Student Guidelines
Welcome to Lambert, Leonard & May Lancashire!
As the gap between student vet and vet in practice becomes increasingly difficult to bridge we are keen that you make the most of your time with us.
We hope to expose you to as much ‘hands on’ work as possible and give you a full insight into the demands of farm animal practice, thus making that transition into practice that bit easier.
We feel this is particularly important due to the declining number of new graduates entering farm animal practice, which, if it continues, will have large implications for both our practice and farm animal practices nationwide.
By following these guidelines we hope that you will be able to use your time with us to its full potential and get the best from your visit.
Meeting up with vets- Most vets have morning routine fertility visits that we attend straight from home. At the end of the day check the whiteboard of jobs for the following day and choose a vet you would like to go out with the next day. Then arrange with that vet where you are going to meet.
If it suggested that you go out with another vet, don’t take it personally, there are some farms that are more student friendly than others and we would prefer it if you went to those so you gain the most practical experience.
Always ask questions - Make the most of your one-to-one time with the vets and ask as many questions as you like. We won’t mind and expect to learn something new from our students.
It is a great opportunity to ask how to approach different clinical scenarios and will also highlight your weaker areas so that you can improve on them.
Your aims and goals - If you have a particular area that you would like to improve on or you want more practical experience of a few specific procedures, then let us know at the beginning of your time with us so that we can try and expose you to these where possible.
You should have already emailed us with your 5 tutorial topics that you would like to do. These tutorials will be led ‘as and when’ the vets are free. If you see that a vet is free, you are more than welcome to ask them for a tutorial there and then.
Out of hours - Most emergency work e.g. calving’s, prolapses etc occur out of hours. Therefore if you want to get involved, then let the vet on call know. The on-call list for the week is on google calendar or please ask.
Feedback and Assessment form- We will be happy to provide you feedback if you would like it. At the end of your time with us, find the vet you spent the majority of your time with and ask them to spare a few minutes with you filling out your assessment form (although this will obviously depend on how busy we are), that way you get more of a direct appraisal.
As you will appreciate, the practice is a very busy place and there are certain things that you could do to help out both the vets and the office staff in order to help things runs more smoothly:
Vets’ Cars – When you come back to the practice after calls, ask the vet if they would like you to restock their car with anything that’s been used during the day’s calls. This will help you to gain an understanding of how much of a particular medicine is used, and what for as well as giving you an idea of how to (or not to) organise your car when in practice!
Brew Making!! – We all love our brews and making teas and coffees will certainly endear you to everyone! There is a list of how everyone takes his or her tea/coffee in the kitchen.
THINGS TO GET INVOLVED WITH
NMR Herd Companion Cell Count Reports- Every month many of our farmers have a report based on their last cell count recordings, which picks out areas that they need to tackle in order to reduce their cell count or prevent it rising.
At the beginning of your time with us, ask which farms you can write a report for and they will take you through what is involved and then discuss it afterwards.
VetTech service – our pioneering VetTech service is hugely successful with farmers and is something that a lot of students like getting involved with. The girls are always happy for an extra pair of hands so if you want to spend a day out helping with vaccinating, disbudding, mobility scoring or any of the other lists of services they offer then please let us know.
Foot Trimming- We have a foot health offering that involves the use of our VetTech team for mobility scoring and our in house foot trimmer to provide the hoof care. You are more than welcome to spend some time with our trimmer if that is something that interests you. Just let one of us know and we can arrange it.
Lab work – we have multiple lab services available from the practice such as Qscout machine and faecal sampling to name but two. You can always get involved with anything that is going on or might need doing in the lab.
Newsletter- Every month we produce a practice newsletter that keeps farmers informed about seasonal problems they should be looking out for and offers/promotions we are offering at the practice. If you would like to write a short piece to be included then please feel free. Contributions always welcome.
On-farm Investigations- You may wish to get involved in some on-farm investigations that we are carrying out such as lameness scoring and mastitis sampling. We hope that this will provide you with some good hands-on experience - the next time you do it you may be on your own in practice!
If you ask the vets we may be able to give you details of any work we would like you to get involved in at the start of your time with us.
A FEW MORE HELPFUL TIPS
There is a big map of all our clients on the wall which shows where all our clients are.
Practice Computer Use
Please feel free to use the computers in the office for any reading, research or projects.
You will be given a username and password upon your arrival.
If you have any problems with the computers, please speak to Louise as he’s our computer expert in the practice.
General Do’s and Don’ts
Do not do the following on the main computer systems:
Do not download anything from the internet including screen savers
Do not access your personal email, e.g. Hotmail, Gmail, orange and your university account
Do not access Facebook, Twitter and Ebay
Do:
Do ask Matt or a member of staff if you have any questions
Health and Safety
We are dedicated to ensuring the safety of everyone who works in and visits our practice.
On your arrival you will be given a copy of our Veterinary Staff Safety handbook. Please read through this carefully and ask Louise if you have any questions. Once you’ve read and understood it, please sign it at the back.
In this book you will also find a copy of our health and safety policy.
If you have any special dietary requirements, allergies, mobility or health issues that might affect you at work then please let Elaine know. It will be treated with the upmost confidentiality and mean we can make reasonable adjustments if we need to.
Register with VetEMS to see other XL vet practices like ours!
Registering at VetEMS will allow you to check which vet practices best match your needs for 'seeing practice'. You will be able to search for a practice in a suitable location and see what balance of time they spend working with the various veterinary species.
Details of accommodation arrangements offered for students are also contained within each practice' profile.
Students who have 'seen practice' previously with any vet practice registered on this website are asked to score the practice. You will therefore be able to see which practice offers the best 'seeing practice' experience.
Having chosen your preferred practice you can then use the interactive calendar to find out what time slots are available.
Registration involves providing some simple contact details and a brief description of your current preferences and experience. Veterinary practices will view this information and this will help them decide if they can help you with your needs.
STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE
At the end of your time with us please fill out the following and give it to the office staff so that we can gauge how much you got from seeing practice with us and how we can improve on things in the future, should you come again. A photo would be very useful too – it’s not always easy to recall every student!!
Name:College:Year:
Type of practice you want to enter on graduation:
Dates of EMS:Main vet(s) you spent time with:
Aims and goals at the start:
Areas in which main experience gained:
Areas you would still like to improve on:
Best bits about your time with us:
Worst bits about your time with us - how we could improve this in the future:
Contact telephone number(s):Contact e-mail address:
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