Study tips for Veterinary (And All Other) Students

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Studying? It’s that time of the year…..

I’ve noticed lots of posts on social media with the hashtags #vetstudent #nosleep #sacrifice #examtime so I thought I’d ask Dr Cathy Warburton, Coach and well-being consultant/educator from Make Headway for some tips to help with studying and exams. These tips are not just for veterinary students though – feel free to share them with any student currently preparing for exams.

Tips for studying

Tip 1: It’s about what you retain, not how long you sit at your desk

Being effective at study is about what you retain not how long you stay at your desk – task management not time management. Try the Pomodoro technique where you spend 25 minutes totally focused on a task with no distractions followed by taking a 5 minute break. In this time, don’t just read your notes, actively engage with them – ask yourself questions, answer your own questions in writing etc. Controlling your distractions means turning off the automatic notifications on your computer and putting your phone on silent or better still, in the next room.

Tip 2: Make your breaks effective

In the 5 minute break, do something that gives your brain a rest – maybe 5 minutes out in nature, doing some exercise, a quick chat with a friend or make a cup of tea/have a healthy snack. The sorts of evidence-based things that are on my CLING poster can boost your positivity and brain power. Every couple of hours, have a longer break, maybe half an hour. Again do CLING activities. These will nourish your body and brain and give you the fuel to keep going. Sitting in front of the TV or checking your facebook is unlikely to help your brain – unless you find a really funny clip which makes you laugh out loud.

Tips 3: Sleep is essential

Don’t compromise on sleep. We need 6-7 hours of sleep per night to file away the things we have learnt that day. We have more REM in the later hours of sleep and this is when the brain plays and makes connections between information filed in different areas. These new connections can be very helpful in an exam setting.

Tip 4: Brain can’t take any more? Stop!

If your brain is refusing to take anything more in – stop! Go and have nap – 25 minutes helps to clear your working memory and when you wake up you will have more energy and focus and be ready to go again.

On exam day

Tip 1: Give your brain every chance to perform well

  • Choose sleep over cramming the night before an exam
  • Eat healthy, low GI food to stabilize your blood sugar and supply your brain with glucose.
  • Consciously take a few deep breaths if you feel your breath getting short (adrenaline does that). Your brain needs oxygen.

Tip 2: Stress isn’t all bad

Stress activates the fight and flight response with the associated sweating, pounding heart etc. See this for what it is – a helpful strategy designed to marshal your powers and energy to face the challenge ahead.

Use your stress as a force for good. You can do it! Good luck.

What are the long-term effects of ignoring toxicity and bad behavior in the workplace?

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Ignoring toxic attitudes and behaviours in your veterinary practice is easiest..right?

You are busy, your mind is on other things and you choose to walk past toxic attitudes and behaviours in your workplace. It might avoid unpleasantness in the short term, but what is the longer term impact?

Many practices have a staff member with negative attitudes and toxic actions. Does yours? You know that person who comes in at the beginning of their shift as if they have a black cloud over their head, who doesn’t even say hello to the rest of the team and whose mood is infectious so that everybody starts to feel down? They may be the same person that leaves jobs they don’t consider fun to others, takes the credit for things they didn’t do or even shifts the blame for stuff they did do. Often they are people with great clinical skills – people we think the practice can’t live without.

Ignoring the behaviour can be easy…

Walking past and ignoring these behaviours can be such a relief at the time – it avoids conflict and allows us to concentrate on tasks we enjoy. It may seem like the easiest option, especially if we don’t feel like we have the power or the skills to do something about it.

Short term gain though leads to long term pain.

Toxic attitudes can lead to toxic environments

Toxic attitudes in veterinary practices lead to toxic environments 1.  The bad behaviour of one, or a small number, can have an impact on the health and well-being of the entire team as people’s head space gets cluttered with thoughts of how to avoid either the toxic person or their wrath. They may spend so much time and invest so much emotional energy into coping with the situation that they have less energy and focus for their real job – that of looking after clients and pets.

They may lose trust, become defensive and withdraw their discretionary effort. And the simmering tension and conflict in the clinic creates additional demands on people and contributes to burnout. People start looking for other jobs or careers.

Changing your culture

Back in 2013, the Australian armed forces wanted to change the entrenched culture present in their workplace. Lieutenant General David Morrison (Chief of Army) told everybody that, “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.” In saying this, he wanted each and every member of the workplace to take responsibility for the culture and to make a stand against unacceptable practices.

In your clinics – the ostrich approach may be the currently accepted way of dealing with bad behaviour. Understanding the cost of this approach, is it time to tackle it? Is it time to draw a line in the sand? Is David Morrison’s statement and message something that you could put to use in your practice?

Trying to tackle an entrenched problem can seem overwhelming.

But if we break into small achievable steps, change can happen.

  1. Be an observer in your own practice – watch closely and really notice what is happening.

  2. Draw the line in the sand – have a staff meeting and, as a group, decide on acceptable ways of conducting yourselves. Display your code of conduct prominently.

  3. Consistently hold people accountable for their actions and give them the opportunity to change.

  4. Be prepared to lose people who cannot or will not change.

My experience as a manager is that steps 3 and 4 are the hardest.

Consistency is key

Consistency can go out the door in the face of sickness, busy periods etc  – but consistency is crucial. Everybody must be held accountable to the same code of conduct, no matter their experience, position or longevity in the role.

Helping people with established and unhelpful patterns to change their behaviour can be difficult. This is unlikely to be a smooth process– it may be one step forward and two steps backwards, and it will take time. One option you could consider is to provide a course of coaching with an experienced veterinary professional – an objective outsider who can provide a safe place to explore the reasons behind the actions and support the new ways of being, without having to simultaneously manage them.  The coaching course could be part of the support you provide on a performance management plan.

And if you have provided support to meet the behavioural guidelines and it is still not happening, the next step is to make the best decision for the team, the clients you care for and your clinics productivity.

You can live without that toxic person and it probably will be a damned sight better than living with them.

1. Moore IC et al (2015) Exploring the impact of toxic attitudes and a toxic environment on the veterinary healthcare team. Front. Vet. Sci. 2:78