July 10, 2024

125: Life After Practice Ownership, Locuming Pro Tips, Where Telemedicine Could Fit Into Your Vet Life, And Blurring The Lines Between Work and Fun. With Dr Wolfgang Dohne

125: Life After Practice Ownership, Locuming Pro Tips, Where Telemedicine Could Fit Into Your Vet Life, And Blurring The Lines Between Work and Fun. With Dr Wolfgang Dohne

In this episode, Dr. Wolfgang Dohne shares his unique journey through the veterinary profession, touching on the challenges and opportunities of owning and selling a practice, transitioning to locum work, and exploring the evolving role of telemedicine in veterinary care. We discuss the importance of maintaining a balance between work and life, finding fulfillment in varied career phases, and embracing new opportunities, whether through international locum placements or integrating telemedicine into practice. Practical advice includes the value of exercise, the courage to say no, and appreciating life’s moments while building a flexible, rewarding career.

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Season 1

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Many of us dream of building a practice, and then one day selling it and walking off into the sunset, minus responsibilities, and with our money problems solved. But what actually happens after what’s supposed to be ‘the big goal’? Who are you when you’re no longer the boss, and what’s next? 

In this episode, ⁠Dr Wolfgang Dohne⁠ tells us how he re-invented and reinvigorated his career post the sale of his practice.  He also give shares what he’s learnt about being a professional locum vet: the pro tips, the pros, and the cons, and what working in telemedicine has taught him about telemedicine as a career option, and also its potential role in our everyday lives in clinical practice. 

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Topics and Time stamps

04:41 Balancing Work and Personal Life

13:47 The Decision to Sell and Its Impact

23:30 Embracing Locum Work and Telemedicine

28:16 Tips for Successful Locuming

35:22 Overcoming Locum Anxiety

35:45 Essential Tools for Locum Success

36:31 Navigating Different Practice Management Systems

40:51 Building Strong Relationships with Nursing Teams

44:25 Introduction to Telemedicine

48:50 Practical Applications of Telemedicine

53:01 Integrating Telemedicine into Practice

 

"What Factors Influence Work-Life Integration for Veterinary Professionals?"
Several factors contribute to a veterinary professional's ability to successfully integrate their work and personal life. Here are some key insights from this episode:
  • Personal Values and Priorities: Aligning work with personal interests is crucial for work-life integration. Dr. Wolfgang found renewed satisfaction in locum work because it allowed him to prioritise his love of travel and clinical practice while shedding the administrative burdens he disliked .
  • Flexibility and Control: The ability to choose work locations and set one's own schedule empowers individuals to structure work around personal commitments and preferences. Dr. Wolfgang highlights this as a key benefit of locum work, enabling him to pursue his travel goals and spend time with family .
  • Recognising Limits and Saying "No": Setting boundaries and protecting personal time are essential for avoiding burnout and maintaining well-being. Dr. Wolfgang advises young vets to "learn to say no" and prioritise their own well-being over unreasonable demands or potentially unsafe situations. He suggests that confidence to set boundaries often comes with experience, .
  • Embracing New Opportunities and Adapting to Change: The veterinary profession offers a variety of career paths beyond traditional practice ownership. Telemedicine, for example, can provide flexible work arrangements and cater to diverse interests. Being open to exploring new avenues can lead to better work-life balance and sustained career satisfaction.
  • Financial Security: While not explicitly discussed, the Dr. Wolfgang's ability to transition to locum work and travel extensively stems from his financial stability after selling his practice. Financial security can provide greater freedom and flexibility to prioritise personal pursuits, making work-life integration more attainable.
The speaker's experiences and advice emphasise the importance of proactively shaping one's career to achieve a fulfilling work-life balance. Veterinary professionals can improve their work-life integration by being mindful of their values, setting boundaries, and embracing the diverse opportunities available within the profession.
"How do career transitions impact professional identity and fulfillment?"
When individuals experience significant career transitions, like selling a business they built, it can lead to a sense of loss of professional identity and purpose. This episode highlights this feeling of loss as a common experience, particularly for those who have dedicated a large portion of their lives to a specific role.
  • In this episode, Dr. Wolfgang uses terms such as "castrated" and "feeling of loss" to describe the emotional impact of selling his veterinary practice, which had been a central part of his professional identity for many years. He found himself questioning his purpose and feeling uncertain about his future role in the profession.
  • This sense of loss can be attributed to the fact that selling a business often entails relinquishing control, status, and a clearly defined role that had previously provided a sense of validation and purpose. The individual is no longer "the boss," and their professional identity may feel less distinct.
However, the sources also emphasize that career transitions can be an opportunity for reinvention and rediscovering professional fulfillment. By embracing change and exploring new avenues, individuals can find renewed purpose and satisfaction in their careers.
  • Dr. Wolfgang describes his transition to locum work as a way to regain control over his work-life balance and focus on the clinical aspects of veterinary medicine that he enjoyed the most. He found satisfaction in being able to choose his work locations, set his own schedule, and avoid the administrative burdens associated with practice ownership.
  • This highlights the potential for career transitions to align individuals' work with their evolving interests and priorities, leading to greater job satisfaction and a renewed sense of purpose.
Ultimately, the impact of career transitions on professional identity and fulfillment depends on the individual's ability to adapt, embrace new challenges, and actively shape their new role. By viewing transitions as opportunities for growth and exploration, individuals can navigate these changes successfully and find continued professional fulfillment.
"What three pieces of advice did Dr. Wolfgang give his younger self?"
Dr. Wolfgang Dohne offered three pieces of advice to his eight-year-old self:
  • Be more determined and confident. He reflects that when he was younger, he often undervalued himself and his ideas, dropping projects because he felt they weren't good enough. Looking back, he wishes he had more confidence to pursue his ideas further.
  • Learn languages. The speaker believes there is immense value in learning languages. He acknowledges that as a native English speaker, it can be tempting to rely on others' proficiency in English. However, he encourages language acquisition as a valuable skill.
  • Enjoy life while it's good. He reminisces about feeling happy and fulfilled at seventeen, and encourages his younger self to savor those moments of joy. He emphasises the importance of appreciating the present moment and recognising that some periods in life won't return.

