Podcast A Vet: Stories, Support & Community From Leaders In The Veterinary Field

Do you ever feel like you're figuring things out in a very different way from everyone else? As we always say here at Podcast A Vet, everyone has their own trajectory and their own path. Today's guest talks to us about how his travels in South America gave him the final nudge to commit to becoming a vet.

Brent Fink is a veterinary nurse and applying to vet school. But before that, he worked in the restaurant industry for years, and spent a year and a half volunteering on farms in South America.

Today he talks to us about the influence his parents, both working in human medicine, had on his path towards becoming a vet, as well as how lessons he learned in the restaurant industry have informed his approach to working in vet medicine. He also talks about the vet school application process.

What unique experiences informed your decision to become a vet? How did you keep your mindset healthy while applying to vet school?

In this episode:

• How volunteering on farms in South America offered Brent clarity on wanting to be a vet
• Similarities between the restaurant industry and working in veterinary medicine
• The importance of healthy mindset when applying to vet school and facing rejection
• Ways to improve your application if you are rejected the first time you apply

Quotes:

"Be hungry. I didn't necessarily want to be a receptionist, but I knew that regardless of the position I would learn a ton." 26:45

On application rejections: "That kind of becomes part of you and part of your story, and figuring out how to rebound is also part of your story." 33:15

On well-roundedness: "I've got this vision of a rock being tumbled around in the surf. If you spend enough time getting knocked around, that will eventually create a well-rounded something or other." 47:38

Links:

Episode 18 with Nina Garbino

Episode 22 with Julie Lenoch

Books mentioned:

Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our free community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community!

Sometimes it's easy to forget how many options are open to you in the vet profession. Clinical veterinary practice isn't the only route you can take. Dr. Julie Lenoch is an incredible example of someone who has worked in veterinary science in many different ways, and might provide some inspiration for you as well!

Dr Julie Lenoch is a Veterinary Epidemiologist at the USDA and APHIS (Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, has a post-doc fellowship at the Council of State and Territory Epidemiologists in Atlanta, GA, was an ER vet for 17 years, was the Deputy Director of the US Geological Survey at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI, and recently returned from a ViDAS volunteer trip in Puerto Rico.

Today she talks to us about her vast experience in all these different ways to be a veterinarian, how she incorporated her family into her career transition decisions, and the scope and importance of veterinary public health. She also shows us that it's totally possible to have international scope in your impact as a vet professional.

In this episode:

• How it is totally possible to have international scope in your impact in the vet profession
• The scope and importance of veterinary public health (it's more than just rabes)
• How she incorporated her family into her career shift decisions
• The weird and complicated world of applying for federal jobs
• How her current role fuses politics and veterinary science
• Her experience volunteering internationally to help spay and neuter pets and strays

Quotes:

"Animals in other countries are so different and valued in such different ways." 15:22

"The phone calls finally simmer down and my kids are like "What are you doing, Mom??" and I'm like "I think we just stopped an outbreak!" and they're like "Oh, well that's good. Can I have $5 for pizza?" " 48:21

"Any disease anywhere is on our soil within a day." 54:10

Links:

Vidas

American College Of Veterinary Preventative Medicine

World Organization For Animal Health

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our free community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community!

Have you ever faced a regular onslaught of negativity about your career? Today's guest, Karie Madigan, is an example of someone who not only succeeded in the face of negativity, but achieved longevity in that success as well.

Karie has been a vet nurse for over 20 years and recently transitioned into the role of practice manager. Today she talks to us about the negativity she faced as a teenager and into adulthood, and the key roles that some insightful mentors played for her in her journey.

She also talks to us about the relationship between vet doctor and nurse and how to foster a positive one, as well as qualities that excellent nurses look for in vet hospitals. We discuss her recent transition to practice manager, its cause, and the skills necessary to transition from nurse to practice manager.

In this episode:

• The power of drive in the face of negativity
• Exactly what it takes to foster a great doctor/nurse relationship
• Qualities that an excellent nurse looks for in a vet hospital
• The skills necessary for a nurse to transition to practice manager
• How to tell if you're utterly burned out in a particular role

Quotes:

"I set a goal that I was going to prove them all wrong. I am going to be successful at what I do." 18:42

"Communication is key. Whether it's positive or negative, you just have to communicate." 29:43

"I needed to grow, and being a mentor, like so many people have been mentors to me, was something that I wanted to do." 1:00:59

Links:

Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA)

Colorado Veterinary Medical Association (CHMA)

Diagnostic Osteonecrosis Center and Research Foundation:

308 Dixon Drive, Lakeport, CA 95453

Suggested Facebook groups:

Veterinary Practice Managers

Veterinary Practice Managers Support Group

Veterinary Technician Management and Discussion Group

Have you ever had to tackle a pet owner at the veterinary office before? Today's guest has! She also tells us about how her black belt in karate has come in handy as a vet, not only physically (except this one time!) but mentally.

