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Vet Record Careers
vetrecordcareers.com
Vets at the cutting edge
Vets Now’s Cutting Edge
induction programme
is a launch pad for vets
seeking a career in
emergency and critical
care medicine. The course
leader is Aoife O’Sullivan
I HAD been a practising vet for eight years and
working in emergency practice for three when
I joined pet emergency business Vets Now.
Until then, I’d been reluctant to work in a corporate environment because I wasn’t sure if it
would be the right fit for me, even though I’d
heard great things about the company’s learning culture. Joining on a temporary contract
gave me the opportunity to find out if what
I’d heard was true. It was.
I quickly realised that working in a large
organisation resonated with me. I particularly liked the transparency, consistency and
organisation, the guidelines and the hi-tech
equipment that was available. Eight years
on, I have gone from veterinary surgeon to
senior vet to head of the Cutting Edge programme. The ‘Edge’ is our equivalent of a
graduate trainee scheme. It is for vets who
are keen to work in emergency and criti-
What is the Cutting Edge
programme?
Cutting Edge prepares vets to work
in emergency care. It is aimed at
recent graduates who want to work in
emergency practice, but who don’t feel
that they have the skills and experience
to jump straight into a sole-charge role.
It incorporates lectures along with
practical and experiential learning and
mentored work in Vets Now clinics.
cal care (ECC), but who want to build up
their skills and confidence before taking sole
charge.
Vets who are thinking about applying
for a place on one of our programmes must
have a passion for ECC work and enjoy
Who’s it for?
■
Vets with some experience of
practice and who have mastered basic
surgery.
■
Vets with strong caring and
responsibility values who are keen to
help others and progress.
■
Vets who are motivated to learn and
share what they’ve learned.
the pressure of teamwork in an emergency
room environment. They also need to be
empathetic communicators, as emergency
situations are often a time of great stress
for pet owners. In addition, they need to
be receptive to change and happy to adopt
What’s the package?
■ A starting salary of £35,000, plus a
regional allowance where applicable.
■
After 12 months, financial support
to undertake a certificate in emergency
and critical care (ECC), 100 hours of CPD
study per annum, and a bonus of £2500
on successful completion.
■
Lectures, practical and experiential
learning and mentored work in ECC
clinics.
March 18, 2017 | Vet Record Careers | i
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Careers
innovation as we are always looking for new
ideas and better ways of doing things.
There’s also a lot of satisfaction to be
gained from managing emergency cases,
both medically and surgically. It’s sometimes difficult to get this in daytime practice
as cases typically present at night time and
weekends. While we can’t change this, we
can assure vets that no shift will ever be the
same and there’s no such thing as a routine.
Selection process and induction
Those who meet the initial criteria are interviewed via Skype and, if that goes well,
they’re invited to a clinic to meet the staff.
If selected, they spend their first three
weeks at Vets Now’s support office in
Scotland covering the fundamentals of emergency practice, with some practical work.
After that, they go to an out-of-hours clinic
where they work alongside experienced
emergency clinicians for a month. They then
return to Scotland for a further three weeks to
solidify their knowledge and learn from the
cases they’ve treated.
ii | Vet Record Careers | March 18, 2017
One of the highlights of the programme
is the practical surgery weekend in Swindon
where the vets get to perform the typical
abdominal and medical procedures they’re
likely to see in the clinics. This is designed to
build their confidence.
Once the 10-week induction is over, the
graduates return to their clinics to embark
on the next stage of their careers. In their
first year, they will work closely with their
principal vet. They will also have lots of
CPD opportunities, including a free 12-week
online course called ‘the emergency patient’,
which all new staff can sign up to.
As for the main challenges, some vets
express concern about having to make significant decisions by themselves, but they
quickly discover there are procedures in place
to ensure they can access advice, no matter
what time of day or night.
Career success
I have helped train, mentor and inspire almost
80 vets to become highly skilled ECC veterinary professionals. Some of them have gone
on to successful careers elsewhere in the profession, while others now lead and manage
one of Vets Now’s 53 out-of-hours clinics.
Every candidate is different and every
vet has a different background with different
strengths. It’s imperative that everyone gets
to develop at the speed that’s right for them.
In one group there may be highfliers who
need a challenge and others who require a bit
of additional support from time to time.
Other programmes
Vets Now also runs two other Edge programmes. ‘Refresh your Edge’ is for more
experienced vets who already possess a substantial level of knowledge, but feel they’d
benefit from extra training and support
before taking a job in an emergency setting.
‘Nursing Edge’ is for vet nurses who
want to do emergency work but want some
extra training first.
Further information can be found at
www.vets-now.com/jobs
doi: 10.1136/vr.j1150
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 15, 2017 - Published by group.bmj.com
Vets at the cutting edge
Aoife O'Sullivan
Veterinary Record 2017 180: i-ii
doi: 10.1136/vr.j1150
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