Work experience heaven of hell ?

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Charley83 — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:04:56 GMT

I found this discussion rather interesting as a human nurse of 12 years and 30 year old - i,m n the process of thinking about a career change. veterinary nursing is something i,ve always wanted to do. At the age of 16 and 17 I wrote to what was like every vet in the area and was lucky if i got 3 replies, soo dishearted, I decided I couldn't wait around and keep writing to vets. I decided to do human nursing - i,m not really sure of the reason but i,ve stuck at it enough to realise that now its not what I want to do and can't see a future in it.

I,m now one of these "dreaded" work experience student some people think your mad to be doing work experience at 30 but its the only way to get the experience to apply for courses. I have been lucky that i,ve had a lot of replies compared to when I was 16. What you are allowed to do was very dependant on the vet surgeon. I,ve had placements where I have been allowed to scrub up etc do dressings etc and others where it is just purely observational which is fine too. I do however feel with my nursing background I have been able to diagnose problems on x- rays and really understand medical conditions and pharmacology this has been very beneficial.

It feels weird being on work experience at my age especially when you there with kids - I feel i,m like their mom. The 9 weeks soo far have all been undertaking during my AL and i,m knackered but I hope it shall be worth it and I receive a place on either diploma or degree course. Its just thhe waiting to hear now!

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Sal the 1st — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 20:28:38 GMT

[quote user="Julie-Anne Harrison"]

Personally, WE students bug me. I feel like they're just doing it 'cos they have to. Half of them don't even know what they want to do so think being in a Vets will be fun. Most of them that come in don't even know how to hold a brush or a mop and look appalled when asked to clean things, they also don't have any initiative.

[/quote]

yes but I suppose everybody has to start somewhere and at least if they find out on W E that they definitely arent going to like the job it may save some of them taking up degree places and dropping out when they find out that veterinary nursing doesnt equate to the fairy tale image they have fixed in their heads ( and how many times have I seen that on here). It might help them to make up their minds what they dont want to do. There are some W E that go on to make damn good nurses.

I do feel that some of the W E do lack maturity and common sense and that can make things a bit awkward but that could equally apply to some trainees and dare I say some qualified nurses and a few vets I have come across. In fact in a few cases I wonder how some of them out there have managed to live so long, either because they lack basic survival skills ie being able to cook themselves a meal without poisoning themselves (and others - I will never forget the 'natural foraged' salad served up at a vet friends bbq - I am so pleased I recognised the shredded rhubarb leaves cunningly disguised with nasturtium flowers and salad dressing before I ate them. Wasnt quite River Cottage) or their social skills are in need of shall we say a little development - to the extent that they have this little following of people (think Julius Caesar v Brutus and you' ve got the gist)

With a bit of coaxing and actually taking time to explain why things are done ( and it can be as basic as explaining the reasoning behind say doing the dusting after the hoovering) its quite possible that for some of them yes this is the first time they have ever encountered any form of cleaning - I know last year I had to show somebody who has started to train as a vet in the last intake how to use a washer, and how to empty the hoover.

If you can get one that is interested do your best to keep their interest alive

How many of us had our first taste of working in practice as a W E? How did some of us feel about it?

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Julie-Anne Wilson — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:41:31 GMT

Nothing bugs me more than a parent phoning for their child - I think it makes a much better first impression if they phone themselves, otherwise it just seems like either they can't be ar*ed doing it themselves or they're too shy to even phone in which case it makes you question how well they'd get on in practice.

I remember having a parent phone on the Thursday to try and arrange work experience for her daughter's VN course (daughter had previously phoned and been told to send in CV to main branch for head nurse), they needed to have the placement sorted for the Monday morning! Mother then proceeded to say she needed an answer today and I "can see where she's coming from", I then told the mother sorry but in all honesty your daughter should have been sending out her CV months ago enquiring about placements.

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

emilyjane — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 07:29:33 GMT

I find they're either one extreme or the other. Either they're absolutely amazing, a pleasure to be around and really keen to learn the whats and whys of everything (and also happy to do a bit of scrubbing! - always impresses), or they're the opposite and seem like they're really bored, which then makes me feel awkward, as I feel like I'm 'bossing' them to do things! Argh!

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Laura Ringsell — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 07:07:55 GMT

[quote user="aimee pryme"]

However in my previous place we made the W E apply for it as a real job with a CV letter and interview. There was a dedicated nurse who deals with them. This usually weeded out the bad ones who can tbe bothered and during the interview you could do most of the H&S stuff and give them an idea of what they wanted.

[/quote]

This too is exactly what we do now. And yes we do also have the parents phoning up trying to organise the places but stress the importance is on simulating the whole work exp - including letter writing and interview. I don't doubt the parents still have a hand in writing some of the letters and cv's but I do think it helps. During this interview we also discuss work standards, starting and finishing times and dress code etc however the dress code is one of the hardest things and i have been known to give scrubs to very unsuitably dressed young girls (clearly they have no full length mirror or morals).Even when you make everything very clear at the outset they still seem to manage to only abide by the bits that suit them - work experience will continue to be a challenge and by the sounds of it some of you are having a much worse time than me!