 

Veterinary Ramblings

Furthest North

Before we start, I have a quick favour to ask.I'm part of this podcasting course slash mastermind with a goal of making this podcast as good as is possible, and part of my homework is to send out a list of questions for listeners to answer.Now I know that this sounds suspiciously like a survey, but I also know how much most people hate surveys, so this is not a survey.
See it as a multiple choice conversation with friends and I would really appreciate it if you could be part of this server.I mean conversation because I need your feedback to make sure that the Vet Vault is as valuable to you as possible.Maybe you just tolerate the way I host the Vet Vault because of my great guests, but do you have suggestions to make it better?
Maybe you think we could do with more singing, or that I should mostly just shut up and let the guests speak?Tell me.Or perhaps you love it as it is and you don't want anything to change.So let me know before I add in my section with my poetry about veterinary science.It's super short with just twelve questions and you'll get it done in under 5 minutes.
And it's anonymous, so you can be brutal.Go to bit dot LY forward slash vet vault feedback.That's BIT dot LY forward slash vet vault feedback.Or when you get to your destination, click on the link in the show description wherever you're listening to this right now and help us make a better podcast.
OK, back to our episode.Here's something that nobody really ever talks about.Many of us dream of one day selling our practice and walking away with a bunch of cash and a bunch of free time and freedom to do what we want.It's the exit plan for many of us, the reward for decades of hard work.
But what happens after you sell your business and you walk off into that sunset?Once you let your practice go or one thing I've I felt was a certain feeling of loss, quite honest when you have a practice and you give it away felt a bit.
Castrated, I'm Hubert Nimmstrat and you are listening to The Vet Vault where we speak to the vets who have gone before you.The ones who are the future of the vet profession, the innovators, the leaders, the specialists, The ones who have walked the paths less followed, but also the ones on the common path who have figured out the best way to walk it.
All of it with a goal of providing you with the inspiration and motivation to make the most of your veteran career.And in this episode, we speak to Doctor Wolf Kunduna, who went through this process in 2019 after the sale of his practice.You'll hear how he has since reinvented and reinvigorated his career and his life in ways that might just inspire you.
But this is not just a conversation for business owners thinking of selling.These days Doctor Duna keeps himself busy by combining locoming and travelling across Europe and also working in telehealth and in this conversation he shares some really useful insights into these topic.Wolfgang tells us what he's learnt about being a professional locum vet, the pro tips, the pros and the cons and what working in telemedicine has taught him about telemedicine as a job and also it's potential role in our everyday lives in clinical practice.
If you want to skip to any of these specific topics, you'll find the conversation about transitioning out of practice ownership at around the 12 minute mark, while Wolfgang's locum lessons are at the 28 minute mark, and we explored telemedicine from around 44 minutes onwards.
But before his career pivot, Dr. Dunno was already a master of variety and multiple interests, as well as being intentional about time away from work.There's more to life than just veterinary medicine.You have said sometimes that some people are very, very focused.I mean, that makes him good, but as a human being they might lose out on something.
Despite the time pressures of practice ownership, he created space for his other passions and projects.Wolfgang represented first the British and then the European Small Animal Veteran Association at numerous international conferences and meetings in various roles, including as the President of Fukawa, which is the Federation of Companion Animal Veterinary Associations, and as the chairman of Fukawa's Euro Congress Committee.
So every three months I had a board meeting somewhere in a different place in Europe.I met amazing people and the beauty was sort of I got the best of both worlds.He's also a keen sports and fitness enthusiast, particularly endurance sports, with his first love being cross country skiing.
And it's with this topic that we dive in with this conversation, how to balance your passions and pleasures with the realities of work.Please enjoy Doctor Wolfgang Donor.Welcome to the Red Vault.
Thank you so much for joining us.Hi, Hugh.Thank you for having me.Were you always good at separating work from other stuff from from maintaining other interests, or was it something you had to work on?I'm I'm not separating it.It's quite often so that work and pleasure sort of goes into each other.
So it's so that when I'm traveling, I love to meet colleagues in other parts of the world.The amazing things sometimes happening that you're standing, I don't know, in a clinic in Armenia and you're suddenly working on a dog.Or I was up in in Swalbart in north far north of the polar circle, and they didn't have a veterinary practicer.
So up there, the human nurse was occasionally working on simple veterinary patients in the backroom of the local hospital.So I popped in.I wanted to see how they do that.And they said, good that you're here.
We have a dog who has a big gash on the side of the body.That's good.Can you give us a helping hand?Yeah.OK.Come on, bring it on.So you can often combine both things, but you have to open yourself to that and you need to have a certain confidence to accept it might very well be so that they might reject you, that they might say go away to or that they, yeah, thank you, but no thank you.
And also when we look outside of vetner medicine, yes, I think it is something you sometimes have to force yourself to.I have found it myself quite often that I enjoyed what I was doing.I was working pretty much every day during the week and also the weekends because it was really good.
So you'll see the interesting cases, interesting clients and things like that.And a good indicator that I enjoyed myself was that it happened several times to me that I suddenly turned up at work in the morning and they all looked at me and what are you doing here?
This is your day off.God forgot it, got it mixed up.It didn't mind.I did, didn't matter.Nevertheless, when I then had a day off and I saw you don't need it, why take this day off?But then I did some other stuff, went hiking or did gardening work or something like that, and I came the following day into practice.
I saw, wait a moment, I'm more chilled.If things go wrong, I'm not quite as stressed and it has an effect, I just didn't realize it.And because of that, it is sometimes important that you say, go to an exercise class that you make an effort and say, I might not feel like it, but go out and have a meal.
Just switch off or go to theater performance, go to, I don't know, an an art exhibition or something like that.Just do something different.You will be surprised actually how much better you feel after you've done it.Same thing as with exercise.
It's also so you might not feel that you want to go out for a run and the 1st 5 minutes are not nice.It's also then if you have rain and wind, it's cold and you see, what the heck am I doing out of here?But since once you're over these first 5 minutes, then body sort of realizes, OK, no way out here, I have to go running.
And once you've done sort of your 30-40 minutes of running and you come back, yes, you might be cold, you might be soaked or so, but then have a warm shower and afterwards you feel good.You, you definitely the endorphine has done its job, especially if you then started running with some sort of anger in your body or frustration in your body.
It eases off, it eases off.So it all has its effect, but sometimes you have to push yourself, I think.It's interesting.So the period you talk about there doesn't sound like you minded working with you also and other stuff that interested you.This was while you were working full time, owning a practice, running a practice, because we talk in our profession so much about burnout, in so many words, for the same thing.
That comes down to basically, I work too much.I don't like work anymore.I'm trying desperately not to, to work less, to get to be in the clinic or in front of clients or handling animals less.So did you never feel that?Was that never an issue for you?No, no, no, no.Was was I think one of the worst two times I had in my life as a practitioner was once I've opened my clinic and I knew what the outgoings were and there were hardly any people coming through the door in the beginning.
And I was getting anxious that somewhere there was a hole in my plans or something like that.And then the second one was where I thought life should get easier.I once I had sold the clinic and then hand it over to the corporate.
