Old Timers

It's been over a week since I last posted. This was mostly because Blogspot wasn't cooperating with my Internet Explorer, and I was always too rush to figured out how to make it work. This morning I finally buckled down and made it work.

Last week I ran into a common frustration many of us young, whipper-snapper vets run into. The old timers. We all learn many things for those people who have been in the profession for 40, 50, even 60 years. However, sometimes the standards they set us up for just, well, suck. Last week I was having a conversation about the cost of vaccination. The client had 5 horses they wanted to vaccinate. Vaccinating a horse isn't cheap-- even our cost for vaccines has sky rocketed in the last 3-4 years. To make matters worse, these people have no business owning 5 horses. At any rate, I quoted them a price (well over $500) and they were shocked. They tried to reason with me, "But Dr. Old Timey used to let us use vaccine by weight and we split the dose of vaccine three ways for the ponies. Then in half for the horses. And he only charged $6 for each dose." *Facepalm* Obviously, if you know anything basic immunology, you can't split a full dose of vaccine 2-3 ways and expect it to be protective. Furthermore, I have no clue what he was selling these people for $6. There are no vaccines that are even close to that price, even at our cost.

To make a semi-long story short, I tried to talk to this clueless lady about some theory of immunology to explain why we couldn't do this now. (Dr. Old Timey unfortunately suffered a stroke last summer and is no longer practicing. Because of this we are picking up quite a few of his clients. So stories like this are becoming more common). Not surprisingly, the people didn't make an appointment to vaccinate their horses, even for the minimum of vaccinations.

While I respect these old timers, I think it is also important to maintain a CURRENT idea of science and medicine. That's your job. From friends and my own experiences, I've heard stories about different old timers doing things like re-sterilizing single use disposable needles and disposable surgical gloves (and treating post-surgical infections routinely); charting medical cases with a date then describing the patient's visit with a simple check mark for notes; treating a severe colic with a shot of penicillin and leaving the horse to die instead of recommending euthanasia. I'm sure all of these things are well meaning. It just makes it really hard for other vets to come in and do the right thing when the preexisting standards for care and cost were set in the 1950s and haven't changed since.

Professionalism

I think that professionalism, manners, and etiquette are all going extinct. What makes me the most infuriated is when another veterinarian can't extend any professional etiquette to me. IS IT REALLY THAT HARD?? Sometimes I blame myself; maybe they don't respect me because I'm young, maybe it's because I'm a lady, maybe it's because they think I'm a push over. However, the more it happens, the more I think it's not really my fault. Instead, I think they're just jerks.

Recent consult from local veterinarian VIA TEXT MESSAGE:

Dr. Classy: Hey, I think that CuteHorse with massive, slow healing wound needs some attention.
Me: Why what's going on?

I attempt to call to discuss the case like professionals. (No answer, no return call.)

Dr. Classy (14 hours later via text): Don't worry, it was a hard case.

Uhhh? What?! It took 3 phone calls to the owners and a subsequent visit to CuteHorse to determine that the wound was actually healing quickly and extremely well. Dr. Classy just hadn't seen it before and thought it looked "weird" because it was an open wound. Wouldn't have a professionally placed phone call the asking proper questions cleared up this misunderstanding easily?

If you can't offer professionalism and etiquette to your colleagues, who do you offer it to? I hear it all the time from seasoned vets: "But Vetchick, I'm just too burnt out, too tired to do that." Perhaps I'm just intolerant, but if you're too burnt-out to treat people with respect, then you need to find another profession, or at least take a LONG sabbatical. Being burnt out is NEVER an excuse for poor service, poor medicine, or just plain laziness. Take care of yourself and do your job.

*Step down from soapbox.*