This makes me mad. Probably as mad as being ignored by clinicians.
There's a double standard in veterinary medicine. It falls along the same lines as a girl that sleeps around being a slut but a guy that does the same is considered a stud for it.
Last week, as we were finishing up local medicine, one of the clinicians said that he'd see us all again as we retook local either as our required block (as this was for me) or as our elective. I made the comment that he wouldn't be seeing me again as local medicine didn't fit into my plans as a dairy vet. I was then told that this stuff (small animal medicine on a whole, I assume) was important because I wouldn't know when I'd have to vaccinate a dog or spay a cat on the back of my truck. I begged to differ and was pretty much shot down. Now mind you, this was the same clinician that exclaimed 'How are you going to be in small animal practice without knowing any dermatology when 95% of small animal practice is dermatology!' To which I answered, that I was going to be a dairy vet. Oh...
So the double standard is that if you're a large animal vet, you will be required to treat small animals too but if you are a small animal vet, you won't be required to treat large animals. At all. Ever.
I beg to differ. I think that as a large animal vet, you're well within your right to say that you don't feel comfortable treating that species and that it should be taken into town for whatever treatment it needs. Of course, emergencies are an exception because you're bound by that 'Do no harm' thing. That works both ways, too.
If you're the large animal vet in a mixed practice, then you might be in a tight spot since your practice looks at all animals but I still think its reasonable to ask the client to take something into the clinic. If you're in an exclusive practice (say equine or dairy) then you should be exempt. Sure you'll be asked questions about this skin condition or that, and you can give answers all you want, you can treat if you are so inclined. I will not be. I will have a good friend the small animal vet in town that I will be referring people to.
Do the clinicians upstairs ever get the urge to run out and treat milk fever? Pull a calf in the middle of the night? Go palpate something? I highly doubt it. People choose certain paths for a reason. If you choose small animal medicine, there was probably something about pulling a calf at midnight on Christmas by the light of your headlights in the snow that didn't appeal to you. And there are reasons that people decide that spending $2000 for a 15 year old dog is absurd.
All I'm saying is that all of my life I've been told that I have a right to say no. No to drugs. No to sex. No to anything and everything. I don't have to have a reason. Just say no. I'm just saying no to treating small animals out of the back of my DAIRY truck. And if that doesn't seem possible, I don't think there are any cats or dogs at the slaughterhouse...
[EDIT-Originally posted to Blogger on 11/20/11]
There's a double standard in veterinary medicine. It falls along the same lines as a girl that sleeps around being a slut but a guy that does the same is considered a stud for it.
Last week, as we were finishing up local medicine, one of the clinicians said that he'd see us all again as we retook local either as our required block (as this was for me) or as our elective. I made the comment that he wouldn't be seeing me again as local medicine didn't fit into my plans as a dairy vet. I was then told that this stuff (small animal medicine on a whole, I assume) was important because I wouldn't know when I'd have to vaccinate a dog or spay a cat on the back of my truck. I begged to differ and was pretty much shot down. Now mind you, this was the same clinician that exclaimed 'How are you going to be in small animal practice without knowing any dermatology when 95% of small animal practice is dermatology!' To which I answered, that I was going to be a dairy vet. Oh...
So the double standard is that if you're a large animal vet, you will be required to treat small animals too but if you are a small animal vet, you won't be required to treat large animals. At all. Ever.
I beg to differ. I think that as a large animal vet, you're well within your right to say that you don't feel comfortable treating that species and that it should be taken into town for whatever treatment it needs. Of course, emergencies are an exception because you're bound by that 'Do no harm' thing. That works both ways, too.
If you're the large animal vet in a mixed practice, then you might be in a tight spot since your practice looks at all animals but I still think its reasonable to ask the client to take something into the clinic. If you're in an exclusive practice (say equine or dairy) then you should be exempt. Sure you'll be asked questions about this skin condition or that, and you can give answers all you want, you can treat if you are so inclined. I will not be. I will have a good friend the small animal vet in town that I will be referring people to.
Do the clinicians upstairs ever get the urge to run out and treat milk fever? Pull a calf in the middle of the night? Go palpate something? I highly doubt it. People choose certain paths for a reason. If you choose small animal medicine, there was probably something about pulling a calf at midnight on Christmas by the light of your headlights in the snow that didn't appeal to you. And there are reasons that people decide that spending $2000 for a 15 year old dog is absurd.
All I'm saying is that all of my life I've been told that I have a right to say no. No to drugs. No to sex. No to anything and everything. I don't have to have a reason. Just say no. I'm just saying no to treating small animals out of the back of my DAIRY truck. And if that doesn't seem possible, I don't think there are any cats or dogs at the slaughterhouse...
[EDIT-Originally posted to Blogger on 11/20/11]
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