What to do with work experience kids?!

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

shropshirelass_1987 — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:39:42 GMT

Yeah I really like the giving them the doing reasearch option more & it would also be nice if they could be bothered to turn up! xxx

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Katie Murphy RVN — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:24:55 GMT

[quote user="sarah barker"]

Hi, when I was on work experience I did quite a lot in practice. Started off cleaning and observing ops & consults but ended up shaving patients ready for spays etc, and also getting meds ready e.g. anaesthetic etc, but never administering it obviously. Cleaned a LOT of instruments and did endless hoovering but the extra responsibility was great, especially as I was 20 years old at the time and older than some of the staff hahah!

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Wow that is something I would not expect at all - clipping patients and drawing up meds as a work experience seems incredibly risky. Not something I'd allow!

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Cat Waters — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:40:47 GMT

It's sometimes quite hard having work experience, especially when they don't want to be there. I like to show them things and getting them to help with cleaning etc. If they are keen it makes a huge difference, we've had them where their letter makes them sound very keen and interested...then they turn up and you know that they didn't write the letter, was obviously mum!

I agree it is mainly WE wanting to be a vet we get, I'm going to get them to read more books and do their own research in future....nothing wrong with a bit of homework!

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

BengalcatRVN — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:54:22 GMT

I had 1 WE who was one who made the biggest impact ever, so sweet and helpful, full of sensible questions, amazing star! Sadly no other since have even come close. Came smart dressed ever day (I mean shirt and tie) AND was happy to muck in.He did want to be a vet, but compleatly understood the importance of us nurses and said he'd want a great team working with him too. Awwwww!

I have to say, he's the only one I'd write a real personal reference for, he will shine at whatever he does.

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

shropshirelass_1987 — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:08:06 GMT

OMG pushy parent perhaps??? Often I've found myself being told to look after them until things like ops happen or the vets want them so I try & get these kids to help me with the cleaning, & showing them how to clean kits & I show them the differant types of instruments & what their for & maybe quiz them on it. I've seen some more enthusiastic than others & remeber 1 girl who went & dossed off in the staff room for ages without telling anyone after being allocated things to do by the staff, & our nurse eventually found her & after that the girl was attached to her Ipod & mobile phone for the rest of the week

I very rarely hear of WE kids wanting to be VNs its always vets they want to be, which is a shame as I'd like to see a few more wanting to be RVNs & I certainly cant wait to qualify. Its also nice to meet a few student vets to see what they know ect & to talk about their courses ect & we had a very good one in about a month ago who was really refreshing to see as he was intrested in the veterinary nursing side of things & was offering to help clean kennels& kits & fold drapes ect even though vets arent taught to do these things & he was actually really suprised & impressed by how much we are taught when training to be a RVN & how much we know & can do & also by how much we do - I must say I was rather impressed xx

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Christine Mary Dakin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:59:59 GMT

In our practice work experience students can observe operations in the morning, or watch the vets in consultations. We consult three sessions a day.

They help clean kennels, consult/operating room tables. They also make up swab packs, clean instruments in operating room and consult room. Sweep and mop floors through out the surgery.

Help with stocking up on bags (Folding black/yellow thin and thick), tablet bottles, food bags and stock control in the consult rooms.

We also give them questions they have to answer during their work experiance and task they have to do as well.

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Vicky RVN — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:16:38 GMT

OMG bloody cheek!!!!!!!!

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

BengalcatRVN — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 10:36:52 GMT

[quote user="Crazy Cat Lady"]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Unfortunately this girls mother has already annoyed me before the girls even started! She called today and "had to point out" that her daughter needed to shadow the vet not the nurse, as she is too clever to be a nurse!!!!! HAHA! Sh'es just sentenced her little genius to 2 weeks of cleaning duty!

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OMG!! Right, teach that girl that nurses are just as clever as vets, and despite WHAT her mother thinks, there is no "i" in team, vets need nurses, nurses need vets. Simples.

