There's been some strife in the veterinary profession. This blog post pretty much sums it up.
http://vetsbehavingbadly.blogspot.com/2012/04/we-are-small-business.html?showComment=1335923717881#c9139934313993372603
Showing posts with label whining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whining. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Selling drugs or selling our souls?
So--to all 2 people who read this blog, what do you think about vets selling drugs?
Perhaps this is more of problem in the equine part of the industry, but commonly I am asked to sell drugs to people who like to "play" veterinarian. They are diagnosing and treating their own horses. One guy today was injecting his own joints! He wanted me to sell him all the necessary drugs, sedation, and syringes for him to do it. Maybe I'm just being a prick, but if I'm going to do that, then I'm going to inject the joint too-- then at least I know it's being done correctly, humanely, and cleanly. Furthermore, if there are complications (let's say at 12am, because they're never at normal times), do I have any obligation to help these people? I feel sorry for the horse, but that puts me in a tough position.
Sorry, but I paid $130,000 to learn how to do that, I'm not going to sell you drugs so that you can do it on your own. Don't chastise me for being "young" and "scared". Don't misinterpret it--I'm just being ETHICAL.
Perhaps this is more of problem in the equine part of the industry, but commonly I am asked to sell drugs to people who like to "play" veterinarian. They are diagnosing and treating their own horses. One guy today was injecting his own joints! He wanted me to sell him all the necessary drugs, sedation, and syringes for him to do it. Maybe I'm just being a prick, but if I'm going to do that, then I'm going to inject the joint too-- then at least I know it's being done correctly, humanely, and cleanly. Furthermore, if there are complications (let's say at 12am, because they're never at normal times), do I have any obligation to help these people? I feel sorry for the horse, but that puts me in a tough position.
Sorry, but I paid $130,000 to learn how to do that, I'm not going to sell you drugs so that you can do it on your own. Don't chastise me for being "young" and "scared". Don't misinterpret it--I'm just being ETHICAL.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
May-rch!
This week has been a whirlwind so far. I have no idea how it's only Wednesday since each day has lasted 12-14 hours. It has also been in the low 80s which is unseasonably warm for the area. Because of this everyone remembers that they have horses; horses to vaccinate and horses that have been lame, oozing pus, lacerated etc. I have been sweating way more than I should, and I'm getting cranky.
Onward to three on-call weekends in a row. This means I'll be on call for 26 straight days. Hizzah!! I will probably have some good blogging material. Stay tuned...
Onward to three on-call weekends in a row. This means I'll be on call for 26 straight days. Hizzah!! I will probably have some good blogging material. Stay tuned...
Monday, March 12, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Out Of Steam
Utterly exhausted today..and still have one more day to go. Oye...
At least things are starting to gear up!
At least things are starting to gear up!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
"But I want more!"
So the area of our practice isn't the most affluent in the country. Most of our clientele have horses as pets to enjoy the countryside with; not as prize winning hunter/jumpers or dressage horses. Most equine veterinarians hate these type of practices. Don't we all want to work on movie star's horses and Olympic athletes?? However, I don't think there are enough high-profile horses to employ every equine veterinarian. Instead of being sad about the situation, I chose to embrace it.
As a service to our youth clients who are often strapped for cash, (I see many 'a 4-H families making many sacrifices just so their kids can have horses) I created a one day event to serve as a "vaccine clinic" for horses that was targeted to those 4-H and FFA kids. People can bring their horses on a Saturday, and we will vaccinate them at a reduced cost from the normal for one day only, and they have to bring them to us.
Today I get two phone calls regarding the vaccine clinic: one guy who was so excited about it, he had to call to confirm it was actually occuring, and then a lady. Oh lady...you are exactly what infuriates me. This lady calls to see if we could sell her additional vaccines so that she could take them home to vaccinate her own horses. After telling her that that was not the purpose of the vaccine clinic, she attempted to negotiate with me, "If I bring 3 horses in person, can you sell me 2 sets of vaccines for horses at home?" "If I bring all 5 horses will you give me a quantity discount?"
Let me make this easy for you. NO. Bring the horses or don't get any vaccines.
You try to do something nice, and people just want more and more. Ugh. Note to self: don't do nice things anymore.
As a service to our youth clients who are often strapped for cash, (I see many 'a 4-H families making many sacrifices just so their kids can have horses) I created a one day event to serve as a "vaccine clinic" for horses that was targeted to those 4-H and FFA kids. People can bring their horses on a Saturday, and we will vaccinate them at a reduced cost from the normal for one day only, and they have to bring them to us.
Today I get two phone calls regarding the vaccine clinic: one guy who was so excited about it, he had to call to confirm it was actually occuring, and then a lady. Oh lady...you are exactly what infuriates me. This lady calls to see if we could sell her additional vaccines so that she could take them home to vaccinate her own horses. After telling her that that was not the purpose of the vaccine clinic, she attempted to negotiate with me, "If I bring 3 horses in person, can you sell me 2 sets of vaccines for horses at home?" "If I bring all 5 horses will you give me a quantity discount?"
Let me make this easy for you. NO. Bring the horses or don't get any vaccines.
You try to do something nice, and people just want more and more. Ugh. Note to self: don't do nice things anymore.
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