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| Jade Risdale, fellow students and a sheep. |
Dr Risdale was in the second last year of her veterinary degree years ago when Vet
School was filmed. She is currently working in a small animal clinic south of
Perth and took some time out to chat with SAT.
What made
you decide to become a vet - and are you still doing it for this or these
reasons or has your motivation changed over time?
One big
reason for me was (due to experiences with my own animals) was that I wanted to
have the knowledge and skills to be able look after my own animals the best
possible and be able to pick up on any problems early (know what I was looking
for). I also thought about career options and figured making a living helping
animals feel better sounded pretty good :p I have wanted to be a vet since I
was able to contemplate the idea of a "job". My animals have always
meant a great deal to me and seeing vets over my life helping them whenever
they got sick was really inspiring for me and I developed a great deal of
respect for the profession, this contributed to my decision also.
Are there
any significant non-humans in your life and can you tell us a bit about how
they have helped you through vet school?
There have
been many significant non-humans in my life. Currently I have a dog, 3 cats and
a horse, all of which have their own personalities and are very special to me
:p Through vet school (and life) my first dog Jenna was particularly
significant. She was with me since I was about 7yo and passed away the start of
my second last year of uni at 14yo. She was a great dog and my best friend the
majority of my life so far. She was a very caring girl and loved people, was
always there for me, simply an awesome dog!
She also
helped with my education and veterinary interests, as she was diabetic later in
life, developed cataracts so was blind in the end and developed seizures layer
in life. How this helped? When someone close to you gets sick, in this case
Jenna, you do your research! So by the end I had firsthand experience and was
well informed on giving injections, diabetes, living with a blind pet and
seizures.
Being in
fourth and fifth year is gruelling, but you had the added scrutiny of TV
cameras. How did that affect you?
Yeah... It
was a bit confronting being followed around. I am naturally a quiet, fairly
non-social person who tends to blend rather than stand out :p and I feel I lead
quite a boring life, didn't really go out or anything. So it felt really
strange someone following me as if I was a very interesting person and commenting
on my daily 3 hour trip as really significant/ determined, when I just saw it
as a "got to do what you got to do" type thing. Plus... I don't
really like cameras (Not very photogenic) so it was really awkward for a while.
It took a long time to get used to it :p In regard to interfering with study it
wasn't too bad, it did take up some study time and I did give up time outside
of uni for the show also. The crew were pretty respectful though and worked
around me to get a lot of the footage they needed. Probably the most stressful
times being recorded were right before one of my exams, the sheep laparotomy
surgery, the cow epidural and when I failed one of my exams and needed to do a
supplementary test.
[See the episode here].
What was
the highlight of being involved with the production?
I think
what I liked most about being part of the program is that it will be a nice
memento to have to look back on in the future (See where I came from) and the
hope that the show will have some impact on the public, i.e. Show people what
is involved in becoming a veterinarian and the challenges we have to face in
this profession.
How has
the veterinary degree changed you as a person?
It has
allowed me to achieve my lifelong goal! You want different things as you go
through life but I have wanted this my whole life! Now that I am a vet, I have
achieved that ~20 year long goal. I have a sense of achievement/ satisfaction
and now I am working on what I want/ want to achieve next. As a person I think
I have more so matured than changed through obtaining my veterinary degree. I
have had to deal with the reality of the profession and all the hard work you must
do to get through builds a good work ethic... well at least that's how I feel.
I am still a kid at heart, that will never change and I still have the same
morals, etc., having the vet degree hasn't really changed me too much, I’ve
just grown as a person :)
Getting
through those final years is one part of the journey. What is the next step for
you and how well prepared do you think you are?
Well
currently I am working on building my confidence, becoming comfortable with the
basics/ common things seen in practise and working on my time management! You
are REALLY slow when you first get out, compared to experienced vets and the
only way to get faster is through practise, so that's what you do. Once I have
the basics down packed, then I can always look at specialising or trying
something else within the profession, there are so many options with this
career, which is another great thing about our profession. I think currently I
am doing alright, still pretty slow with my consults and surgery, but I am
getting there :P
Vet
training tends to be highly demanding, full-on, all-encompassing. How do you
wind down?
I am
fairly boring really :p I am happiest just chilling at home with my family and
animals. A normal weekend is me usually playing a game or watching a movie in
the company of my boyfriend and sister with a purring kitty cat on my belly :P
I love just spending time with my animals and loved ones, they make me happy
just being in their company.
That said,
some people think a lot of vetty thoughts in their down time. Are there any
good vet books, websites or resources you recommend?
VIN is
quite a helpful resource I have found. I haven't needed to branch out further
than this, my colleagues and my textbooks/ lecture notes thus far. Sorry, I try
to spend my down time as "family time" trying to create some
"Work-life balance", so I will read vet-related texts on occasion,
but I don't have any other good resource suggestions currently.
Finally,
now that you have graduated, what is your advice to vet students? Good survival
tips? Dos and don'ts?
For final
year in particular, NEVER FORGET you are surrounded by SPECIALISTS so don't
feel down if you forget or don't understand something, it will all be ok,
you'll get there in the end. DO - try to keep your stress levels down/ find an
outlet for stress, Get enough sleep, Keep on top of your work and be organised
(The information stream doesn't stop so try and do your notes, read through
lecture notes, etc. as you go, don't leave it till later and become bogged down
in information). DON'T feel disheartened if you need to do a supplementary exam
- They are stressful BUT in doing them you go over everything you may not have
had time to go over before/ did not learn well enough and it will benefit you
in the long run.
Thanks Jade! If you are like me and have struggled to be home at 8pm Friday night (hey, I was working!) then you can catch up on the previous eps on iView any time of the day or night. Is it just me or does everyone need a box of tissues when they watch this show?