So I was then working for 1 1/2 years as clinical director and I thought, OK, fine, so they take charge now of a lot of the admin.So I will focus on the clinical work and carry on running this.It wasn't like that.
It was so that I had then suddenly three issues on my hand.I had to look after the clinic.I suddenly had the corporates and were asking regular reports.They had certain sort of targets that you had to hit.You had regular meetings with some business support people or something like that.
So you had to take on the whole corporate structure.Then I had, obviously when you sell your business, I had a, it's a nice problem to have, but I had a fair amount of money there which you don't want to just put in the bank.You have to invest the money and you don't want to mess up on that one because this is the largest transaction most likely in your life.
So suddenly you have the responsibility for that.And on top of that, that coincided with my presidency at the Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Association, the FICAVA.So I had four things on the go at the same time.
And I know there were just not enough hours in the day.And I saw it at times for silly reasons, emotional, I sometimes felt like, I don't know, hiding in a small hole or something.
So, so really strange things, ideas.But it showed me whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.Careful, man, careful.This is not a good sign.You are overdoing it at the moment.Thankfully, two things that are quite good I can do with very little sleep.
That is an advantage.And the other thing, I always maintained some regular exercise.So I just made the time if I don't go running or hiking or something like that for three days, then it doesn't work out.
I also have my own gym at, at the places where I live so that if the weather is bad, but I want to do something have I have a big TV screen if I want to watch the news or something like that, then go half an hour on the rowing machine while you watch the news.
You don't have to, I don't know, hit the machine hard, just go leisurely.But do your 30 minutes and it makes a hell of a difference.One of the, and it's, it's tempting for it to be the first thing to go when you feel overwhelmed when you go, crap, I've got so much to do, I'm going to have to skip my name, your exercise, my workout, my gym session, my run or something.
I want to skip that today and do more work.But it's counterproductive because the your speed of work and your level of work just goes down, down, down.Rather than just having that bit of, as you say, that endorphin hit, you, clear the head and get the anger out and then you can work productively and faster when you're done.
But then I also made the decision when I, when I realized this is this not working well, I then decided to step away from it.So that I that I then after running the work there as a clinical director thought, OK, this will carry on.
I will have double the stress.And I asked myself, well, why did you sell?Just to work harder afterwards and then maybe to die rich, but to die very early?No, no, enjoy it.
And I then stepped back and thought, OK, I'm think about a different way of life.That was the right, absolutely the right decision.That was nicely 2019 in the summer so well ahead of COVID.At least if I got in some travelling before then the the lockdowns happened.
So I'd love to come to what happened post 2019 and what your life looks like.But I want to talk about that transition period of selling and then the change in role in your life because I think it's a a big issue.I know lots of owners who get to that point where they'd sell, they know they've, they've worked enough or there's a good offer.
Like they, I know a couple of people who at the age now where they're not at the retirement age, they're not done working.They don't want to stop working.They like work.But then somebody comes knocking and says we'll give you X million for your business.How did you, how did you deal with that transition?
A couple of questions.A why did you sell?Did you decide to sell and or was it like that where you had an offer and then B, was the plan that you were going to keep working as a clinical director?Was that your initial plan that you'll sell, get the cash injection and then maybe in your head you thought I'll have less responsibility and just focus on my clinical work.
What was the plan?How did it all happen?So the reason why I sold was if you would have asked me, say, 2015, how long do you want to work and do you like to work in your clinic, I would have said, yeah, bring it on.This is a good way of life.
So I'm very happy to work here until I'm 70 and longer.But then Brexit came, and Brexit affected me or my whole family.I mean, my wife is German as well, and we always considered it our new home.
And then suddenly Brexit came and suddenly we were the foreigners again.There was suddenly sort of sentiments.There was, yeah, well, all the the continental Europeans are invading the UK.They're abusing the health system.
And all these, in my opinion, lies.Now the country as a whole, I think is cleverer.Nevertheless, at the time that was something that affected me to some respect.It affected very much more my wife, who then said OK, when the decision came, 2016, OK, fair enough.
Now we know what they think about us.I'm out of here.And I said a bit difficult for me.I have a clinic now, I have employees and that obviously wasn't really planned.But then if the world suddenly lays down the rules as they are, you have to adapt.
If you stand still, you will lose.But you in this situation you have to adapt.And there were two, two points.And one was that at the time there was a little bit of a feeding frenzy of the corporates actually to gain size as much as possible.
So I had to work with my accountant about it.And he said here we're dealing at the moment with a lot of practice sales to if you want to sell practice of your size at the moment, there will be several bidders.I think you can sell very comfortable.The other thing that was that my son's were at the time then just about to finish school.
So it was a convenient time to take stock and to say maybe you have to seize this opportunity.At the moment.There are certain things when you build up your own clinic, it's a little bit.It's your baby.And then to sell it off you, you think a little bit.
Yeah, well, I've gone over to the dark side or I sold out.You, you, you feel a little bit.You let your team down.But then you have to think about yourself also.You have this one life.Make the most out of it.And I mean you, there's a sell and a sell.
I had some companies, they were putting an offer.Actually, the highest offer that I received for was from a company I wasn't happy to sell because they had a very bad reputation and I knew that my people wouldn't be happy with it.
But the company I sold to, they were actually quite good.They left us a lot of independence, so we're pushed a little bit into that situation.But with hindsight I'm very happy that I made the decision when I did.And quite honest, if I would do make the same decision now, it would be difficult to sell my practice because there are several things that have now changed.
Some of the corporates in the UK have overreached.There's also has just been an investigation recently of the Competition Commission in the UK where that prices are at the moment looked at by the government.It might very well be so that there will be some sort of restrictions, price binding or something like that on the way and suddenly this all develops the value of veterinary clinics.
I was lucky that I sold when I did.OK, so you didn't?Get out because you were sick of it.Work or you were burnt out or anything, It was just the that was the situation.I had a lovely team.I had a lovely team.Also the practice had pretty much all the the equipment that I wanted to.
I knew where every stuff is and I knew also where my limits are.So in that respect I was very, very happy.What was possibly a little bit of a point was that I sometimes looked out of the window and so, well, I'm now here 20 years.
Is that all I'm going to give to the profession?I do want to come back to that period post sale.I think the expectation might be like, oh fantastic, I've a sudden injection of cash.Things are going to be easier.I'm going to be happy now.
I'm going to be super happy.And then they then there's that period of I've lost my role of who I am.I used to be the boss and now suddenly I'm not the boss anymore.Who are you?I was a practice owner.There's some status in that, as you say, there's some I have a clearly defined job and role and people look up to me and I have a job to do and suddenly I don't.
I might have extra cash now.What do I do with my time?And who do you become after that?How did you deal with that?Did you have a plan or was it?A year and a half out where you went, Oh, this isn't working.I need a new plan.Let's come up with something else.The first thing once you let your practice go or one thing I've I've felt already while I was in this selling process, which was obviously kept under wraps initially because things can still fall apart or so was a certain feeling of loss because I was at some vet conferences and trade exhibitions.
