12 Jul 2021
Free-access Veterinary Virtual Live Work Experience programme launched in March and has offered a pandemic alternative to school students seeking taste of pre-vet school practice life.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
More than 1,000 aspiring vet students from across the UK have signed up to a fledgling work experience programme where they watch veterinary professionals carrying out their day-to-day work live online.
Vet Mentor, which launched its free-access Veterinary Virtual Live Work Experience – or #VetWex – programme in March, has captured the imagination of senior school pupils interested in joining the professions, but whose work experience options had been previously limited by the pandemic.
With the world changing suddenly and practices having to resort to emergency-only care early in the pandemic, not only were EMS placements for existing vet students a casualty, but the chance for face-to-face work experience for secondary school pupils also went on hiatus at many practices.
Appreciating a generation of potential future veterinary professionals would be missing out on a valuable experience and one that can benefit any future applications to vet schools, Vet Mentor – a non-profit social enterprise building on the Medic Mentor service already in place for would-be human medicine students – decided to take vet work experience online.
A network of vets across the country is involved in the Vet Mentor programme, and more than 1,000 students in years 10 to 12 (S4 to S6 in Scotland) have registered and have been benefiting from the live web sessions so far.
Alex Davies, chief mentor for veterinary with Vet Mentor, said response to the programme so far had been very positive, with 84% of students stating it was good or better than in-person work experience.
He said: “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We are most proud that 92% said the programme had motivated them to study veterinary medicine, highlighting the inspiring impact the programme has had.
“Our adaptive and virtual response to COVID has made our impact on aspiring vets even stronger, and we are committed to increasing accessibility across the profession.
“All vet schools recommend that students complete some vocational work experience pre-application. These experiences allow students to gain a realistic insight into the job, and what skills and attributes are needed to be a good vet.
“Many students have difficulty accessing the entire animal sector for different reasons, so virtual teaching is a perfect way to expose students to everything a veterinary degree and career has to offer.”
So far, live online sessions – programmed monthly over a six-month period – have focused on small animal general health, lambing and sheep husbandry and equine clinical practice, and a session on mixed clinical practice is imminent.
Vet Mentor said it had “two incredible final sessions planned”. The first will explore veterinary surgery and the other will explore professionalism, animal welfare and veterinary ethics.
Outgoing and incoming RCVS presidents – Mandisa Greene and Kate Richards, respectively – will be involved in helping to teach the final session.
Vet Mentor has designed the programme to be “completely immersive” so students “feel as if they are in the room shadowing veterinary professionals across different sectors and species”.
A key part of the project is that after watching real-time vet-patient-client interactions and clinical activities, students will join interactive breakout sessions with mentors so they can reflect on what they saw.
The mentoring sessions can also cover discussions about topical issues facing the profession, such as empathy and animal welfare.
Vet Mentor is still looking for vets or current vet students who are interested in getting involved in mentoring or education. Anyone interested can email Dr Davies and further information about Vet Mentor’s activities is available on the vet-specific sections at www.medicmentor.co.uk
