Work experience in a vet's

[Boxers]

My daughter is in year 10 and today went to a local town vet to start 2 wks work experience. Another girl from her school is there too.

So I know today was the first day, but she only sat in on 2 consultations, and the rest of the day she was mopping floors, wiping down counters and hanging out washing.

I know it's the first day and they don't know her etc - but as the week progresses what can she expect to be doing?

Did anyone here go to a vet for work ecperience? What did you do or what were you shown?

 

[ceiron]

tbh i have done 3 vets and i have sat in on only a handful of consultations tbh.

was mostly with vet nurses doing operation prep, looking after the animals out back and observing operations.

plus a bit of cleaning.

 

[Maisy]

I did my work experience at a vets (years ago!!)....I did a lot of cleaning and washing etc, but I did get to go out on calls, (one to Woburn Safari park!), and sit in on consultations and operations.....I think it is good experience to work from the bottom up!!

....It made me see that vets work such long hours, I would struggle to have animals of my own!!

 

[blitznbobs]

It's not changed then! I did work experience at a vet hospital when I was 15 (I'm in my 30s now) (before deciding that I liked animals too much and I'd rather torture humans) and all I did was muck out the stables (Considering I had 5 horses at the time I thought I'd had enough experience of mucking out beds but it was something to put on the UCAS form!)

Blitz

 

[Letslip]

I did my work experience at my local vets and worked with both the large animal, equine and small animal vets. Got to sit in on all consultations with the small animals as well as the ops and helping to clean all instruments etc, with the large animal and equine vets went on all rounds with them including an inspection of an abbatoir!!!

These however were our own vets who we had been with for years for our horses and small dogs so had a good relationship with them plus they knew how desperate I was to get into vet school. I continued to work with them at weekends and school holidays for the next 3 years.

 

[Boxers]

I did my work experience at a vets (years ago!!)....I did a lot of cleaning and washing etc, but I did get to go out on calls, (one to Woburn Safari park!), and sit in on consultations and operations.....I think it is good experience to work from the bottom up!!

....It made me see that vets work such long hours, I would struggle to have animals of my own!!

There were 2 operations done today but they weren't allowed to sit in. One was a dog leg amputation - so fair enough if the vet didn't want an audience! The other was neutering a rabbit - I would have thought that would be routine and they could've sat in.

We will see how the week progresses and I might go in if things don't improve. Daughter said she did try to ask a few questions, so hopefully they'll see she's keen.

 

[Mrs C]

I did my work experience in a vets however was years ago. I did get to watch in however was traumatised for life as they put a cat to sleep when there was nothing wrong with it, then made me take a bag out to the freezer only to discover it had a dead rabbit in!! Kind of put me off so may be a blessing that they are having her sweeping instead!!

 

[Happy Hunter]

I love my w.experience with our vets - Like a previous reply I had been with them for years and was always bugging the vets when they came to do the Flu and Tet - so I got to do a lot more large animal visits.
the vet walked me into the middle of a cow barn with some Huge double muscled cows with calves, walked off leaving me in the middle and shouted back - oh becareful, these ones charge with no warning! hehehehe

I think cleaning is the norm with the small animal side - is she there for 2 weeks? if so i wouldnt panic yet.
Keep on with the questions and you will get there.

Try to remember clients who bring in cuddles the poodle and have to be told he is not long for this world wont really want a work experience person present.
Equally though, hopefully the vet will try and pick out a few routine visits to watch.

 

[ester]

I spent time in lots of vets. and that is often par for the course... thankfully the horse vets I got to go on the road as there was nothing in!

I think there are two best ways to see the most
1) is to go to a very small practice with minimal inpatients though there will then be minimal op work.
2) and prob the best is to spend as long as you can in one vets... I had a 3 week placement in one vets which I then got offered a regular slot.. they actually said they didnt have anyone in on saturdays so would I like to go in..... as it was I was at school on sats but could rearrange friday lessons so went fridays instead. I did that for 2 years in the end, had a brilliant time, learnt lots, was shown lots, taken on lots of visits etc and to a certain extent was one of the team. still didnt get in to vet school though

You have to know that throughout the summer and all school hols each practice is likely to have at least one WE student in due to the amount req for entry to vet school and its much easier if they know them . I did find each of the 6 practices I went to different with how they dealt with students and what they allowed each to see or do at the end of the day they are giving their time up.

eta mrsc... I spent many a time in the freezer... and I do remember one spaniel hanging around for ages with the owners not deciding whether they wanted it back or not so it sat on the floor for a while!

 

[Happy Hunter]

oh just noticed it is for 2 weeks - goodo!
If she is still keen to get into vet or nursing - work experience shoudnt be limited to the 2 weeks = has she thought about asking for some part time work round the year?
Working in a stud farm perhaps? a zoo? a pet shop?
Anything! - When i was thinking about vet school it was all too late to get the experience in A level time!