And suddenly all the equipment which normally I was looking at and Oh yeah, that's, that's new.And that could work at my clinic and I would work with this and I would like to try that out or.So suddenly that wasn't on any longer because you were selling the place.
So if that was just adding value to something that you wouldn't have got the money back for that anyway.So you were suddenly reconsidering, is it worth still buying this because in two months you don't own the place any longer, or you actually possibly not even allowed to do that because that was already sort of part of the agreement.
The other thing was quite on it when you have a practice and you give it away, felt a bit castrated.Yeah, yeah, yeah.That's a great description.It is a little bit.If you go somewhere and you say yeah, I'm the owner of that and that clinic.Oh yeah, yeah, we heard of this.Yes, yeah.
And how many people work for you?How many cases do you see this other suddenly it's yeah, I'm the founder.I might be the clinical director or something.I'm no longer the owner.So that makes already that makes a difference.So then the first thing you do is once you have sold the place, you have a little bit of a honeymoon period.
I would say the first thing it was I did the clinical directorship because you are bound by contract.None of these big corporates want to see that you walk out of the door and you're gone.And I didn't want to do that anyway.I didn't want to run away.
I thought at least I do my period and I had to stay for at least 12 months.Eventually it was 18, fine, two sold, clinical directorship gone.You are out of the door then.What is very good is do what you always wanted to do.
Know what it was you always wanted to do.I don't know if you want to go to Antarctica or if you for once want to see the pyramids or if you want to, I don't know, climb Kilimanjaro or I don't know, or live in Italy for half a year or something like that.
Do that.Just do it, do it, do it because you don't know when you will get the opportunity.I mean, COVID I think told us this lesson.It has just shown us how quickly the life can be turned upside down nevertheless travelling.
And I did that sort of for the first 2-3 months or so.And then I thought, yeah, OK, I'm then starting doing locoms and they were I think it two week period also where local work was not force coming right away and one or two people might have spoken to me about retirement that you are now retired or so is is not right.
It's very wrong.This is definitely not the case here.But that was not a pleasant feeling.Then I got my first local and that was lovely.It was really great because I was just responsible for the clinical work.Yes, as a former practice owner, you see a lot of things that could be improved and I you are very tempted to sort of say why if you do it that and that way that might be no, no, just do the clinical work, focus on the cases and that was lovely.
That was really good.And then to put a little bit of icing then to the cake.It was so that I then got hooked up with a guy who was organizing locoms in Scandinavia.So suddenly Sweden and Norway were another opportunity to work in.
And I thought, wow, hey, go to Sweden and go to Norway.And it was lovely.It was really nice.And suddenly it also had this international I had on and I worked a little bit in Germany and then now lately Switzerland came also into it.
And then you cannot have always the fall back position to do locoms in the UK.And then I also pick sort of areas I always wanted to visit.I once wanted to work with James Harriet at work.So then I took a local in Yorkshire, then one of my sons was at the time then studying in Cornwall.
I then did a local around the corner in Cornwall and I was hanging out with him and his friends sort of one or two evenings at the seaside and they were very pleased because suddenly they had somebody was paying for their beers.That was OK, but it was really nice being able to do these things.
So is is that your life now?Is that locoming in places where you want to be and then travelling and doing other stuff?So the rule is you work in places that are really nice or places that are paying really well, but it's quite often so that both comes at the same time.
So that's a sweet spot.And then I do this local placement form few days up to three months.So I would not commit to something for three months where I haven't worked before because you don't want to be somewhere for three months which you don't like.
And then in the periods in between I do.And that's another thing that sort of came up during Kovid doing telehealth online consultations that I do for Swedish insurance company that is operating in the UK and Scandinavia, but also in Germany.
And again, it's such an interesting new way of doing veterinary medicine.It's very good.I like it very much and it's a nice sort of combination between the clinical work and then also being able to give somebody help from be completely different place on the globe.
Quick interruption to remind you about a way that we can help you in clinical practice, and then we'll get straight back to Doctor Dunner's lessons for locums.So one of the perks of making the clinical podcasts is that I gradually developed a long list of e-mail addresses and phone numbers for some of the world's best specialists.
And every now and again I would abuse this privilege with a sneaky text message for some case help.Like.I have this case.What do you think?Or can you have a quick look at these brads or bloods or whatever?Priceless.Well, not priceless actually, because I've gathered some of these smart people in an online space where you can do exactly the same for about 15 bucks a month.
We've created our specialist support space with specialists in medicine, surgery, emergency and critical care, dermatology, a diabetes specialist and an oncologist where you can send a quick SOS for those tricky cases where you need just a little bit of extra brainpower.You can sign up with the link in the show description.
Also, I'll be doing my thing at Science Week from 25 to 27 July this year on the Gold Coast.If you don't know what Science Week is, it is the annual get together of the Australia New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists where each of the chapters like medicine or emergency, critical care or behaviour or anybody has a stream that covers what's new and important in their speciality.
The program this year is paralyzingly awesome.I'll do my best to capture some highlights for our clinical subscriber podcast, but if you can attend in person, you really should.You can book at vetscienceweek.com dot AU.I'll pop a booking link in the show description and if you're coming, come and say hello to me in my store.
I'd love to meet you.OK, back to Volcom and tips for being a professional and happy locum.So there's two topics we need to cover.The one is the locuming, especially locuming after being so in one place.And you know, you ran your clinic, you had it exactly the way you liked it, and now suddenly you are in new environments and new teams and new computer systems and anything, all these things.
But then I definitely want to ask you about the telemedicine.But let's start with locuming.First of all, how did you find that?You said before that going from I'm the boss, I'm the big shot, and now suddenly I'm just the locum in inverted commerce.Is it tough?I never had a problems with that.
I come a bit sort of military background and I think it is important that you accept where your position is in a team.There's a whole team counts and it's always a team effort.
But yeah, if I'm told to do consultations and somebody else is doing operations, which I probably would have preferred to do, half luck, that's the way it is.And you're told to do the consultations.But then I can focus on the consultations.
I never failed or had any issues that I failed that suddenly I can't call the shots because I the the great thing was I didn't have the only responsibility I had was towards the patient and the client.
And then obviously it could be a good team member.But otherwise looking about everybody's wages, trying to cover team and members that were missing, suddenly something breaks in the clinic.Not my problem any longer.
That was a really nice feeling.So could actually go back to that in vetner medicine, what I liked, what I don't like or what is a problem in that situation is as a locum, nobody of the people who are employing you will invest in you any longer.
So that's different from being a regular team member.There's obviously no point in sending you to Atta course or something like that or to see that you improve your ultrasound skills.You come with the skills you have.
If you think you need to be better on something then you have to pay it and organize it yourself which is fine.But if you then do look on, sometimes here sometimes there, you have no way of then using the new skills right away.
