Help please: What are your goals?

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Wed, 02 May 2018 20:29:46 GMT

yes I have and thanks Rach, just the sort of thing I had in mind

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Rach — Wed, 02 May 2018 18:48:26 GMT

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]

I really meant from my post that my goal was still to be of some use even though retired from practice. There must be many vets who would love to be involved in some way.

[/quote]

Have you seen BSAVA‘s request for volunteers for their trial scheme of mentors to 2/3yr qualified vets? Was this the kind of thing you were thinking?

Deadline to apply is this Friday though...

sorry to hijack the thread Arlo! (I did hear about it via your email last night though, so I hope you won’t mind!)

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Liz Barton — Wed, 02 May 2018 14:49:54 GMT

[quote user="Kelly Cremers"]A separate group/category for locums?[/quote]

I think this would be useful. It would be good to link people together locally who locum (for possibility job shares etc?).

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Kelly Cremers — Wed, 02 May 2018 13:32:22 GMT

A separate group/category for locums? There is a separate forum for us already so not sure if it is needed.

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Arlo Guthrie — Wed, 02 May 2018 09:20:54 GMT

Now putting final touches to the section designed to connect those of you interested in collaborating with others in your area.

This is where I have got to. Two categories: Learning and Business

LEARNING

New Grad Mentoring
Learning/CPD: Anaesthesia
Learning/CPD: Behaviour
Learning/CPD: Cardiology
Learning: CertAVP
Learning/CPD: Dentistry
Learning/CPD: Dermatology
Learning/CPD: Diagnostic Imaging
Learning/CPD: Endocrinology
Learning/CPD: Emergency & Critical Care
Learning/CPD: Exotics
Learning/CPD: Gastroenterology
Learning/CPD: Geriatrics
Learning/CPD: Hepatology
Learning/CPD: Lameness
Learning/CPD: Mastitis
Learning/CPD: Neurology
Learning/CPD: Nutrition
Learning/CPD: Oncology
Learning/CPD: Ophthalmology
Learning/CPD: Orthopaedics
Learning/CPD: Otology
Learning/CPD: Parasitology
Learning/CPD: Pathology
Learning/CPD: Physiotherapy
Learning/CPD: Reproduction
Learning/CPD: Research
Learning/CPD: Soft Tissue Surgery
Learning/CPD: Urology
Veterinary Research

BUSINESS
Practice ownership
Dangerous drug disposal
Veterinary nurse training
Joint marketing initiatives

Any of those seem daft? More to the point, what's missing? Especially in terms of business goals. Other than marketing, what other areas of veterinary business might it help to join forces with another local VS/practice on?

Oh, and Clare Tapsfield-Wright

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]I really meant from my post that my goal was still to be of some use even though retired from practice.[/quote]

After mulling over this, I think what I need to do is specify areas which you'd be interested in supporting, rather than somehow specifying 'retired vet interested in helping', if that makes sense. So the question is, what other ways (other than dangerous drug disposal) do you think you could help out?

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Emily Rainbow — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 18:13:27 GMT

Short term goal is to complete my CERTAVP, so linking with others studying would be useful. Long term goal own own independent practice.

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Liz Barton — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 10:20:16 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]This system could work better than the old system because it is all automated. I'm just asking the techies now whether we can match people with non-matching areas of collaborating (ie "Mentor" and "Mentee". Otherwise everyone will have to specify "Mentoring" (whether you are interested in being or having a mentor), and make it clear in your profile which you are.[/quote]

Yes, yes, yes! Mentoring, which many of us are passionate about. So necessary and this could be a great way to connect mentors/mentees.

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 09:19:16 GMT

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]I really meant from my post that my goal was still to be of some use even though retired from practice. There must be many vets who would love to be involved in some way. [/quote]

Interesting idea. Very. Hmm. Wondering how I could implement within the system we've built. I mean, I could add a map showing members listed as retired, but that doesn't mean they necessarily want to help (and 'wanting to be of some use' is quite a broad statement).

Let me give it some more thought. For the moment (ie the initial release), I think I probably need to restrict things to very specific tasks (like drug disposal).

[quote user="Kate Richardson"]Oh and it's brought to mind another professional goal. Helping (younger) vets to achieve job satisfaction and manage clients better-[/quote]

Years ago, we did have a very small and basic mentor scheme on VS, but there wasn't a huge takeup and it kind of fizzled out. Maybe because I didn't push it hard enough.

