Vet Charlotte Griffin is loving life at Vets Now’s Herne Bay clinic in Kent. But she says she wouldn’t have made the move into ECC without Cutting Edge, the renowned 10-week paid induction programme run so successfully by Vets Now. Charlotte gives us a detailed breakdown of what she learned, how it enormously boosted both her knowledge and confidence, and how she thinks it could benefit so many other vets.
What’s your veterinary background?
I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do when I was 18, so I went to Exeter University to study biology. I considered being a doctor but changed my mind and decided I wanted to be a vet. They didn’t have a vet school, so in my final year I applied to Surrey University and graduated in 2021. I was interested in emergency and chose that as my four-week elective in my final year and two weeks EMS with Vets Now, but it didn’t happen because of Covid.
What did you do after graduation?
I worked at a small animal practice in Kent where I’d done lots of EMS. I learned a lot and it was great exposure, but it was so busy I burned out incredibly fast and after a year I realised something had to give. I knew I wanted to pursue ECC, but I felt I didn’t have the experience, so I did locum work at lots of different practices for a year and then started Cutting Edge in August 2023. I just felt I needed extra help, not just for what I’d be doing in ECC but also being in sole charge, which I think can seem quite scary for lots of vets.
What were your first impressions?
It was amazing. The first two weeks were at the support office in Dunfermline, and I was with a group of other vets going through the same thing. I thought we might be in some budget hotel, but instead we were staying at these lovely lodges at Loch Leven. We all bonded quickly and had a pizza party on the first night. Some brought their dogs, which was nice, and I was staying with two other vets that I got on with really well. The location is stunning, and I used to go for a run round the loch in the morning.
What was the format of those first two weeks?
We had an introduction to emergency care, explaining how Vets Now works and getting to know the team, including Aoife Reid who runs it. It was mainly seminars and practical workshops, some of the things we covered were analgesia, fluid therapy, POCUS. It’s stuff that’s the baseline of emergency care and everything was built on from there. There were days when we looked at exotics, surgery, cardiovascular. It’s split up well and with a clear timetable, so you know what and when you’d be learning things. It ran from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Although there was a lot of information to take in, it was presented so well, and you felt you could ask anything, so it was a really safe space.
What came next?
We came back and had a week’s online learning, before going into clinic for a two-week block. My clinic is Herne Bay, and I was a bit nervous before I started. But you are always supported by a more experienced vet on every shift. They would tell me to run it as if I was sole charge, but I knew they were there to answer any questions and step in if necessary. So, you get to experience what goes on, but with that back-up. You’d find out where everything was, how it worked and, in any downtime, you’d run through cases and procedures.
You had two days of training in a surgical wet lab. How did you did you find it?
It was fabulous, I absolutely loved it. Everything was so clear and easy to learn. We were asking things like how to deal with a diaphragmatic hernia, or open chest wounds and the answers were so straightforward and reassuring. It was very hands-on, and we got to practice things like GDVs, chest tubes, splenectomies and central lines, lots of the big stuff you’d worry about at first in emergency practice. They are scary things in vet school, but on the Edge course I learned that it’s not necessarily about rushing into surgery. The stabilisation, decompression and pain management that you’d do beforehand is really important. It’s all broken down step-by-step, so you see the theory behind the surgery isn’t that tricky and it’s more about handling the stress of the situation.
So, how did the rest of the course progress and how did you feel at the end?
We had another couple of weeks at Dunfermline, with seminars on professionalism, ethics and how to prioritise when you have a waiting room full of patients. And there was another two in clinic. It’s hard to overstate how much better prepared I was when I finished and how much my mindset had changed from being a GP vet. There is no way I could have been sole charge before I did Cutting Edge.
What about some of the things from Edge that you’ve put into practice at the clinic?
There have been so many, but I’ve had a couple of GDVs where I’ve been able to stabilise and decompress the patient to let us look at next steps. I was so much more prepared and confident. If it had happened to me in GP practice, I just wouldn’t have been able to do that. And when you have cases where a dog comes in completely collapsed and you think it might die and then is up and wagging its tail by morning, you realise the massive difference you can make. It’s so rewarding.
Would you recommend Cutting Edge to other vets?
It’s not just a brilliant way into ECC, I honestly think every vet in practice would benefit. I learned so many new skills and it makes you so much more confident and competent. You don’t need to be scared of it and I’d definitely recommend it.
