How to Survive the First Two Years in Practice

Dierenhospitaal Visdonk , the clinic I have been working in since graduation, is a referral clinic with three fulltime equine veterinarians including myself. I have the privilege to work with both a board certified surgeon and a board certified specialist internal medicine. My work consists of ambulatory clinics, general anesthesia, lameness examination, diagnostic imaging and treating hospitalized patients. In this presentation I will share my experiences as a starting veterinarian and I will describe recognizable situations and problems I have encountered in practice. This way I hope I can help and advice other starting vets.

Working on patients without a professor or teacher looking over your shoulder is the first thing to get used to. There is no one to correct you if necessary and no one to give additional support when needed. Fortunately this is something you get used to very quickly. And of course the only wise thing to do when you are not sure of your diagnoses, is ask your colleague or refer the horse to a clinic or colleague. If you handle it carefully, no client will think you are not capable of treating their horse. You will be just a very committed vet who wants the best for their horse!

“What?! Who is coming? Martijn? No… I don’t want the new vet. I want one of the partners! They always treat my horse, so I want one of them to do this vaccination!”. What a disappointment, because vaccinating is definitely something I think I am capable of doing. And a vaccination is not really a treatment to impress an owner using my veterinary knowledge and skills. What else can I use to impress? Charms?! I think I missed that class… But after working a longer period of time, I experienced routine visits are very valuable for earning trust of clients en build up credits for other situations.

I thought I was quite good prepared for treating horses in practice. But what was different from treating horses at the University, was that now it did not end with treating the horse. There is an owner attached to each horse and that does not make the job any easier. But how can you prepare a student for difficult clients?