This system could work better than the old system because it is all automated. I'm just asking the techies now whether we can match people with non-matching areas of collaborating (ie "Mentor" and "Mentee". Otherwise everyone will have to specify "Mentoring" (whether you are interested in being or having a mentor), and make it clear in your profile which you are.

[quote user="Kate Richardson"]Educating joe public about their responsibilities is def one where collaboration is essential I think. Mix of vets from different practices means there's hopefully no individual motive. [/quote]

As non-competitive (comparatively) as the caring professions are, I do wonder if that stretches as far as joint marketing initiatives between local practices. Anyone do that?

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 18:25:28 GMT

I really meant from my post that my goal was still to be of some use even though retired from practice. There must be many vets who would love to be involved in some way.

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

George Cooper — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 13:22:53 GMT

[quote user="Kate Richardson"]

Oh and it's brought to mind another professional goal. Helping (younger) vets to achieve job satisfaction and manage clients better- I like to think I'm pretty good at it now, there are other vets on the forum who speak wise words, George Cooper for one, Gilian Mostyn another, these are 2 that spring to mind, Martin Atkinson another- all vets who seem to be at peace with themselves and accept the realities of working as a vet in general practice and not bowing to the pressure. I like to think we could share our experiences and how we've learnt to deal with the pressures to help others. Mentoring other vets within your practice is always good, but it might be good to have exposure to a range of solutions/strategies that worked for different people and different personalities.

[/quote]

I think this is the second or third time this concept has cropped up (with my name linked into it), both on this site and another, referencing also "Assertiveness" training.

I'd be more than happy to be involved, somehow, in supporting something. Having in the past organised a number of Roadshows and Seminars and remembering the hours required to stuff envelopes apart from all the rest, I would probably prefer to be a part of a larger team. I can certainly see that a series of 6-8 daytime seminars scattered around UK would be both well subscribed and would cover expenses too.

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Kate Richardson — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 13:06:18 GMT

Professional goal- educating owners. In particular about feline behaviour. But also educating them on their responsibilities as a pet owner in general and how to be better prepared for the dreaded vets bill!

Cetainly something I plan to do on the feline front anyway, as much from a marketing point as anything else, but I want to educate for the sake of educating, for me, any business spin off is a bonus, not my sole aim (my bosses will take the other point of view!!!) But its a win win for all really including the clients and their cats, which is the most important thing.

Educating joe public about their responsibilities is def one where collaboration is essential I think. Mix of vets from different practices means there's hopefully no individual motive. Maybe a series of Question Time sessions with Arlo Guthrie as David Dimbleby "This week, vet question time comes from the local pub with questions including why does my cat need a dental treatment and why is it so expensive? Why won't my vet just prescribe more medication without seeing my dog? What should I look for in a pet insurance policy? On the panel tonight is.....

Sorry got carried away!

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Arlo Guthrie — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 10:59:11 GMT

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]Hi Arlo

I was thinking of the oversight of dangerous drug destruction and would be happy to help out colleagues with that or similar stuff. [/quote]

I was going to say that this one is really more of a 'need' than a goal, and would have to wait until the next iteration which might include needs.

Except ...

Maybe not ...

I mean, whether we're talking about a need or a goal, the point of all this is to make it easier to collaborate. That's what's at the heart of all of this.

So maybe the section should instead just be titled, simply: 'Collaborate'

or (in the context of a profile)

"Interested in collaborating on ..."

That's a bit more meaningful.

Then the series of "Learning: Subject area"

I wonder what category you would put drugs disposal. Perhaps: "Business needs: Drug Disposal"

... plus perhaps "Business needs: VN Training"

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 10:32:54 GMT

Hi Arlo

I was thinking of the oversight of dangerous drug destruction and would be happy to help out colleagues with that or similar stuff.

RE: Help please: What are your goals?

Arlo Guthrie — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 09:22:28 GMT

Bump!

Anyone?

Perhaps if I post a few ideas, it might trigger some thoughts ...

I think the most important shared goal is likely to be learning, and the potential to collaborate could be in:

Sharing a ride (costs thereof) to CPD
Perhaps persuading companies to deliver CPD to a local group (when they wouldn't for just one individual or even 2 or three in one practice).
Just picking each other's brains.

For this, I propose to have a section under goals titled Learning.

I think, stress think, this would then be populated by a number of subject areas, for example:

Exotics
SA dentistry
SA Anaesthesia

and so on ...

You then select the subject area or areas you are particularly striving or interested in learning more about, and connect with others in the area who have selected the same, and collaborate.

Thoughts?