Imagine a world where every day is a new opportunity to help and learn something new about our four-legged friends. This is how every veterinary student begins their journey when they first cross the threshold of a clinic, not as a regular visitor, but as a student ready to immerse themselves in a real professional environment.
Veterinary practice is not just a part of the educational process; it is an important step in understanding the intricacies of working with animals, from diagnosis to treatment. Here, every day is filled with new challenges and lessons, where each case is a puzzle that must be solved in collaboration with the patients themselves. The most important skills that students should acquire during this process are time management, responsibility for animals, and communication with customers.
Of course, in addition to practical skills, graduates must first of all have deep knowledge of theory. In order to prove its presence, they must write a final project – a dissertation. If you have difficulties with this, you can always buy a dissertation from a professional writer. You can use it as an example of paper to handle writing more successfully.
Manage your time wisely
If you have problems with proper time management, read a couple of books on the topic. You can get a lot of useful information and practical advice on how to become more organized from them. Talk to other students and ask them how they managed to solve their time problems. Seminars and discussions organized by veterinary clinics will be a great opportunity to ask all your questions and communicate with colleagues.
Many veterinarians find it helpful to set up specific hours for patient reception. It goes without saying that urgent issues should be dealt with as they come in. However, a specific time for reception will help avoid situations where your patients constantly distract you with their problems, which in most cases can wait. When working on an important project, always close the door of the office and try to stay focused for at least two to three hours. Ask the receptionist not to disturb you with phone calls unless something urgent has happened. Avoid the temptation to check your email, which will not only distract you from your work but can also take up a lot of your time.
Veterinary student’s areas of responsibility
The most important part of a veterinary student’s work is their responsibility. This concept covers several areas, such as the quality of services, care for the animals’ health and welfare, and compliance with the norms and standards of veterinary practice. Types of responsibility can be directly related to treatment and diagnosis or concern broader aspects – for example, financial liability for causing harm to the health of an animal due to a professional error.
Every veterinary student faces various areas of responsibility, ranging from diagnosis and treatment to preventive measures. This requires not only professional knowledge from the specialist but also constant self-improvement and the willingness to make morally difficult decisions. In this context, the system of education and training of veterinarians plays a key role since it must provide not only up-to-date knowledge but also develop a sense of responsibility and professional ethics in future specialists.
The importance of communication in veterinary medicine
In the United States, the suicide rate among veterinarians is three times higher than the general population, and the rate is even higher among women. Working as a veterinarian puts us at risk for “compassion fatigue,” a devastating condition that is difficult to reverse. We believe that good communication with pet owners and colleagues can help achieve balance in veterinary students’ lives and prevent burnout and other psychological problems. This is an unexpected but compelling reason to improve communication skills.
Key points
- Medicine is not the only thing a veterinary student should know. Failure to communicate effectively will result in your work being unsatisfied with both your customers and yourself. The ability to communicate effectively is also an important skill for a veterinarian.
- Veterinary students who are able to communicate effectively create a positive atmosphere and improve the company’s economic performance. They accumulate “positive psychological capital.”
- There are a number of external and internal factors that directly affect how we communicate. The quality of communication depends on the connection we form between these factors and our reaction to them.
Communication myths
Over the past decade, veterinarians, clinical staff, teachers, researchers, and students have shown increasing interest in communication in veterinary medicine. However, we would like to warn you that some members of the profession continue to have misguided views on communication that are detrimental to their effectiveness in both complex and routine situations.
We communicate every day, so why waste time on courses and books on the art of communication? We have so much other information to learn. It sounds familiar, isn’t it? In order to practice evidence-based medicine in today’s world, it is necessary to carefully evaluate the role that communication plays in improving economic indicators and clinically significant outcomes in veterinary medicine.
- Myth #1. “You can do without communication skills — there is no scientific evidence of their importance. It is enough to hire one employee with developed communication skills, and you can relax.”
In reality, communication is one of the most important clinical skills. There is a clear relationship between communication and client compliance, customer satisfaction, a decrease in the number of complaints, and an improvement in clinically significant outcomes.
- Myth #2. “Communication skills are a personality trait: you have them initially or not.”
Communication skills are not a personality trait. Like any other clinical skill, they can be taught and learned. Communication in veterinary medicine is a professional skill that needs to be developed to an expert level.
- Myth #3. “I have a lot of experience and have been communicating with people all my life. That’s enough for me.”
In reality, experience is often a bad teacher. Unfortunately, time and experience do not always improve communication skills. Without training and mentoring in communication, veterinarians tend to adhere to a specific style of interaction with clients that can worsen such important indicators as accuracy of actions, efficiency, and willingness to provide support.
Apart from gaining deep theory knowledge, such skills as time management, responsibility for animals, and communication with customers will help students become good veterinarians.