 

[Ommadawn]

It is 'work experience' so I suspect they are testing her work ethic before letting her do the more interesting stuff. If she shows that she is willing to work hard and shows a real interest then I would hope that they would see that she is serious and will let her do more as the time goes on.

I'm not suggesting that your daughter falls into the following category, but in my experience a lot of work experience pupils seem to think that the place they are working owes them a favour, when in reality work experiemce students can be a pain in the proverbial - especially when they are 'experiencing' a job that it is impossible for them to really get hands on at. It must be especially hard on the employer if there are two students there.

If your daughter is still keen at the end of the placement could she organise some 'shadowing' in the holidays - where she follows the vets to see what they do, rather than try to do any work?

A word of warning - don't get involved yourself, I'm sure it is hard not to, but interfering parents don't go down too well in the workplace. If she really hasn't started doing anything more by the end of this week I would ask the school to intervene.

If the employers are any good then I would really hope that they would reward her hard work with seeing some more consultations and operations - and rememebr we live in such a Health & Safety driven world thes edays, they may be restricted by some ridiculous rules and regs and probably also want to see what she is like with blood and gore etc!

I really hope things get better and that she gets to make the most of her expeience - such placements are really valuable. Good luck to her.

 

[*hic*]

I'll add to the "may be a blessing she's only sweeping". My daughter did work experience in horsepital. I can only assume that they got her (nearly 16) mixed up with the vet students who were there because she ended up on her second day assisting euthanasing a horse, tidying the body and taking mane and tail cuttings and then escorting the bereaved owners when they went to view the body.

She also did a lot of sweeping, handpicking grass to tempt appetites, mucking out etc. She knew she probably didn't want to be a vet and this was really to make sure. I secretly hoped she'd change her mind. It wasn't so much the treating of the animals, even the euthanasia, that determined her not to be a vet as much as the attitude of the owners.

 

[ester]

It might be worth checking re age restrictions too..... I do know that I was able to do more post 16.

 

[_Katy_]

I did work ex at a small animal vets - years ago now! I did mostly cleaning too. Did sit in on quite a few consultations and an operation (nutering a cat). Also 3 PTS which was sad, a myxo rabbit and a stray dog who tried to bite the vet, so NCDL as it was then wouldn't take it. But worst was a pet cat, beacause the owner was so upset - I was almost in tears myself!

 

[Brontie]

Agree with Ommadawn

 

[Bettyboo222]

I did my work experience in a vets I would of enjoyed the experience if some of the nurses hadn't been so backstabbing. I was asked to sweep floors, wipe counters and clean throat tubes. I was allowed to sit in on operations, under no circustances was I to go into the consultation rooms or talk to any clients.

 

[alesea]

My first vet work experience was at a local small animal practice. Initially I did a lot of cleaning, mopping etc, and a few consults and odd operations. They asked me back to do one night a week after school and at that point I had more opportinity to watch consults.

I watched more operations when I did work experience at a larger practice, although I saw fewer consults- probably a good thing, the vets there weren't half as good with clients as those in the smaller practice.

Essentially they like to give students the boring routine and not entirely pleasant jobs- it's a very good indicator of character! The best thing for her to do is really get stuck in- I found it was probably more important to earn the respect of the vet nurses than the vets themselves- if they like you they tend to let you know if there's a good procedure going on and suggest that you go and watch it etc.

Also, as someone else has said, if she decides that she does want a career in the veterinary field, whether it be as a vet or nursing, then it's a good time to start thinking of other placements, particularly on farms! Colleges and Uni's tend to prefer placements where students have had to work really hard at what are frankly the nastiest/ most boring everyday tasks- I think it's supposed to show commitment!

 

[Letslip]

Also, as someone else has said, if she decides that she does want a career in the veterinary field, whether it be as a vet or nursing, then it's a good time to start thinking of other placements, particularly on farms! Colleges and Uni's tend to prefer placements where students have had to work really hard at what are frankly the nastiest/ most boring everyday tasks- I think it's supposed to show commitment!

Second this and was also told by my vets to get as much experience in as possible before my A levels so also spent a spring lambing, worked on a dairy farm, pig farm and chicken farm had the equine experience already otherwise I would have been down a yard too!!!

It's definitely about showing the commitment and getting the references.

 

[ChloeC418]

My year 10 work experience was last year. I spent it at an equine vets, I was familiar with most vets there as our horses are registered with that practice, with it only being 2 mins up the road (can see it from my house!!)