On top of being an ER vet doctor, Dr Robin Van Metre also works with the National Association for Search and Rescue, K9 TECC, K9 Medic, is the Director of the Canine Hero Foundation, and is the extern and intern coordinator at Fort Collins Vet Emergency and Rehab Hospital.

Today she talks to us about so many things, including how she protects herself from compassion fatigue by giving back to the community in a way that she's passionate about. She tells about her experience working with several organizations to help working dogs. And she also talks about the only three types of cases that walk into an emergency room.

In this episode:

• How she applies her black belt karate skills in the vet ER
• How she got through the first two years of vet school as a tactile learner who had trouble learning from lecture halls
• Characteristics she looks for in interns
• The importance of giving back to the community to protect your compassion
• The only 3 types of cases you see walk into an ER
• The importance of knowing your bone pile

Quotes:

"I was a very tactile learner. I couldn't learn by sitting in a lecture hall or even reading from a textbook." 19:02

"I'm not going to run out of compassion, … but you do have to set limits and boundaries on what you'll allow people to do to you." 33:32

"The name of the game is to avoid your bone pile, the mistakes you can make that would cost an animal it's life." 55:26

Links:

Enjoying the show? Help support Podcast A Vet on Patreon!

National Association for Search and Rescue

K9 TECC

K9 MedicCanine Hero Foundation

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our free community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community!

If you've been listening to Podcast A Vet for a while, you may remember Zach Lake in Episode 16 talking about what year one of vet school is like. Today we're talking with Cindy Vaca, an almost graduated fourth-year vet student to get a very different perspective, and some tips on the experience of going through veterinary school.

Cindy is a fourth-year vet student at CSU, with a unique background from her classmates. She tells us with wonderful vulnerability about her experiences with depression and failure in the decade after high school and before vet school, and how those struggles have given her a unique perspective and unrivaled optimism.

We also talk about her top survival tips to get through vet school as well as how she prepared for the NAVLE licensing exam. She tells us about her upcoming internship and why she wanted that particular hospital. We also discover exactly how small the vet med world is!

In this episode:

• Cindy's best survival tips to get through vet school
• Her thoughts on failure and how they made vet school easier
• An unexpected example of how small the vet world is
• How Cindy prepared for the NAVLE licensing exam

Quotes:

"Failure's not so scary, it's just another step that makes you stronger and wiser" 6:09

"It took 30 years of being miserable to find the joy in everything." 16:22

"Be kind to your intern-mates, and be kind to your technicians, because they're the ones who are going to bolster you…. For a lot of things, your technicians will know more than you; respect that knowledge." 54:26

Links:

Enjoying the show? Help support Podcast A Vet on Patreon!

Episode 16 with Zach Lake

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community!

It can be hard if you're about to graduate vet school and you still don't know what you want to do. One of the options you might consider is pursuing a one-year internship. That was the path that today's guest took, and she says she wouldn't change a thing.

Dr. Nina Garabino works with me in my small animal general practice and exotics. Today she talks to us in depth about her experience doing a one-year internship after vet school, and the pros and cons of that decision.

We also talk about how you can still be a vet if you have a less than great undergrad GPA, the complex issue of finances and student loans for vet students, and what it's like to look for your first job.

In this episode:

• How you can still be a vet if you didn't have a great undergrad GPA
• What it's like making education decisions when you don't know what you want to do after vet school
• The story of a one-eyed stray kitten who died and came back to life
• What an internship is like on the inside and how it shapes you as a vet
• The complex issues of finances for vet students
• What it's like finding your first job

Quotes:

"The thing that I was not prepared for was that if you don't know something, you're expected to look it up." 23:35

"You look at [the new interns] and you're like "Oh my god, were we like that?" and you were! But you don't remember it because at that point you're at the end of your internship and you're a completely different clinician than you were" 42:17

"You don't really think about it when you're taking out these loans, what that means for your long-term life." 52:53

Links:

Enjoying the show? Help support Podcast A Vet on Patreon!

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community!

Sometimes life serves you giant problems, and you face the choice of whether or not you're going to live fully. Jeanne Ficociello is a veterinarian and close friend of mine who has lived vivaciously in spite of an advanced kidney disease, and today she shares some of the keys to that resiliency with us.

Dr. Jeanne Ficociello is an excellent internal veterinary specialist from Boston and a dear friend from CSU. Today she tells us about her experience of being a successful veterinary specialist while also living with an advanced kidney disease.

We also discuss how to manage boundaries with clients, dealing with bad days at work, and how to avoid burnout and compassion fatigue. She also tells us the story of how her kidney donor revealed themselves to her on Valentine's Day!

In this episode:

• Some tips on staying positive and upbeat when life serves you lemons
• How to avoid burnout or compassion fatigue, especially as a veterinarian
• Her thoughts on Dr. Google
• The story of the first transplant surgeon ever and what made his such a great doctor

Quotes:

"It's been a part of my life for so long. I'm very open about it. It's part of who I am" 12:37

"So many veterinarians are compassionate and caring and intensively obsessed with their patients and clients, and it's just not always healthy." 29:13

"People know their pets. They may act all crazy, but people know their animals." 44:37

Links:

Enjoying the show? Help support Podcast A Vet on Patreon!

