16 Feb 2019
Vet school teaches you a lot of important things in preparation for the job. But being an independent vet in the wide world can be tricky, so Ami Sawran is on hand to provide some helpful life hacks.
Ami Sawran
Job Title
"Obviously, map reading is a very helpful skill, but our work area, for example, is so big I would need to rifle through about eight Ordnance Survey maps." Image © yuliyatrukhan / Adobe Stock
The greatest learning curve is perhaps the one that begins when you are given your first vet car and left to kit it out with a view to being a fully fledged independent vet on the road.
Here are a few little life hacks you won’t find in your textbooks that can make life a little bit easier.
If you’re lost, and you have signal, you can often Google the client’s name and get a better idea of where the farm is – especially if they have a business listing. Sometimes the postcode gets you nearly-but-not quite there, but Google Maps or even Google Earth can reveal listings that can get you out of a tricky spot.
Obviously, map reading is a very helpful skill, but our work area, for example, is so big I would need to rifle through about eight Ordnance Survey maps, so I unashamedly go digital.
Bear with me, this is less creepy than it seems. These are vital pieces of kit you won’t find in the dispensary.
Duct tape is really useful for cleanly taping wool or fibre out of the way during sheep or camelid abdominal surgery (or angora goats – I don’t discriminate). The lighter is for when you need to use a burner (because the practice one will go walkies), and small pliers with wire cutters are a godsend for putting wires under casts for ease of removal without blunting your scissors or foot trimmers (come on, we’ve all been there). Rope is just handy for everything from tying gates up, restraining animals and towing cars out of places they shouldn’t be.
Don’t buy all this in one go, unless you want some serious side eye…
With the best will in the world, you can’t rely on a lunch break on your own terms in ambulatory practice, which is why you need to stash snacks in the car for emergencies.
The petrol station diet isn’t just unhealthy, it’s expensive; so stave off a desperate splurge in an inflated M&S store by stuffing things with a long shelf life such as flapjacks, nuts, dried fruit, granola, rice cakes and emergency chocolate in the door pockets, centre console or that handy drawer under the driver’s seat you never knew was there.
Telephones need to be with us wherever we go and they only come with one charger. Do not make life difficult for yourself. Get at least three; leave one at home, one in the office and one in the car. You are kidding yourself if you think you can remember to bring that single, precious power lead wherever you go.
As an aside, some mobile telephones have been known to suddenly die when they get cold, which feels like a disaster when you’re on farm and call on a freezing Friday night. If you have telephone death paranoia, take a charging bank with you and plug your telephone into it while you’re out on farm so it can’t shut off if the battery gets cold and fails.