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Steph Worsley — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:49:54 GMT

Similar to Aimee at a prev practice we had the whole interview process prior to w/e I was in charge of it and managed to weed out the ones that weren't interested in the work told them what would be expected of them...dress code etc and what work they would be allowed to do and not do

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Sal the 1st — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:36:19 GMT

yes | have come across parents attempting to 'book' w e placements for their little darlings before. Had one at a previous practice who got her daughter booked in with us and daughter was really unhappy. She was so obviously unhappy and just chatting to her to try and cheer her up and see if there was anything I could do to make her 2 weeks a bit happier she told me she didnt want to work at a vets at all, and wanted to be a hairdresser but her mother had said she should come to us as she might get a discount ( mum was a dog breeder) if she did a good job. In the finish we just said to her mum that she was a really good worker but really squeamish around blood and we didnt think it was fair on her

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Charmaloo88 — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:18:18 GMT

Also out of curiosity how many of you get the students PARENTS booking their placement for them? Have had a few really pushy ones demanding we move students (who have booked months in advance) so we can fit in their precious son/daughter next week. Think my favourite was a mother shouting down the phone at me because I refused to take on her 13 year old daughter because she was too young, gave the usual H&S blurb and the work we do can be emotionally distressing for a child but she wasn't having it, came into the practice, shouted at other colleagues AND the boss before giving up and moving her pets to another vets!

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

amy butterworth — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:50:33 GMT

like you kirsten i started out as work ex for my college course and i am now employed as a aca in my practice with the chance of starting my vn training next year. i feel its great experience for the students i get them to follow me around and show them what we do and try to get them involved in as much stuff as possible. i have seen my fair share of great and awful students. the worst been a girl who would keep walking round the prep and kennels with either the stray baby bunny or kitten. despite being told by me and other members of staff not to walk round with them. i was restraining a jrt on the prep table and she walked right up to the table with the bunny in her arms the jrt almost did a flying leap of the table just to get to the bunny. it was a good job id got a tight hold on this dog. she was a very rude girl point blank refusing to do jobs such as clean theatre and would spend most of the day sat down spinning a computer chair.

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

GremlinNurse — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:48:08 GMT

I remember one person who was quite happy to sit on a stool and watch us do all the tidying up while chatting to us about anything and everything other than nursing.....obviously never heard of initiative!

We tend to only have vet students seeing practice and by and large they are pretty good.

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Aimee Barber — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:27:36 GMT

At my current practice we don;t have w/e just vet students and other vets seeing practice. However in my previous place we made the W E apply for it as a real job with a CV letter and interview. There was a dedicated nurse who deals with them. This usually weeded out the bad ones who can tbe bothered and during the interview you could do most of the H&S stuff and give them an idea of what they wanted.

Even after all that though you do end up with those awful ones, but mainly good ones, I know theyve just taken on a degreee nurse that did W E with them over the summer and they were so impressed they asked her to stay

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Laura Ringsell — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:52:39 GMT

Genuinely shocking work experience students who just don't want to be there, who have no intention of working in the profession but just need to chalk up some hours I have had removed by the college from whence they came. Another one was so fab I offered to write her a reference if she found herself needing one, 4 months later I was contacted by companion care asking just that, she had applied to work there as a receptionist, with a view to svn in time. I so hope she got the job. We get over subscribed every year and end up turning some away, I would have to say generally a few are great, most are fine and very rarely they are awful. We do a quick score out of 5 at the end so if they ask to come back the following year we know wether to say yes or sorry we are fully booked...I know a lot of surgeries have stopped having w.e students which is a shame, although it can be hard work they have to find out somehow if it's the job for them.

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

SuzyM — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:57:10 GMT

Our information sheet makes it clear that experiences will be mainly observational, so they know that before they come to us and will hopefully not come if they think that will be boring. It also says they will not be permitted to handle any of the patients, so they don't have any misconceptions when they arrive about what they will be doing.

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Sally Seddon — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 07:46:38 GMT

Find the majority of our work exp students an absolute nightmare! We do get those few gems tho! We had a young lad who sat in the corner of the room with his ipod hidden under his jumper and under his long hair, we asked him to put it away and tie his hair up several times. He would do this for about 5 mins then go back to the ipod and long hair! We have had students that actually take themselves upstairs to sit on the couch "cos im bored" grrrrrrrrrr

I think some of them think its easy doing work exp at a vets cos they just get to cuddle animals, at least these ones are interested in animals. The lad mentioned above had no intention of working with animals! He even admitted it to us!

