Opening doors… for vets of the future

“No one does anything without help, Will. People opened doors for me, and I worked hard to open doors for you. It doesn’t make you any less of a man to walk through them.”

Uncle Phil, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

It may be a bit of a cliché to start an article with a quote, but this one from almost 30 years ago (I know!) seems particularly relevant to current and future vets as entry into the profession is built on people paying it forwards and opening doors for you (think EMS and pre-university work experience).

We’re very lucky to be a profession so widely respected by the majority of the public – and it’s not at all uncommon in practice to regularly be told by clients how smart you must be and how hard you must have worked for five-plus (often mistakenly seven) years to achieve your MRCVS.

There’s no denying the degree is a difficult one, and takes a serious amount of time, effort and dedication (to say the least). However, in these moments – whether you say anything to said client – I find it’s also a time to think about all the people who opened doors for you to get where you are.

For me this is a very long list that includes, but is by no means limited to:

• family members who have provided lifts and accommodation
• vets who gave me work experience and EMS
• my foster practice
• a vast number of farmers who let me learn on their farms
• friends and mentors, both in and out of the profession, who have always been on the end of the telephone when needed both clinically and non-clinically

Influential

The practice I work at has a partnership with the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, and as a result I actively get to be a part of teaching and supporting the final-year students on their clinical rotations.

However, the number of students I meet who say that they haven’t considered – or couldn’t possibly go into – farm practice because they haven’t grown up on a farm, or don’t have the right type of background to be a farm vet, both amazes and saddens me.

I barely had an animal background, let alone a farm background, before coming to vet school, but it was those vets and farmers who worked hard to develop my growing interest in farm practice who helped me get where I am now.

Yes, I might have had to work a bit harder to learn some of the basic husbandry knowledge and management skills, but other vets encouraged and reassured me that it was possible without the “typical” background – so I can easily see how students may not feel confident to pursue farm practice as a career.

But if we look further back in the route to vet school, I can’t help but stop and think about the potential impact of no one opening doors for someone because he or she doesn’t win the postcode lottery, or doesn’t live in an area with many vets on the high street, or whose parents cannot drive him or her to places to work for free.

Does this make the vet profession unobtainable, with too many doors closed in your face?

Responsibility

We have a responsibility to use the platform we have as vets – be that in person, on social media or in writing – to promote not only good animal health and welfare, but also to be advocates of our great profession and to help open doors for everyone who may want to come through.

It’s great that some of the major players in the profession are working hard on improving accessibility for students of “atypical” backgrounds through initiatives such as “access to” funding schemes; outreach programmes; diversity and inclusion working groups; and, of course, IVC Evidensia’s groundbreaking BAME Scholarship Scheme, of which I’m honoured to be a founding board member.

However, every single vet has a role to play – whether that’s by helping those students who get in touch seeking work experience, or ask questions at a careers fair, or even by sharing his or her route into the profession and shouting about how it’s not a “one size fits all” scenario.

No matter what anyone says, I firmly believe you cannot get there by yourself in our profession. Furthermore, if we all make sure we open at least one door for a vet of the future, we will ensure our profession continues to be one that is well respected and – just as importantly – welcoming for new entrants regardless of their entry route.