If you could have done in your own clinic or you would have said, OK, fine, I do ATDA course and we get the gear and then we start doing these.No, it doesn't work like that.You might do some course and then you have no opportunity to use your skills in the next six months.
That's not so good.If it wasn't for your itchy feet, for your desire to travel and see cool new places, would you like them?Or would you get a job at a permanent job?If the travelling wouldn't involved, I definitely would get a permanent job as a regular member of a team.
Yeah, that's also I think my medium term aim again that eventually that's another possibility you have with a local main that you do locums at different place and you think is a nice team is a nice clinic, nice area.
I think I would like to be more frequently and if they are happy with you these days, a vet with experience and somebody who is a good team worker I think is sought after everywhere around the world and that would be something where I would say fine, this is where I would like to stay.
I would then try to upscale in different areas, possibly even self funded, see that I get equipment as needed.But I probably would step away from working five days a week or so.I probably would work part time, so 3-4 days a week or something like that.
But at the moment I'm in this nice situation that I don't have any important commitments in life and that gives me the opportunity to travel and at least for this phase in my life, I like to maintain that a little bit longer.It's interesting because what you're doing now is kind of what I did at the front end of my career and what a lot of people do, and I find it almost encouraging or inspiring because I really miss that.
I look at the young vets who don't have kids, who don't have mortgages and blah, blah blah, who are free, who can go.I can go work there.I can go Spencer because I locomed in the UKI did my travel and I often go wistfully.Those days are over, but it's so great to see, well, at the end of your career you can do it again.
That's impossible.I tell you now, it's coming for you again, Hugh, it's all out there.You just have to you just have to accept it.I mean, also when I travel now when when I'm staying at sort of, I mean next week I'm off to Nepal for five weeks.
And when you go to places like that, this is surprising number not only of young kids, but also of people of my age who have been out there 30 years ago who went through the whole thing with having kids starting businesses, selling businesses, and then going back to having their backpack, staying at hostels and just hiking, hitchhiking, travelling on camel bags and things like that with motorbikes through Africa or something like that.
And the beauty now with that is you usually have more cash than you had when you were a student.And now it shows that I, if I'm traveling to places like that, I usually stay at a very cheap places, sort of air B and BS dormitories or something like that.
But if I'm stuck and I suddenly have to pay two $300.00 for a night in a five star hotel to have a decent night of sleep and that's the only option, then I don't have to rough it any longer.I do it and I enjoy instead of having a really nice bed and all suite bathroom or something like that so I can afford it.
I don't normally use it.I much prefer simple mountain Hut to that simple mountain Hut with good company rather than a four or five star hotel.But if it is requested or if that's the only option, then I don't lose any sleep over it.
This is very encouraging.Thank you.So for those of us in our 30s and 40s stuck in the I wouldn't call it the rat.That's not it's a going through the, the period of life where you are less mobile.There is light at the end of the tunnel.You can still have fun after it.So back to locuming.
What, what have you learnt over the last couple of years as a locum?How do you make it easier 'cause it is quite stressful.I remember from my days, there's the, I always remember the night before the locum starts, I'd be really anxious 'cause you go brand new team, brand new system.I don't know how to do things.
I don't know that I maybe I would have gotten better at it, but I didn't last very long at a locum.I think for those reasons I struggled with that constant transition.How do you make it easier?How do you become a good locum who enjoys locoming?First thing is I by now I have my own locom case where I have a set of my own equipment which I take along to the locom.
So to give you an example, I have my own set of dog muscles with me because you sometimes get to locums where there's not the right size muscles there and you have a unfriendly dog or something like that.See if you have some gear you can rely on for examples.
I have some special feeding tubes for crop feeding of birds which you often don't find and practices if they don't deal with exotics.So there are just a few bits and pieces which I know I might use again and again.
Then the other thing is different practice management systems can be a challenge.I usually tell them in advance, I ask what systems they have.There are some systems I'm not familiar with.
And then I advise that they don't book sort of 10 minute appointments on a Monday morning when I arrive and then have to suddenly face a new computer system.And I have the whole waiting room with people sitting full and getting upset that it takes ages before I put something in the machine.
And yes, and I apologize pretty much in the first couple of days to everybody if they have been delayed because I'm not familiar with the computer system.But then what I always tell myself is I might not be the most intelligent person, but on the other hand, there are a lot of people that are much Dumber than I am.
And they also have mastered these systems.So we are all just humans and it will work.So in the same way as you train your body, if you haven't run for a while, you run for the first time, you might not feel very comfortable and you're very slow.
You run for the second time, still not great, but you are possibly a bit better.You run for the first time, then you're saying, hey, wait a moment.Body is starting to get used to that.And that's the same thing with our brain to might, you might have simple things that you always forget.
I have to press that key to find this or that or that.Then with time it will come and then after a couple of days, some systems are very clear, others are a little bit more difficult, but so far no system has.
Well, I would, I was just about to say, completely and utterly frustrated me.Yes, there were some systems that were very difficult, especially in Scandinavia, I think because they don't have any right to dispense in Scandinavia.So that means you have to write a prescription for each single pill you have to hand out.
If you then have a a cardiac patient who has to go on three or four different forms of medication and then you have to search the national and it's handed out by the pharmacy and then you have to check also does your local pharmacy have this drug?
If not, what is an alternative?Takes ages and zed can then sometimes be difficult but then don't panic don't panic.It's the way it is the same thing emergency clinic you are in an emergency clinic and sort of three cases arrive at the same time.
What do you do you have to triage then and then focus on that what you're doing.It's no point if you then rush here, rush there, do this, do that and but at the end of the day, really unsatisfactory mix comes out.
If you start panicking, it's usually not good.And that's the same thing.Also, if you are out hiking and something happens, I don't know, disaster strikes or so if you then run around like a headless chicken, you will not achieve anything.
Try to stay calm, have a look.Is it as serious?As it seems to be, and very often it isn't.And if you just slow down, stay calm and see, OK, what's the best thing I can do at the moment, a lot of things become clear and manageable.
So it sounds like the key to happy locoming is preparation where you can, the things that you can't do without get your own.Because you're right.If you get into a clinic and they don't have the key bit of equipment that you always use and, and then expectations, maybe I expect that it is going to be a bit slow for the first day or two until you, and then try not to it's, I suppose emotional regulation because getting frustrated because this thing that I used to do back in my old practice, I could do in 10 minutes and here it's going to take me half an hour, but getting angry about it.
This is going to help.And what I also often find it in most cases is that there is a very capable nursing team there.And it's no point coming in there to say, OK, I'm the vet and who are my sort of dominions or something like that.
No, no, no, no, no.Listen to the nurses.You might not necessarily 100% agree what they say, but they are doing that on a regular basis on their own pitch And unless they want to do something that is dangerous or goes completely against any advice where you would have to say just a moment, can we discuss that also and then be diplomatic, don't raise a finger and say I might have a better idea.