Then theres the other end of the scale where you get pupils who try and cuddle nasty animals despite being told to stear clear, or even better the ones who interfere with your anaesthetics and start asking if your doing it properly!

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Charmaloo88 — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:04:26 GMT

Anyone else find you have to constantly nag students to STOP poking their fingers into kennel doors?!? Even had one poke his fingers through the bars of a very aggressive cat. Told him several times to stop then threatened to make him sit on his hands in the staff room if I caught him doing it again. Because if he got bitten it would only be MY fault....

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

oconnoanan — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:28:48 GMT

I had a great chat with W E girl - I was asking if she loved it! (my mistake). She said found it "boring" and didn't like animals being sick. Tried to suggest a few alternatives : grooming? She said no, would find it really boring. dog training? said no, she has no patience. asaid she must at least find her course interesting (animal care) - no, its really boring...And yet we have to turn away W E people as can't accommodate them all...

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Caroline Galdas — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:04:36 GMT

I find it difficult with work experience from school, as what can and can't you get them to do since health and safety say they can't touch so much stuff or go near different things? So they tend to end up standing around and watching operations or just general prep room goings on...

How do other people find this ?

We did have one last week who said he wanted to be a vet but didn't like dog poo.... errrmmm you'll need to get over that!!

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Sal the 1st — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 18:50:24 GMT

dont forget how daunting it can be for a work experience coming into a strange place full of strange people - some people and places stranger than others.

I had what I thought was a lazy W E at one place who in reality was just painfully shy and the reason she wasnt getting the floors mopped was that she couldnt remember what we put in the bucket (other than water) and was too shy to ask. With a bit of encouragement in her 2nd week she turned into one of the best work experiences I have ever worked with. She then went on to be our saturday bod and from there a trainee vet nurse and qualified 8yrs ago.

There are some W E that plain dont want to be there and tbh if they dont I would rather they werent and I have been known to contact their school and make them aware of that - at least that way they might get another chance at something they want to do. I will give anybody a chance but if they dont take it up I lose interest with them. There are those that lets just say they dont share my work ethic (in fact some of them just dont have a work ethic) but I would like to think that they are in the minority.

I have had a few that have been a bit on the 'lippy' side - there seems to be a lot of 'attitude' around

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

SuzyM — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 09:42:57 GMT

We've had our fair share of bored/disrespectful work experience students too - I tried to work out why they were like that - some are just ungrateful for a good opportunity and there's not a lot you can do about that (I find them jobs to do to try to spark a little enthusiasm), some just need a little encouragement such as someone showing an interest in them (I ask them questions about their school, their animals, etc (whilst they help me with the cleaning!) sometimes this goes a long way). I have also recently made an 'information/what to expect' sheet, which also outlines some house rules such as no mobiles phones allowed, to be sent to students before they come to us as often I think they expect things and are disappointed when their expectations aren't met - this is obviously something they have to get used to in life (!), but in the short term, it can avoid a wasted opportunity.

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Roseann21 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:23:24 GMT

My most memorable work experience student was a girl who sat in reception reading the magazines, clearly not in the least bit interested in what was going on - so I asked her "what do you want to be - a vet or a nurse?" - and she replied "a travel agent".

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Mark Hedberg — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:04:17 GMT

There are always work experience kids you remember. The one I'll always tip my hat to took a bus TWO hours (both ways) to get to us for work experience and worked his tail off, stayed late, asked questions, and generally impressed the heck out of everyone. The one after him was permanently glued to a smartphone - you win some, you lose some.

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Charmaloo88 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 13:22:19 GMT

No respect?!? I had a work experience once fly off into a foul mouthed rant at me because I asked her to stop sitting in the staff room reading a magazine and come and help us. She called me every name under the sun and said I should understand why she's annoyed because she 'wasn't getting paid to be there'. I understand they get a bit bored but we can't be giving them stuff to do every second of the day. Oh and the student in question was 20 years old. Think it was a bit of a wake up call to life!!

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

oconnoanan — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 11:34:20 GMT

Mad isn't it? Why would you want to get into the profession if you don't want to work? We are overrun with requests for work experience at the clinic, and I can't understand the ones who are lucky enough to be offered a place and then don't make the most of it. I had one little girl giving out that its "really boring" - well its not all go go go all the time - you can't wish for animals to be sick and injured just to make your day more interesting - there is always something to be done even if it just involves cleaning!!

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Katie Mansfield — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 10:32:05 GMT

[quote user="Kirsten Clements"]when there are two of them that just want to see the good parts (operations) and sit on their phones.[/quote]

Tell them no phones cos it can interfere with equipment (bp machine, scanner, pulse ox etc so that's not an exaggeration). Then give them some swab / tube tie making materials or a broom

K x

Re: Work experience heaven of hell ?

Kirsten Clements — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 21:52:01 GMT

I love that! That is one that all work experience must obey by!