7pm – 10pm
The first thing we do on arrival at the clinic is to hold rounds with our Host Practice, they will discuss their inpatient requirements with us and transfer their care over as required for further treatment. The first few hours are usually spent catching up on inpatient treatments, and 'opening' our clinic to receive its own patients. We normally see our highest volume of clients at this time, usually minor ailments, vomiting dogs, cut pads and the like. Occasionally we will receive transfer of patients from other member practice clinics that require intensive support overnight, and some time is spent triaging these and liaising with the referring practice.
10pm – 12am
"Working as part
of a small close
knit team is a
fantastic
experience!"
This is usually the first time we have to catch up on the patients we have seen earlier in the evening. Often we end up admitting animals for further investigation of signs, or for surgical procedures. The nurses are great at starting the ball rolling here, but it is usually this midevening time that we spend radiographing and operating.
It is quite usual for me to consult constantly for the first couple of hours, and then come through to find my patients have been bled, radiographed clipped and prep'ed. All I need to do is don a gown and get stuck in! At least.... that's how it should work! We occasionally get a small flurry of calls at bedtime from owners who have been watching their pets struggle all day, and can't face leaving them overnight too! We use this time to liaise with owners of non-critical patients, to update them on how their pet is getting on. This is usually their chance to say goodnight!
12am – 2am
Depending on the day, I usually take this period to perform the day-to-day management and paperwork tasks there are in running the clinic, whether it is site returns, or insurance forms etc. That said, this can also be a very exciting time of night – as most cases that come in at this time are genuine –cannot-wait-til-morning type ailments, and it seems to be this time of night that I end up removing a bleeding spleen, or de-rotating a gastric torsion (at least – it was last night!).
2am – 9am
The 'wee small hours' are usually the quietest in terms of call volume – not surprisingly most people are tucked up at home in bed! This time is spent catching up on inpatient requirements, and usually performing some quite exciting critical care medicine. This is often the time that the critical surgical cases are recovering and need intensive support, one-on-one nursing, repeated blood sampling, transfusions and so on. If we are quiet, then there is the opportunity for some downtime, catch up on a little tele', etc. The Host Practice start work at 8 am however and we have to be ready well before this to discharge our own inpatients and prepare for handover again.
9am – 5pm
"Working for Vets
Now gives me great
flexibility to organise
my personal time to
suit me!"
The day section varies widely – after a busy night it is strangely pleasant to sneak back home to bed, knowing that you get to lie in all day, while the rest of the World is at work! On the other hand, working fewer nights in a full time Vets Now role than you would day shifts in a ‘normal’ job, means there are more free days in the week to catch up on hobbies, and even take 3-4 day breaks every week! As Senior Vet, I spend some of this time either at meetings or visiting our member practices, to catch up on how life is going outside the clinic too.