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A Day In The Life Of An Equine Veterinary Hospital
by Steve Orrel - Ashbrooks Equine Hospital

The hospital day begins at 8.00 am when the office opens and all the in-patients are checked on morning rounds.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE OFFICE

At 8.00 am, the telephone night service is switched through to the Hospital ready for the day's work. Between 8.00 and 10.00 am the office is at its busiest with clients booking calls and receptionists confirming visit times and Hospital appointments. When the heat has died down, all the other normal office tasks can be carried out such as accounts, insurance administration, plus a million other things! Normal office hours are 8.00 am to 6.00 pm weekdays and 8.00 am to 12 noon Saturday. An emergency service is available at all other times using the usual Ashbrook telephone number - 01565 723030.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE NURSES AND YARD STAFF

The day starts at 8.00am with a morning round of all patients by the duty nurse and veterinary surgeon, followed by breakfast for the equine in-patients, where appropriate. All treatments, dressing changes and records are administered and updated at this time. Once the rounds are completed all horses are mucked out and groomed by the yard staff which at busy times may take until lunchtime. Having a constant presence on the yard of either nurses or yard staff, or both, means that all the horses are observed throughout the day. Any animal giving concern can be brought to the attention of the veterinary surgeon immediately. Nurses are involved with the veterinary surgeons in all aspects of treatment and record-keeping. In fact it is one of the roles of the equine nurse to routinely monitor horses and update records throughout the day. Patients requiring surgery are prepared for theatre by the experienced nurses. This involves a pre-anaesthetic check, shoe removal, hair removal from surgical site prior to a second pre-anaesthetic check and sedation by the anaesthetist. Other nurses' duties include setting up the theatre in readiness for surgery, assisting in theatre, cleaning and sterilization of all instruments, helping with X-rays and lameness work-ups, laboratory work, liaising with clients and many other routine tasks, not least of which is keeping the vet's organized and keeping the Hospital running smoothly!

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE VET

This can be divided into two components depending upon the day's workload. Following morning rounds by the in-house veterinary surgeon, the day is planned concerning all work at the Hospital. Veterinary surgeons out on call will with the help of the receptionist plan their day's route and visits. Despite the best laid geographical plans, an emergency can and will change the whole order of events, but obviously emergencies must take priority over non-urgent appointments. Any horse requiring hospitalization will be admitted and followed through by the attending vet. Routine Hospital life can be disrupted by the referral of an emergency case such as a colic when all non-urgent procedures must be placed on lower priority whilst immediate life-saving surgery is carried out. For this reason, flexibility is an essential requirement of all staff.

The area covered by the Ashbrook team is considerable and despite modern day traffic congestion, the aim is always to arrive at an emergency call within one hour of it being reported. This may mean that your usual area vet is not the one that would necessarily attend in an emergency situation.