Let's let's have a chat about it or something like that.That's better.And in most cases just rely on the nursing do don't have to prove anything.It's just let them get on and try to work as a team.And in 95% of all cases, you will have a very good result and you will also be very happy with the team that is around you and the nurses for them.
It's also it's, it's a real stress having suddenly somebody on side they, they don't know how good is he or she, what sort of personal weaknesses or issues do they bring in and try to make yourself so much as a team player as humanly possible.
And the feedback will also be positive.And with most locoms it's usually so when I've been somewhere I can come back if I want to.I think the sentence that you said there, listen to the nurses, just a general good life rule, listen.
To the nurses.It's it's sometimes if I might have a different idea and the nurse has her idea, but when thinking about it, I think, well there is possibly no better or no worse or the difference is just minor.
I don't have to prove anything.Well I'm responsible if things go wrong.Yes that's true.But as I said, unless it is something I'm completely against, I don't agree with.But that happens virtually never.I couldn't even give you an example at the moment.
Well, I had to step in and had to say no, we're not doing it.Usually it's minor differences.And then even if I don't 100% agree, if that's the way it's done, let them do with it and have a happy team.So it sounds like the key to fitting into a new team in a local scenario is let go of your ego, ask for help, and hold loosely to your beliefs.
Don't be too rigid.If you do a lot of locums, you're also surprised about the difference of opinion and advice.It's quite often so that in one practice it's very important that whoever comes through the door gets this three page estimate right away for what you might do or so takes you 15 minutes just to talk with them about money.
You go to the next clinic and then give them a ballpark figure or something like that or and then next place is not an issue.Just focus on the clinical case and in all these three places you you haven't adjust.
To it.OK telemedicine.Tell me about telemedicine because I'm not familiar with it, I struggle to see how it would work.I'm so used to hands on patient in front of me, examine it, talk to the client and I'm so paranoid that if I tried a different approach that I'd miss something or give the wrong advice.
Now how does it work for you?How are you using it in your day-to-day life?And.What do you like about it?It works now the same way as we are having this communication now, just with a difference that you would do that with your smartphone and using the camera of your smartphone and you or whoever is in the room as well would be then also to some degree my hands if something needs to be manipulated with some clinical experience.
I mean, if you would now see a video of a dog that is really poorly or a dog that is very comfortable, I, I would say you, you would have the skill to say, yeah, this dog looks fine or doesn't look fine.But then if for example somebody says to you, Yep my dog looks very happy but has just eaten a whole family pack of ibuprofen also you will know this dog will not look very happy for very long.
And if you also know this has happened just 20 minutes ago, then you say so regardless what I can see here on your dog at the moment, this is a serious thing.This is some life threatening intoxication of your dog.
You take your dog now right away to the next emergency clinic.This is important.Different example, same thing has happened and say the dog has eaten, I don't know, large breed dog has eaten 250 milligrams of paracetamol or something like that.
Owners are really terrified that the dog might die and they need advice.And you would say how much is it?Oh, chocolate.Very typical saying chocolate.So that they say, yes, he has eaten 3 Cadbury chocolate eggs.So.
So now her chocolate is poisonous for dogs.And you say Cadbury's not Swiss chocolate, Forget it.No problem because it's more sugar than coca.You, you can give them an idea sort of how makes a huge difference for the clients, especially say in, in, in Scandinavia.
Also in Australia, for example, if they're somewhere 2-3 hours away from an emergency clinic and also going to the emergency clinic costs a lot of money.And then suddenly they have their bad friend on the phone who is taking a look and says what you're doing at tiller triage.
So you say this is something, don't worry about it or yes, this is something needs to be looked at, but not tonight or not on the weekend.You have to pay more money for it.
And the vets who do the emergency work, they will have more serious cases of huge value.And then, yeah, you sometimes have these, sort of.Yeah, my German shepherd is very round and he's walking in circles.
I can't give you much advice other than in the car and John to the emergency clinic.Tell them that you spoke to me already Tell them that I suspect that your dog has most likely gastric torture or something like that.
And I back you up on that and I write a report then sort of you can show send that as an e-mail.Show that also to the vet over there drive.So it's it's it's.It's basically what we all do.We we do this work.They could because people call.
The difference is they're paying for it.They're paying for it.Until now it was usually so that OK was just by phone, not a video console.So that adds value and people were just taking that for granted.Now they get professional advice, but they're professional advice.
Cost.The alternative is that you have a priority number or a premium number where they would have to pay for your advice by the minute or something like that.But telemedicine has moved on.There are two things, Tila health and telemedicine.
Tila Health is so that you are just giving general advice on a subject, nutrition for example or warming or husbandry or something like that.Telemedicine is something where you give clear treatment advice to a client and this can for example work.
If you combine telemedicine with the clinical work you're doing Example you do post operative examination of a patient which is in a very low risk group of getting complications afterwards.
Typical example cat spay, cat castrate or something like that.Two days after the operation we set up a Taylor Medicine appointment and then we have a quick look at the operation site and and discuss how you got on over the last two days.
And the cat doesn't necessarily really have to come back to the clinic for that.The client is happy because they can do it from home.They don't have to chaff the cat into the basket, which might be a fight anyway.They don't have to drive to you.
Also, from an environmental point of view, that makes a difference.And what is very often overlooked is you can utilize the skills of team members who might be disqualified from physical clinical work this way.
If you, for example, have a pregnant member of staff who is no longer allowed to do clinical work because of the hazards at work, she could in that situation, for example, then take care of the telemedicine consultation.
So that is a win win situation because that means that this member of staff can still stay in touch with the clinical team and you also have some somebody who could provide a service despite the fact that this person can only work in a limited way for the clinic.
So there are a range of things that are very good.Other example with telemedicine is really good is a feline behaviour.For example.It's because if somebody comes to the practice set here, my cat is weeing into into the bed and it's really stressed.
You have to ask them a calendar or questions, but you have no idea really how it looks like at home.Also, when you you can do a clinical examination of the cat, but you don't know how the cat behaves at home and the cat will certainly not behave in the same way in your practice because the cat is really stressed.
If the same client then says, yeah, OK, we do a video console and then they just show you, OK, this is where the cat usually sleeps.This is where the litter trays are.This is how the cat looks outside.This is the cat and you have a look how the cat is moving or if there are two or three cats and you can see how the cats are interacting, it can be extremely valuable.
And in this situation the Taylor consultation might actually be of higher value then your clinical examination.Another area where telemedicine is really good is sometimes with eye condition, especially if you ask people to submit together with the telecon for the teleconsole, some photos of the eye, digital images of eyes, dogs and cats eyes are sometimes amazing.
So especially if you say, well, dog has a little spot on the iris or one eye looks different than the other and one eye, I can see some reflection in the other eye, not or size of pupils or something like that.It's that that's amazing stuff you can do.