Then tell me where that mother lives so I can faceslap her Don't tell me her mother arranged her work exp, I bet the girl wants to be a hairdresser, or work in a shop really

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Crazy Cat Lady — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 02:20:02 GMT

Thanks for the suggestions!

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Steph Worsley — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:42:37 GMT

ours clean and observe from afar, we dont let them hold any animals or do anything else with them due to h&s and insurance! occasionally if they have been with us for a bit then they can come out wit us when we walk the animals on a double lead.

may seem mean but i dont want to be responsible if someone gets bitten etc!

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Phrin Vernon RVN — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:28:19 GMT

It also depends on why they are doing WE - do they want to be a VS or a VN?

I love the ones that want be be a VN!

One idea is to 'assign' them a day patient, a bitch spay for example, have them in on admit, preop check, premed, induction, prep, surgery, recovery, discharge, and explain everything you are doing as a nurse, and why, to them along the way.

I like to explain admit interviews, show them calculations, get them to listen to the heart, count resps, get them to watm up heatie pads and explain why etc etc- and get them to muck in with the cleaning too! Gives me a chance to impress dilution rate and contact time importance on a young mind

Those who want to be a VS, get them in on consults, and if for example they see a CRF cat, ask them to research it and see what they have learned the next day. Oh, and teach them how integral VNs are to the running of a practice, and get them to do some cleaning

I have met a few WE students who are a real joy to have around, and relish the opportunity to learn. It's so good to see that - I love it!

I've met the other type too mind

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

emmadilemma — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:52:50 GMT

[quote user="Vicky RVN"]

[quote user="emmadilemma"]

I used to get mine to bath and groom all the inpatients.....they always went home sparkling when we had work experiences in!

[/quote]

Would H & S regs allow this? I'd be concerned about them getting bitten/scratched.

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Possibly not but the practice i was in at the time wasn`t big on h&s! To be fair they were always supervised and there were never any problems..

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

sarah barker — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:36:47 GMT

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

lorraine wiggins — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:57:24 GMT

wot a good idea im gona use this next time our work experience say they are bored! gets them learning and understand the job more. bless them alot of the time they do get stuck with the cleaning jobs and it seems bit unfair sometime. i no we ave all been there but its not fun cleaning floors and kennels all day

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

BengalcatRVN — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:35:56 GMT

I had that all written in my health and safety documentation that went to the schools, so parents were aware of the risks,. They could handle the animals under strict supervision, they watched ops, I allowed them to listen to the heart (not monitoring, just so they could understand what I was doing) they watched consults, helped clean, we had them helping to pack kits and stuff. Filing paperwork. We have a larger hospital so sometimes they got to go there too and see more interesting things. The vet used to show them xrays and things.

Watch out for fainters and oh-my-god-I'm-gonna-be-sick-ers ;)

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Vicky RVN — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:25:48 GMT

[quote user="emmadilemma"]

I used to get mine to bath and groom all the inpatients.....they always went home sparkling when we had work experiences in!

[/quote]

Would H & S regs allow this? I'd be concerned about them getting bitten/scratched.

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

emmadilemma — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:19:08 GMT

I used to get mine to bath and groom all the inpatients.....they always went home sparkling when we had work experiences in!

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Sarah Nicholas — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:02:20 GMT

If really quiet I get them to read up on the specific a+p we have dealt with that day. For example we did some ECGs so I got our work exp student to read up on the cardiovascular system a little so that she could understand what she was seeing. I also got her to do the same for the reproductive systems when we had spays.

I also do some basics with them like gloving, gowning and if they are savvy enough blood smears. We keep imteresting slides too so that's always fun for them to look at.

Re: What to do with work experience kids?!

Rachael_24 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:11:38 GMT

We used to get work experience kids to help with alot of the cleaning. Teaches them hard work!! lol

Let her watch the ops and tell her what is being done. Sometimes we used to allow them in on consultations.

Folding drapes, packing instruments, etc.