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Another day, another college!
At the end of my first term as a third year I can honestly say that - I LOVE being at the Hawkshead Campus! It is like studying at a whole different college. We even get to see daylight sometimes when moving between buildings around the campus! Camden was nice but Hawkshead is great! And I have to say that the teaching experience is so different though some of the Camden staff have been spotted occasionally. The staff that are teaching us now are all practising clinicians and it really shows in their teaching styles and abilities, they really know exactly what we need to know to be successful (and useful) when working in vet practices and they are so enthusiastic when teaching us. It's all so, well relevant is the most apt word!
I always knew I would love it when we finally got to the clinical years but I could not stop smiling and almost bursting out of my seat for every single lecture for the entire first week! As far as I was concerned they couldn't have pitched it better, because we started by learning the logical approach to clinical-based problem solving now I know that sounds like a mouthful but it simply means using your common sense and anatomical and physiological knowledge to work out what the possible problems are that a sick animal may be suffering from instead of the old school teaching of learning list after list of differential diagnoses! This relates back to something I talked about in a previous article about being allowed into an elite world with a secret language but the great thing is ANYONE can learn the language because it really is common sense! To a student the idea of being able to actually diagnose what is wrong with a sick animal is the Holy Grail and almost impossible but with this approach it is enlightening to say the least.
Anyway back to the course. We had an introductory talk about EMS (Extramural Studies) or 'seeing practice' as it is often called. This is what I consider to be the most important part of our learning experience, where we go out to actually work alongside practising vets and vet nurses and see and practise all the practical skills we will have to have learnt by the time we graduate. It's basically how and where we learn to be vets! I cannot believe that there are discussions at present about whether EMS should be optional instead of mandatory as it is currently!
I have already booked some 10 weeks of placements at a variety of vet practices from purely small furries to large farm animal practices and I have to say I can't wait to get stuck in at Easter! In order to prepare us for the many many new practical skills we will be learning, we get classes in the Clinical Skills Centre (CSC) which is staffed by half a dozen of the most wonderful ladies you could possibly want to teach you. They are so friendly, welcoming and patient that I fail to see how anyone could not love attending their timetabled classes in the CSC. So far we have been introduced to things such as blood sampling, gloving and gowning, draping a patient and even how to wash your hands properly!
We also had to hand in our 4000 word Research Project in December and although I was fully intending to have done it over the summer I of course didn't finish it by my goal of September but I did hand it in a good week before the deadline and have to say that I was very proud of the final article. This would be a good point at which to mention the lovely ladies who work in Registry. They handle our every concern on administrative matters of the course; they're always ready with a smile and a sweet to calm you down when you're in a panic over something or other. So hi ladies!
Well I think that's all for now, so until next term take of yourselves and your animals!
Judy
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