact that the modern certificates
were modular and could be completed
either slowly over a number of years or
with breaks between modules seemed
particularly attractive.
Modern veterinary students should
be congratulated on their enthusiasm
for continuing education past their
graduation as veterinary surgeons.
Veterinary societies should continue to
support veterinary students.
The AVS congress is a very
worthwhile event and I hope that the
2014 congress will be as good as the
2013 one.
