Enforced idleness? Sounds like a dream for most undergraduates. But vet students are not like most students. They are used to hard work, multi-tasking, demanding situations, interesting variety. This enforced isolation is tricky. Not least as it means that the necessary practical experience gained from placements is simply not possible at the moment. There simply isn’t enough time in an already busy program to fit it all in after lockdown has been lifted.
However, there is one way to continue engaging with vets and sitting in on consultations…. and that is video consultations.
Invite a student to join your tele-consult
These are ideally suited to lockdown learning, as students can dial in from home and attend the call, then discuss with the vet after the client has left in the same way they would when seeing practice in person. Obviously, they are not able to develop their practical abilities but so much of veterinary medicine is about the softer skills and there is an awful lot that can be learnt through observing consultations. From the practice’s perspective, it allows them to continue to develop a relationship with upcoming
students – the vets of the future – and also make use of their up-to-date knowledge. I know from experience that having an eager student on hand can be useful for researching particular cases and sifting through information to highlight what is useful, thus saving the vet valuable time.
VetConsult.Online has developed a system to allow clients to say yes to having a student sit in, and to help practices to effortlessly invite one of their preferred students to attend the consultation.
We would be interested to hear how your practice is engaging with vet students. We would also like to hear from students themselves about the impact of Covid-19 on their studies and what ideas they have for the future.
Get in touch!