Animal Professional: Jessica, a Newly Graduated Vet!

About a week ago I asked Jessica from Hopeful Jumpers if she would be interested in doing a little interview about her newly acquired job of being a veterinarian! She said that she was interested and I was so excited to hear! I've been going back and forth as to what career path to take and thought asking actual people about their jobs would help heavily in my decision making (may they be new in their career field or not!). I asked her some questions about her job and she gave some great answers, check them out!

1.  What inspired you to be a vet? 

Unlike most of my classmates, I actually did not growing up wanting to be a vet.  I've always loved animals, but I didn't think I could handle euthanasia and I had a horrible needle phobia.  It wasn't until my junior year of college that I became interested in veterinary medicine.  Initially it began with visits to the vet with my own pets, then I began shadowing and working with veterinarians.  The more I was exposed to veterinary medicine the more I knew it was the right career for me. 

2. While in vet school what is the majority of work you are doing? i.e. lab work, mathematics, on hands etc.

It varies by school, but generally you will have roughly three years of classroom and laboratory learning, followed by a year of clinical experience.  Classes are all science based, and cover a wide range of topics related to medicine- physiology of different body systems, anatomy, histology, pathology, toxicology, genetics, histology, virology, bacteriology, anesthesiology, surgery, cardiology, neurology, dermatology, reproduction, ophthalmology, epidemiology, and oncology to name a few of the 45+ classes I took.  During your first three years you spend about 25-30 hours a week in lectures, along with about 8 hours a week of labs.  I spent between 3-5 hours studying on school nights, and much longer on the weekends.  On weekends close to exams I would spend over 10 hours a day studying. 

Your clinical year is spent rotating through different services in the hospital as well doing externships at private practices.  Everyone is required to do the same core rotations- anesthesia, small animal (SA) internal medicine, SA ER & ICU, SA orthopedic and soft tissue surgery, imaging, necropsy, farm animal medicine, equine medicine, equine surgery.  The rest of the year is up to you, I chose to do one ophthalmology rotation at my school and spent the rest of my elective blocks traveling around the country (and to Ireland) to different equine clinics.  Clinical rotations are all hands on.  The hours vary greatly by rotation and case load, but most are at least 10 hour days.  You are often on call for emergencies and if you have a patient in the hospital you will come in to take care of them on the weekends as well.  

3. What was your best and worst moment in vet school?

Despite the long hours, endless studying, and the stress, I'm one of the crazy few that honestly enjoyed school.  I had fantastic classmates, was involved in many clubs, and tried my best to maintain some semblance of a normal life.  One of the most memorable moments in school was when my lab partner and I made a rap video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq4nyXIKhfk) that won second place in our school's annual skit night.  We made a second one the following year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TppilCttWwQ).  My month spent in Ireland was also very memorable.

My all time best moment in school was watching one of my patients walk out of the hospital to go home with his overjoyed family.  On small animal ER/ICU I had a dog who had a perforated small intestine from a linear foreign body and subsequently developed a slew of complications including a severe pneumonia.  His prognosis was incredibly grim and every minute was a fight for his life.  He was on a long list of medications, fluids, and treatments that required around the clock intensive care.  Despite the odds he somehow pulled through.  I'll never forget the first morning he had enough strength to pick up his head and place it in my lap, or seeing him walk out the door to go home.    

My worst moment in school was my first semester.  I missed the entire first week of class due to the flu, and one week of class is 1/4 of the material on our midterm.  I tried so hard to catch up, but it was impossible.  I was so scared I was going to fail out of school I was a mess- I couldn't sleep, I had a constant eye twitch, and I'm sure I had ulcers.  In the end I managed to scrap by, but it was the only "C" I ever got in school and I wish I didn't have it pulling down my GPA.

The hardest week I had on clinics was small animal soft tissue surgery.  We were slammed with emergencies and I only had enough time to run home for about 2-3 hours of sleep a night for almost a week straight.  I was pretty rough by the end of that week.

4. I know that vet school is highly expensive, what was the best way you coped with money?

Vet school is very expensive.  Students have an average of $150,000 of debt by graduation, although if you are out of state it can be closer to $250,000, and students who go to the Caribbean schools can owe over $300,000.  For me, I decided that I didn't want to pay out of state tuition, even if it meant that I didn't get accepted the first time I applied.  I'm very fortunate in that my parents have helped me out and I don't have as much debt as many of my classmates, but regardless of the amount of debt that you have, it's important to manage your money wisely, try to save whenever possible, and start paying back your loans when you can.  I cleaned Prince's stall during school for cheaper board, didn't eat out or go shopping often, and lived in modest apartments.  I tried to work during school at one point, but it wasn't possible with my schedule.

