Smart Flow Blog

Question for you: do you get a regular lunch break every day?  Did you just actually LOL?  It’s more common than not to hear our veterinary colleagues say they do not get a chance to take a break for lunch (or even to use the bathroom) on a daily basis. 

The reactions I commonly experienced when I told someone that I worked veterinary overnight shifts ranged from horror to pity.  Most people can't fathom sleeping during the day, and being awake at night. The thing is, the saying that you really don't know what it's like until you experience it, rings very true in this case.

Here are some of the top ways that I was able to stay sane, focused, and make it to sunrise! 

Technology: some people welcome it with open arms, and some fear the change that comes along with it. In veterinary medicine, technology has certainly made its mark on our daily lives, both in positive and negative ways. How is technology helping (and hurting) vet med?

Throughout my time in vet med, I've heard countless fellow technicians (and admittedly, the voice inside my own head) say that they don't know if this career is for them anymore. Most of us do the same things every day in practice. It's easy to get bored if you don't have the opportunity to test yourself or learn new skills.

Whether it's the desire to experience another avenue of veterinary medicine or go back to school and strive towards another career altogether, the thought of abandoning post has crossed many minds. And yet, most people continue on at their practices, caught in a vortex of wondering what else is out there and a looming sense of guilt for even allowing this option to be a consideration. 

It's a fabulous career choice, but it's not glamorous... Here are some reasons one should think twice before entering the messy world of vet med.

Nothing matters more than the way we approach, care for, and treat our veterinary patients. In fact, they are the sole reason we are employed. It is our duty and responsibilty to see that each patient is comfortable, clean and receiving the best medical approach possible. We've previously mentioned how to improve patient care under anesthesia, but let's see how to improve patient care in the rest of your veterinary hospital. 

If your practice hasn't gone fully paperless, chances are that your team spends a part of their day scanning.  It's probably something nobody thinks about; it's just a part of their day and they do it because it needs to be done. 

Imagine if there was NO scanning to be done.  No more paper anesthetic sheets, patient info sheets, boarding forms, surgical and euthanasia consent forms, etc. Even if your team spends 15 mins a day scanning, that's 75 minutes a week they could be spending doing something else.  What else, you ask?  Here are some ideas!

From Anatomy to Zoology, there are countless classes we sit through in our quest to become a veterinary professional.  What nobody talks about is the classes we WISH we had to really prepare us for life in the veterinary clinic.  Here are our top picks for classes that should be included in the course manual.