I only did a tiny bit of yard work, probably mucked out less than 5 stables in the 5 days I was there, I also swept a bit. For most of the time I was leading resident horses to/from the vets in the lameness clinic (not trotting them up, just getting them out, putting them back in) I watched a LOT of AI, probably a good few hours worth in total. I helped the grooms getting broodmares in from the field. I watched a horse having its sinus unblocked (not sure if that's the correct terminology?), this involved them drilling into his face and extracting a tooth. I had to leave the room because of the smell, but the nice vet nurse got me a tissue with smelly stuff on it so I could watch and not be sick On my last day, I got to watch an operation, which I thought was amazing - I also hosed and scrubbed the recovery room after use.

I also helped with other stuff like re-bandaging a belly after colic surgery. I spent 4 hours (in one day) holding a poor old pony while it had IV fluids (4 bags of it) it was a long four hours but the pony was so sweet

I wasn't allowed in whilst they did xrays (with me not being 18 yet)

 

[star]

all the work experience students we have from school seem to pass out in theatre so we're a bit reluctant to let them in there too much! tend to get them used to the place for a few days first. there is a lot of cleaning involved in doing work experience - it's a test! if you can put up with yrs of cleaning you might cope with vet school!

 

[NicoleS_007]

I did a weeks work exp in a small animal veterinary clinic a couple of years ago. I got to see a dog getting a cesarean and a couple animals being neutered, but basically all i done was clean floors, cages, go to the shop, stick labels on stuff and fold letters lol was interesting though

 

[Dubsie]

You may find she's restricted in what she can do due to age.

Over 30 years ago, in the 6th form we had to spend an afternoon a week doing community service, and my friend and I (who were both a year younger than our peers, so only 15) volunteered to work at the local hospital. To our disgust, once they found our age we were barred from going on wards and had to help out in the WRVS shop serving teas and washing up, while the WRVS volunteers put their feet up and chatted, ignoring us. We only lasted a term and found our old infant school (which we passed on our walk home) were more than keen for us to spend the afternoons listening to their little one reading.

 

[Kellys Heroes]

Apologies for any repeats I havent read through the rest

It depends on the vets but due to the clients view of things its all that can be expected tbh. I've done a handful of work exp at different vets and some I have just stood and watched, others I've been cleaning and washing etc (same as your daughter) and yet, at our vets (who have known us years) they allowed me to inject animals after their ops (I was able to observe all the ops and was taken through what was what and what was happening), showed me and allowed me to practise suturing (on a kitchen towel, may I add!!), had me bagging bodies and freezing them and sitting in on consultations (except PTS).
Best idea is to get some work exp at an emergency vets after she turns 16 (or 18 in some cases) as the owner is 50% of the time not around (such as RTAs) and we are able to see a lot more (just not able to hands on with much)

 

[GinaB]

I did work experience in a vets recently and I loved it For the first few days, it wasn't quite as hands on but once they realised I wasn't there to faff around (they had problems with previous work exp. students) I was allowed to be more hands on with the animals. As I want to do vet nursing, I was shadowing the nurses. I never sat in on any consultations.

I spent a lot of time cleaning, but to me, that is to be expected! I got to help prep animals for surgery as well as watching lots of interesting surgery They did wanr me the first time watching surgery that I may feel faint and I was allowed to leave at any time but I was fine, they were all impressed I didn't pass out! Lol

I was also taught how to scrub in for surgery and how to clean surgical instruments and prepare them for auto claving.

 

[superpony]

I did my WE at a vet a few years ago.

I did alot of cleaning! Moping floors, washing, cleaning cages etc and also alot of making tea!

But an Australian vet took me under his wing and i generally stuck with him whatever he was doing. I helped with the blood test stuff and I also got to see alot of consultations as well as a few operations. I took the animals to weigh them and helped look after the animals.

One day i was also had some childcare experience! I was asked by a different vet to more or less restrain a young child!! She was running around the consultation room screaming and shouting whilst the mother did nothing and the vet was trying to inject the dog!!!! She then shut herself in the medicine cupboard and ran upstairs into the office and into the kennels! Tried my best to keep her interested in pretty leaflets and weighing scales!

 

[Boxers]

Thanks for your replies everyone - really interesting and gives us much more idea of what to expect.

She had a better and more interesting day today - still lots of cleaning but the Partner was there and he told them lots of stuff. She sat in on a biopsy of a dogs ear, a repair to a police dog's tail, and a neutering of a rabbit. She also sat with a cat for a while while it had IV.

So she was a lot cheerier tonight, combined with the fact that tonight it's Pony club SJ training!

 

[Kellys Heroes]

Glad to hear she's now enjoying it more
by the sounds of it they've realised she's not there to mess about, hopefully it will get more involved as the days go on!!
K x

 

[DottyConnection]

She's luck to have gotten any Work Experience at a Vets, i'm an International Groom doing a BSc. in Equine Dental Science at Uni and couldn't get work experience with any Vets! I'd have been happy to be mopping floors as long as they signed my hours off. For insurance purposes, they cant allow her to do much at all and it will be down the Vets discresion as to whether they bend the rules x