5. Dealing with sick and injured animals is sometimes difficult, what are some tips you use to deal with the inevitable?

This is one of the hard parts of the job, and I don't have any great tips for you.  Compassion fatigue is something that many vets struggle with at some point in their career.  All you can do is try to manage the animal's pain as well as you can through medications and nursing care.  When you have a really sick animal it's a constant cycle of evaluating and re-evaluating the animal and adjusting their treatments accordingly.  Sometimes even our best efforts aren't enough, and those cases can be heartbreaking to work with.  It's important to know that it's ok to feel sad.  

The one tip I will give you for dealing with injured animals is to always remember safety.  Even the gentlest animal can strike out when they are in pain, and as a vet you are responsible for not only your safety, but the safety of everyone else in the room.  This is especially important when it comes to working with horses.  It sounds obvious, but it's very easy to get caught up with trying to help a sick horse and without realizing it, put yourself or your coworkers in a dangerous position.  Human safety always comes first.

6. Did you ever learn about more exotic animals? Such as reptiles, amphibians, wild animals etc?

Yes!  The national licensing exam covers all species of animals, so in addition to dogs, cats, horses, and farm animals, very basic exotic animal medicine is also covered in the core curriculum.  For students interested in exotics there are a variety of elective classes and clubs that you can join to learn more exotic animal medicine.  They also have the option to use their elective rotations working in zoos or at exotic animal clinics.  

During school I took several exotic animal classes and I was a member of the non-traditional species club.  I got to do all sorts of interesting things ranging from a gill biopsy on an anesthetized fish (fish anesthesia is really cool) to meeting elephants and walruses on behind the scenes zoo tours. I learned how to do rabbit dentistry, fixed turtle shells with power tools, ran anesthesia on tigers who were getting root canals, and learned how to sex snakes.

(Here's a blog post about my day running anesthesia on tigers:  (http://jessandprinceofthieves.blogspot.com/2012/04/tiger-anesthesia-day.html))

One of my favorite experiences in school was being a team leader in our wildlife medical clinic.  We take in sick and injured wildlife from the public, and then students triage, stabilize and treat the animals.  I got to work with snapping turtles, red tailed hawks, raccoons, great blue herons, bald eagles, rabbits, owls, painted turtles, wood chucks, fawns, geese, Cooper's hawks, robins, squirrels, coyotes, and even a pelican.  My favorites were always the birds of prey such as red tailed hawks, kestrels, and great horned owls.  The most vicious animal I ever worked with was a robin.  Seriously.  Although there was a squirrel that came pretty close.

(http://jessandprinceofthieves.blogspot.com/2012/03/own-piece-of-horse-history-save-lives.html)

(http://jessandprinceofthieves.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-spent-with-raptors.html) 

7. What is your favorite piece of veterinary medical equipment to use?

That's a tough question, I'm not sure I have a favorite.  I've always liked using advanced imaging such as MRI's, CT scans, endoscopy, etc, but we don't use those everyday.  As far as what I personally use on a semi-regular basis I would pick ultrasound.  It's fascinating to see the structure of the limbs, and ultrasound is a useful tool for evaluating colics when I'm working alone at night.

8. Do you have an animal professional role model? If so, who?

I have several, but none of them are names you would recognize.  My role models are all compassionate, good at communication and client relationships, and brilliant doctors.  All the things I aspire to be myself. 

9. Since you are a newly graduated vet, what is the range of salary?

There's a pretty wide range of starting salaries, and the range depends on factors such as what type of practice you are going into (small animal, mixed, industry, etc) and what part of the country you live in (rural vs. urban).  The latest number I found online was $65,000 as a starting salary.  

However, many new grads choose to do a one year internship before either applying for a residency or going into private practice (I'm currently doing an internship).  Internship salaries range from $21,000 to $34,000 and the average is $25,000.  The benefit to doing an internship is that you get to work at a busy and prestigious hospital under fantastic mentors during your first year out of school.  Also, if you want to pursue a residency you are required to do an internship first.  

10. If you couldn't be a veterinarian what would be your second career choice?

I honestly have no idea.  It would have to be something with animals.  At one point I thought about going into advertising (ideally for a  horse company), but an office job has never really appealed to me. 

11. Having a horse throughout school, what were the biggest difficulties?

The difficulties that a vet student faces from owning a horse are the same ones faced by many horse owners- financial and time constraints, just on a larger scale.  As mentioned before, most vet students carry a significant amount of debt and working more than a few hours a week during school is not very feasible.  

Time constraints are also a significant issue.  During your first three years you have to study.  A lot.  I made it priority to get to the barn at least four days a week, but most of my classmates with horses either didn't bring them or only saw them once every couple weeks.  My friends couldn't imagine sacrificing as much study time as I did at the barn, but barn time was important to me.  I got creative with my studying (for example I listened to recorded lectures while I drove to the barn and cleaned stalls) and worked very hard to keep up.  

I was the exception, not the rule.  I think your ability to balance barn time with school depends on your time management skills, how well you study and take exams, and how stressed about grades you get.  

First time doing surgery (http://jessandprinceofthieves.blogspot.com/2011/10/surgery-success.html)



Thank you so much for answering these questions, Jessica! Great, great answers.