Category — Uncategorized

Recently I spent some time at a veterinary conference, had a lot of fun, learned a lot of things and came home with a big bag of loot.

I’m in two minds about my bag of loot. On the one hand it’s always nice to receive free stuff as you walk around a hall filled with various stalls trying to sell you stuff (even if most of your free stuff consists of pens and post-it-notes), but on the other hand I try to remain at least a little cynical about all the information I’m given about “wonderful new product X”, particularly when there’s “wonderful new product Y” on the other side of the room.

I know corporate sponsorship is an issue in human medicine and pharmacies, and so I am mindful of it every time I go to work wearing a pair of socks with a particular brand emblazoned on their side, or use a pen with a particular logo on it, or amuse myself with an industry sponsored stress ball or Frisbee.

These events are useful for learning about new products, some of which we genuinely needed, but I am conscious of remaining impartial to brands and only using the one that’s best for the job. To be honest, picking which medication I prescribe sometimes just comes down to the weight of the patient!

But the whole concept of a conference is very useful for re-learning things, discussing difficult cases with somebody new and generally feeling less isolated in this generally fragmented profession.

But it is a bit weird when a ‘normal’ person decides that they get to come to some of our lectures too. [Read more →]

Some days when I am on call there are three voices in my head that respond to people’s problems.

Client: My rat is having trouble giving birth and has been going overnight.

Voice 1: Rat? WFT? I don’t know how to treat a birthing rat!

Voice 2: C’mon, she’s obviously really worried about it, otherwise she wouldn’t have rung the emergency service.

Voice 3: Now this we have to see.

[Read more →]

It’s getting really bad, especially when I work the weekends. Weeks and days just merge together and there’s no sense of the start or end of the week. There’s no break to look forward to, and my days off become “recovery time” where I madly try to make up for everything that I didn’t do during the week.

I’m forgetting which day of the week it is and as such my ability to org anise anything is plummeting.

I did 60 hours last week, with three nights on call after work, and got called back in three times for emergencies.

It helps a lot having my partner living with me, but I still feel like I’m running ragged every day.

So please forgive my recent absence.