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community!

Remember your first year in vet school? How about the application process? Everyone has a different path that leads them to vet school, but once there, we all go through the same classes, lectures, and labs. Today we talk to Zach Lake, a first-year vet student, about his fresh off the press experience and how he gets through it.

Zach is a first-year veterinary student at CSU, where he also got his undergraduate degree in zoology in 3 years. Today he talks to us about how he approached the application process, takes us behind the scenes on the first week at CSU's vet school, and how the program talks to students about finances.

We discuss the diversity of people who end up together in vet school, and the balance of competition with collaboration among them. Zach also opens up about his journey with OCD and how he strives to find balance alongside productivity. He gives his advice to future vet students about everything from the application and interview to balancing studies with hobbies and getting through the first year.

In this episode:

• How to leverage free time in undergrad to prep yourself for vet school
• The rumored recommended number of vet experience hours to be competitive on your application
• The importance of making time for hobbies while in a competitive program
• An in-depth view of what the interview process is like at CSU
• How his class finds a balance between competition and collaboration

Quotes:

If I'm only doing [school], I'm also not spending my time efficiently, because I'm not going to have a life. 22:30

"Get up and walk around, because if you don't, you're just sitting at that desk all day, same seat, same lecture hall. You've got to get up and move around because that first day felt like a million hours long." 44:40

"Even though you're competing with these people to get in, eventually everyone is going to be colleagues." 1:00:55

Links:

Enjoying the show? Help support Podcast A Vet on Patreon!

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community

Do you ever wonder how to avoid burnout with your career and keep up your professional longevity? Without it, you might find yourself emotionally and energetically fried after a few years. This is especially difficult for high intensity specialities like emergency and critical care. Tim Hackett's figured out the secrets however, and joins us today to share them with us.

Dr. Tim Hackett is DVM, a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, a professor, a father, and is currently the Director of the Vet Teaching Hospital at CSU. After 25 years working in veterinary emergency care, he's definitely gotten the hang of balance and longevity in the job.

Today we talk about how Tim keeps a calm demeanor in the emergency room, the similarities between emergency care and hospital administration, and the key puzzle piece in an emergency/urgent care setting. We also discuss a new approach to interacting with patients' owners and how Tim empowers his students and team in the face of losing a patient.

Have you ever found yourself in a difficult or emotional situation in the emergency room as a vet? How do you empower your team at your practice? Leave us a comment below and let us know!

In this episode:

• How Tim keeps his calm demeanor in a hectic emergency room setting
• How interacting with clients in the ER is similar to different types of pizza shops
• The key to longevity when running an emergency room
• The differences between private practice and a teaching hospital
• New innovations on the horizon for radiation/oncology at the hospital

Quotes:

"The calm demeanor comes from knowing there are things you can help with, animals you can save and animals you can't." 9:37

"[ER clinicians and hospital directors both] know that not everything is going to have an easy outcome... and doing the best you can with the skills you have." 31:04

"[Students and interns] want your leadership but they want to spread their wings too" 46:39

Links:

Enjoying the show? Help support Podcast A Vet on Patreon!

CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community

Many people who become vets start out their careers with that intention, but that wasn't the case with Dr. Melinda Frye. In today's episode, we talk about how chance encounters and unexpected opportunities can open up the possibilities of your life in ways you hadn't imagined, as long as you stay open to them, and commit to them when they appear.

Dr. Melinda Frye is not only a veterinarian, but is also a Ph.D., board-certified internal specialist, the first female Associate Dean of Veterinary Academic and Student Affairs at CSU, and is on the board of the local humane society. Interestingly, she started her career as a nurse for humans, but after a chance encounter while on a run one day, she decided to pursue vet school.

Today we talk about being open to change and opportunities as well as the importance of mentors throughout your career, and being okay with having different priorities from peers to keep yourself balanced.

Has a new opportunity ever changed the trajectory of your life in a way you didn't expect? How have your mentors helped you make big decisions? Let us know on the episode page!

In this episode:

• How chance encounters and opportunities, paired with an open mind can change your career in unexpected and fulfilling ways
• The importance of self-care in vet school and choosing personal priorities that may be different from your peers, if you need to
• The overlap between human nursing and being a veterinarian
• The importance of seeing failure as an opportunity rather than as "failure"

Quotes:

"Everyone has to prioritize based on their unique situation, and I don't think anyone should be judged for prioritizing in a way that may seem different or unusual to others." 18:15

"So much of it is perseverance, I think that ties into this idea of growth versus fixed mindset, the idea that our level of knowledge is not fixed. If you persevere, grind through, there will be some really fun adventures ahead and great rewards" 30:40

"My nursing mentor always said "my greatest pride is to see my mentees go far above and beyond anything that I've ever done" and I would say the same thing." 40:41

Links:

Enjoying the show? Help support Podcast A Vet on Patreon!

Find the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet

Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Join our community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community