Caught in a love-hate relationship with life's unpredictability, Nick Marsh shares his past work experiences in which fluctuation isn't just a medical term or events occur that you could set your watch to.
There’s no shame in making money from the veterinary profession. This fact, however, doesn’t negate the feeling of guilt when turning away clients who can’t afford treatment for their pets, says Nick Marsh.
Unwanted, unpleasant and relentless in their recurrence, Nick Marsh discusses the plight of this squeezing scenario in practice, and the “offending droplets” often left in its wake...
At graduation, Nick Marsh swore never to put himself through the stress of exams again. So why is it, 20 years on, he finds himself in a public library, desperately trying to cram information into his ageing brain?
Having progressed to a more ordered career that makes more sense to him, Nick Marsh describes the “progression of compromises and juggling acts” that saw him move away from general practice.
Never a huge fan of being on call, Nick Marsh focuses on the one aspect of this necessary evil he enjoys: the odd feeling of serenity that settles on him when alone in practice out-of-hours.
Nick Marsh shares his frustrating, scary and fascinating encounters when attending clients’ houses, explaining how people’s behaviour differs from when they are in a veterinary practice environment.
Tonally challenged vet Nick Marsh recalls the evening he was terrorised by a “satanic creature” from the darkest pits of Hell and how he barely escaped with his sanity intact.
Tangerine or golf ball? Grape or marble? Whichever side of the divide you are, Nick Marsh did not realise it existed until starting his clinical pathology residency. So, which side are you?
Envious of his GP's digital patient call display, Nick Marsh looks to address a problem that has been a stumbling block of vets since time immemorial: how, exactly, do you call your client in?
It seems an operation tailor-made for job satisfaction, but for Nick Marsh it has led to a contempt for “torture breeding” that has grown since his first job in general practice...
Nick Marsh highlights the crucial need to keep talking about mental health issues and offers his opinions as to why the veterinary profession, in particular, is plagued with this problem.
Nick Marsh ponders whether he should express his opposition when a client utters a prejudiced opinion he finds abhorrent or if it is best to stay silent.
Good things should happen to good people, and bad things should happen to bad people, opines Nick Marsh. However, in reality, life can be – and frequently is – a “bloody rotten bastard”.
While uncertain of its description as "the hardest part of the job", Nick Marsh discusses how his thoughts on euthanasia have changed somewhat since his formative years in practice.
Mild-mannered veterinary surgeon Nick Marsh recounts two unusual situations from his time in practice when he nearly let his temper get the better of him.
Nick Marsh worries the development of a “bonus culture” within corporate practices could lead to fewer people taking their pets to vets as fees rise.
Nick Marsh explains how his intense dislike of Mr Bell’s wondrous invention is fuelled by the cruel unpredictability of his arch nemesis – the practice telephone message book.
Nick Marsh claims he has never seen injuries suspicious enough to suggest anything more than an accident has occurred. In this post, he asks whether this makes him lucky, or just naive?
Nick Marsh looks at the definition of professional conduct, and discusses how different vets can have very different ideas of what behaving in a professional manner entails.
Nick Marsh draws one conclusion from the estimated 60,000 consultations during his career – he still has so much to learn. And it's a thought both wonderful and terrifying.
Nick Marsh welcomes the trend towards greater specialism in veterinary medicine, but champions the importance (and hard work) of "jack of all trades" general practitioners.
Nick Marsh celebrates the equipment veterinary professionals rely on. Equipment they would be lost without, but still, somehow, goes missing... regularly.
Bloggers Jane Davidson and Nick Marsh team up to consider how much of each task on a typical invoice for surgery would, and could, be undertaken by a VN or vet. It reveals how, despite its importance, the role of the VN goes unnoticed and unrecognised.
Knowledge is power – which, as Nick Marsh discusses, is why vets battle the unpredictability of appointments, satnavs and technical malfunctions to get to meetings.
Nick Marsh takes an impassioned stance on non-stunning at slaughter, insisting that if a total ban is out of the question, labelling on meat declaring it so is a much-needed consolation.
Do you know what a "meat sponge" is? Neither did Nick Marsh – but a late-night call from a client discussing one led him to realise we don't know everything, and that's okay.
In pondering the hypocritical way in which humans treat animals, Nick Marsh wonders why certain animals deserve special treatment when others end up as kibble.