So it's not one or the other, it's both.Well, here's the question.Let's say you still earned your practice, and knowing what you know now about telemedicine, how would you integrate telemedicine into your practice and would you have?Something that I find difficult is doing something like two physical consults, 1 teleconsults and the physical consults because with the teleconsults you have to be really on time.
The call starts at 3:00 PM and goes until 3:15 or something like that.With physical consults, you never know exactly how long a consultation takes and then sometimes you're overrunning until a consultation.
Somebody is not necessarily sitting in a waiting room.So that's sometimes difficult to do that.But what I've for example, would do is if I employ vets that I say you work five days a week here and of these five days there is 3 mornings consults, 2 afternoons operations, one or two mornings or afternoons teleconsults and then one afternoon for admin writing reports or something like that to making the work they are doing, adding variety to that.
So there are certain people who quite like consultations.There are other people who prefer operations or other way around.There are people who hate operating or hate doing dental work, but then are very comfortable and or happy to do teleconsole.
And by offering a little bit of everything, it makes it all more entertaining.So that I would certainly use teleconsults as part of my practice.One way that you can do it there are some providers of telemedicine that the way they portrayed is imagine having your vet friend on your mobile in your pocket.
Something is not right with your dog.And you have this vet friend who was very happy to to give you some advice and you phone her or him and you say here dog just cut themselves.Is this something?Shall I go to the vet for that or not?
You reduce unnecessary vet visits, which is good.You can give quite often advice how they should deal with something, and you can give them also an idea how important or unimportant this is.And something that sometimes might look very trivial to some pet owners might actually be very, very serious.
And they're very grateful that you backed them up and you confirmed their suspicion that maybe it could be something.Yeah, definitely something moved.I mean, you're not operating then yourself on the patient, but you have given them a clear indication how serious this is or could be.
And that is of value.And that is something people are also happy to pay for.That's really cool.It makes sense the way you describe it, it, it kind of feels obvious because as you describe those examples, I immediately think of things at work where I go.I'd I'd actually rather not have to have it back as exactly as you say, the cranky cat or the 100 examples because it's time and effort and I can deal with it just fine with a couple of photos or a video.
I'm providing at the moment till health for this Swedish pet insurance company and for them the way it works is if all the people who use the service would go straight to the vet, they would have to pay out a lot in insurance claims. 70% out of our calls do not need to be seen right away as an out of our consultation.
In fact up to 90% of cases can probably are under acceptable conditions wait until the next morning.So by just being there and advising people, often it doesn't come to a vet consult afterwards at all.
Or it comes to much cheaper daytime consultation the following day or after the weekend.And that makes it worth the pet insurance companies while to employ a team of vets to provide consoles because the vets cost less than the unnecessary out of our fees.
So those clients of the insurance company in this instance, are they getting free advice?Yeah, yeah.It's part of the insurance plan.So that they are basically paying with the insurance fees for it.But yes, they don't have to pay extra for that.
That's correct.So many ways to integrate this.If I was a practice owner, figuring out how do you leverage and how do you work it into your business?Yeah.As a practice owner, you would do it differently.Sort of what you would do is if you want to be the person who does the telemedicine, for example at night or on weekends, you are on standby and you offer face to face consultations.
But you do that via a platform where the owner has to pay upfront for the consultation and then is put through to you.If you want to go out and want to go to a restaurant, or you want to have a good night's sleep, don't want to be disturbed, then the same platform has a whole ring of vets who then are your backup and they give the advice.
Client still pays, doesn't see you personally but gives you an idea how serious or not serious this is.And that is something that is at the end of the day doing the same thing that you would do if you would offer an out of our service.
It would just be triaged and still paid for.Yeah, wow.We've been chatting for a long time.We should probably wrap up.I I could chat to you forever.So the wrap up questions, do you listen to podcast at all?
OK.Yeah, I do.I do.I drive an old BMW diesel because I have to cover long distances quite often.And when I do long distance driving, I love podcast.So what are you listening to at the moment?That should be on my playlist.
What should be on your playlist is Good, Bad, billionaires.This is ABBC program that gives you a rundown on billionaires, how they made their billions, the first, how where they came from, then how they worked themselves up to a million and then to a billion.
Big step to people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, but also Oprah Winfrey, for example, or Taylor Swift.They're all billionaires.And then also they have a look at it.Are they good?Are they bad?
Are they just ever very entertaining?Yeah.So hang on, I have to ask, how many vets have they had so far on that?No.Vet No, we're not there yet, so no, no chance.I run my own podcast for a while during COVID, but then I thought OK, that's it now this was called Ficaba Vet Chat and we did I think 50 podcasts or something like that.
So with vets from all over Europe that otherwise there's one in the UK which is very good.It's veterinary ramblings.This is done by Mike Bramble and Julian Hordt.Julian is now soon the new British Small Animal Veterinary Association's president.
Amazing guy, usually sort of needs to be airlifted of Montblanc or hangs of a Cliff somewhere, but is very entertaining so we can highly recommend that.Veterinary ramblings.You also sometimes ask people to recommend a book.
Yes, please do.So if somebody likes a good long read and you like to read about people who are reinventing themselves, then read a book that is now 130 years old.
It's called Furthest North and it is the the report of the from expedition of Ridge of Nansen, sort of one of my sort of all time heroes.He's somebody who combines this being not only a very gifted scientist, but he was an athlete and he was also a politician.
He was an explorer and so how all this sort of comes about, this is on the same level for me as The Lord of the Rings or something like that.This guy, just to start you up what he did, he's one of the best Norwegian skiers, cross country skiers, so physically really strong guy.
And he has this idea that you can go with a ship into the polar ice and then if the ice is not crashing your ship, then it will carry you to the North Pole.
So it has to first start with the idea of how does a ship need to look like that it is not crushed by the pack ice.And then he's building this ship, which still exists, which has a special form like a cork on a bottle.
If the ice is pushing in, it just plops up.It's hovering above the eye.And then he has to find some friends to go up and to do this.And then it said, and then they build the ship and then they have to get the supplies.
Then he has to find a crew.Then they have to travel up to the pack ice to see northern Siberia to to nearly Kamchatka because that is where they have to get into the ice.It's very dramatic.
I don't want to give too much away.And and he's a fantastic writer and it is an amazing story and is a very amazing person.Furthest North by Friedjievnanzer.I am going on a long trip back to South Africa this week and now I know which book I'm going to buy for the trip.
I'll pass along question.So I, I had a question from a previous guest for my next guest, not knowing who the guest is going to be.And the question for you was if you could speak to 8 year old Wolfgang, which I find interesting, what would you say to that little 8 year old?
Play more football?No, there's three things.The first thing is I would say if you're saying you're on to something or you have a really good idea, be more determined, be more confident that this is something because very easy that is just put down as that you undervalue yourself that you're saying, well, it's probably not great.
It's not good also.But if I look back at some of the things I did at a certain time, sort with hindsight, wow, that was pretty good and I should have had more confidence to move it forward.And sometimes I just dropped it because I thought it was just not good enough.
So that's one thing.Second thing is learn languages.This is a difficult one if your first language is English because your efforts will very often be frustrated by other people who speak very good English.And they say, ah, don't worry about it, I speak English, all good.
Nevertheless, there's huge value in learning languages.How many more languages do you want to speak?Because I've counted 4 so far.Yeah, yeah, I speak German, English, Norwegian and a little bit of Spanish, Norwegian and Swedish, they're fairly similar.
So if you speak Norwegian then you can in any case of read Danish or Swedish notes, not Finnish, though Finnish is very different.So.So you tell 8 year old Wolfgang that he has to learn more languages. 4 is not enough.Languages be more determined and then yeah, enjoy life while it's good.
I remember that when I was 17 I saw this is a good time and I wonder in how far the time will in my life will will ever get better.I very much enjoyed it.Lots of parties, yeah, learning schools, new girls, first girlfriends and parties and you are starting to be allowed to drive and have lots of friends.
Then you're physically getting stronger, sort of.I was very successful and I did athletics at the time and got a lot of positive feedback.Then I saw good time in your life, wouldn't say can only go downhill from here, but I sort of appreciate that this time is not coming back and there are sometimes that are not coming back.
Also when you are at university, for example, don't just sit over the books.Just also enjoy the time at university and, and enjoy university life and having so many people with other sort of skills around and especially if you're on a large campus with other faculties, for example.
So enjoy the time while it's good you are somewhere which is enjoyable.Or for example, when I was working in up in North Norway with the first time driving out into the tundra and doing my first Cesarean section, I did in a place called Kautokino, which is on the border between Norway and Finland, right in the middle of the tundra.
I had to drive 200 kilometres to get to this tiny little farm and then I was all on my own.And then there were 4 Sami people standing around me with a colourful dress and I saw it.Wow, this is just so cool.
And unfortunately I don't have a photo of this, but if I could preserve or when you preserve it, then you think this is a good time, this is a good time.Sees this, sees this, see it, that.This is really great.Also, when I'm out hiking in the mountains, sometimes you see landscapes, sceneries and then just all comes together with the the light of the sun and then little bit of mist comes off the ground and then you have this beautiful, I don't know, mountain landscape.
This is there now, but tomorrow it will not be there.In half an hour it will no longer be there because then the light is already different.And there are so many situations in life where I think, be aware, this is really good.I love it.
It's about being present in the moment, realizing that this thing, this present moment, this now, it's unique and it's not going to come around again and stop and be grateful.Enjoy it.So your question for my next guest please.Next question for your next guest is what is a place on Earth that most enchanted you, and what is a place that most disappointed you?
I'm looking forward to this.I'm going to have to Mull this one over for myself.All right.Our last question is always you have a couple of minutes to give one bit of advice to all of the veterinary new grants of the world.It's a very simple advice I always give to to vet students.
Learn to say no.It's very important know your limits and also if you are put in a situation where you feel really uncomfortable and you say I have to do that otherwise they look down on me or they sing I'm squeamish or that I'm afraid.
Typical things is cool guy coming in with this really nasty.I don't know Doberman or something that wants to rip your arm off.Are you are you afraid of my dog or what?And I'll say yes, I am and I'm not treating your dog unless you have your dog muscle and if you don't have your dog muscled, you go outside, you find a different vet.
I'm not treating your dog.Nobody would ask me if I would work in a factory to work on a machine that is not safe.And if I'm not comfortable with the situation, I'm not your vet and I don't have to prove here anything.This typical example where you say no or where there's working practices where you have to do something that is breaking the law or which is just cruel to the animal, then be brave enough and say no.
If I look back, I should have said several situations, probably a little bit more earlier.No, And that's something I can do now.That's the advantage of the Gray hair.Say no, I'm not doing that.Yes, it's, it's tricky because it's such good advice.
But you're right, it is much harder early in your career to have the confidence and the courage to say no in some of the situation.Because hey, you do feel more like you still have to prove yourself and you don't know, is this just the reasonable?Is this just part of my job and I haven't encountered it yet?
And there's also it's not your business.You don't want the Buster to be angry or you're not that confident with your clients.So you do kind of just say yes to stuff that you shouldn't.Whereas at your age or my at my age, I've got an upgrade here as well.To be able to confidently say no, that's unreasonable.No, definitely not doing it.
But it's harder.But I like that to say well if it feels wrong then go with no.And it's also today, if you're a young vet in Australia or in most countries in Europe, you are in a very good position and you don't have to do everything.
I remember I mean in when I got, before I got my first job, I was sending out 50 CVS to to different practices and then got no reply.This is no longer the case.It was there in a far better situation.If you don't feel that a job is right for you, rather move earlier than hanging out there for years and years and then later thinking, well, the last three years were real rap.
I really hate it every single day to come to work.You often see the ads.I was working in this job for five years and I was very unhappy and anxious sort of for most of the time.Then I say, why do you work there for five years, work there for half a year?
I mean, I'm not say don't be a quitter.It's the first sort of hurdle you have that's this is not the same thing.But if you see it's just not working for you, then have a Plan B, have a plan C and you are in a comfortable position these days that there are a lot of opportunities out there, as in my case.
If the opportunity doesn't seem to exist in your own country, have a look over the parapet, have a look at what is out there elsewhere.I'm so lucky that I made the move to a different country.Yes, meant that I had to live in a different culture and with a different language.
But with hindsight, I would do it again and again.It was absolutely the right thing for me and I sometimes pity the people who have not done this.Yeah, it's very hard to see what's if you're stuck in that rut.It's hard to appreciate what else is there until you get out of that rut.
You have to look over the edge of the rut to see what else is out there.Whereas when you're in the rut, it's easy to go well, I don't know what else is out there, so I'll just stay in my rut.This is also one of the reasons why I got so involved in European veterinary politics that I just wanted to show or or want to prove the point or highlight.
Veterinary medicine is not a national issue or confined to just one cultural sort of group.It's an international issue and also work is possible internationally.Find your niche which keep it interests you, and then have a look what is out there, possibly in a different country, and that might add to the enjoyment of your profession and of your work.
That was amazing.I love your energy.I love your passion for what you're doing and your curiosity and the fact that this, it's just veteran science, hasn't been this for you.It's been this and this and then this, and then add that and then mixing it with making it fun, making all of it fun.
I absolutely love it and I can't wait to get that out there.Before you disappear, I wanted to tell you about my weekly newsletter.I speak to so many interesting people and learn so many new things while making the clinical podcast.
So I thought I'd create a little summary each week of the stuff that stood out for me.We call it the Vet Vault 321 and it consists of three clinical pills.These are three things that I've taken away from making the clinical podcast episodes.My light bulb moments.Two other things.These could be quotes, links, movies, books, a podcast highlight, maybe even from my own podcast.
Anything that I've come across outside of clinical vetting that I think that you might find interesting.And then one thing to think about, which is usually something that I'm pondering this week and that I'd like you to ponder with me.If you'd like to get these in your inbox each week, then follow the newsletter link in the show description wherever you're listening.
It's free and I'd like to think it's useful.OK, we'll see you next time.

Dr Wolfgang Dohne