BEVA Council member Dr Imogen Burrows BVetMed CertAVP(EM) MRCVS, RCVS Advanced Veterinary Practitioner (Equine Medicine) qualified at the RVC in 2000 and has been working in equine practice ever since. She was awarded RCVS Advanced Practitioner status in Equine Medicine in 2015.
Imogen also enjoys all aspects of educating and has an active role in undergraduate teaching in practice for Surrey Veterinary School. She currently works in a full time clinical role as a senior veterinary surgeon at Lingfield Equine Vets, Surrey, where she is also the head of training and clinical governance. Imogen joined BEVA council in September 2021 and sits on Education committee and chairs the Ethics and Welfare Committee.
What are your top tips for making the most of BEVA Congress?
I love the anticipation of the run up to congress and I’ve definitely become torn between sessions more and more as Congresses have become bigger, bolder and better year on year. My top tips are look at the programme for the days you’re attending and get familiar with what sessions are on; definitely download the app nearer the time – this is a life saver for quickly finding where you need to be when; and make the most of socialising in the exhibition hall – this is where some of the best discussions and networking happens!
What sessions are you particularly looking forward to this year?
I’m currently working towards a second certificate, this time in Stud Medicine, so the reproduction stream will be on my radar for sure. However, I always find the discussion that happens in the non-clinical stream really exciting and I’m looking forward to the Recruitment and Retention session on Friday afternoon, particularly hearing the results of the recent BEVA survey presented by Huw Griffiths and Bradley Hill, to see what lessons we can learn to improve this area for the profession in the long term.
“I see everything I do as having a part in learning/teaching – every day is a school day!”
Could you tell us about your role on the BEVA Education Committee?
Of course. This is a great committee to be part of. I’ve really felt like I’ve had a voice to share the views of vets in my position – the limbo between experienced/advanced practitioner and specialist – and try to develop CPD for this area. Working to ensure we can offer a wide range of fresh CPD options to veterinary professionals is hugely exciting, along with getting the opportunity to share my own knowledge in clinical catch ups and bitesize CPD pieces later on this year too. Being from first opinion equine practice I was nervous at the outset about how much contribution I would be able to provide, but everyone in the committee is encouraged to speak out and share their ideas, so we really aim to keep a balanced view.
Why do you feel BEVA’s educational offering is important in supporting the needs of veterinary teams?
What sets BEVA apart for me is that we really do build CPD based on the feedback and requests of the membership. BEVA do not seek to make a profit from providing CPD to its members and this puts us in a unique position of providing courses that might be less financially viable and therefore may have been overlooked in the past. We constantly strive to provide CPD accessible for the whole practice, and have worked really hard on developing the online learning management system so that it is updated regularly and has multiple formats of CPD available to suit everyone. Hopefully, we have moved CPD past being limited to a one- or two-day meeting to offer podcasts, webinars on demand, reference articles, evidence based toolkits and more. This means the whole team can benefit how and when they wish to.
Have you got any advice about enabling as many members of practice staff as possible to benefit from the CPD at Congress?
Definitely take advantage of the Practice Passes! By combining flexible in-person access with virtual passes, everyone can have a chance to take part and get involved with Congress this year. Of course, part of my role in training and quality improvement is making sure that lessons learned from CPD are shared within the team afterwards. My advice is to get the team together one evening after work, or schedule a breakfast or lunch session (our team love a breakfast!) to share the knowledge. It’s great when one staff member benefits, but brilliant when they share this knowledge amongst the team so that the whole practice can develop at the same time.
What are your favourite parts of working in practice?
The variety of the job. Never knowing what my day will bring is exciting, albeit really challenging and stressful at times. However, the variety definitely keeps things fresh and I have had to become increasingly flexible and adaptable – whatever I think I’ve planned usually doesn’t work out to be the day I actually do! Of course, education absolutely plays a huge role in my working life, I see everything I do as having a part in learning/teaching – whether it’s sharing knowledge with clients to help them understand the clinical concerns or treatments; discussing cases with students, or seeing them develop practically; or learning something new myself – every day is a school day!
What has been your top career success so far, and what have you learned from this?
I think two moments come to mind, the first was achieving my first publication in a peer-reviewed journal. It was a simple opinion article on ‘Pitfalls in Pre-Purchase Examinations’ but it was a real goal for me and to see the finished article was a great achievement. I am hoping to achieve a second collaborative publication later this year, so fingers crossed. Publication was something that I really wanted to achieve but I didn’t really know how to start and was afraid my work wouldn’t be good enough. The peer reviewers’ comments were really constructive and this fuelled my desire to follow up ideas for projects that might make publication in the future.
An equal moment was being elected onto BEVA Council. I really was tempted to stand, but didn’t expect to get elected. I’d spoken to previous council members and they were so supportive. I think pretty much everyone encounters imposter syndrome at some point in their career, but facing my fear of rejection by chucking my name in the ring was the best thing I’ve done. This has really pushed me from my comfort zone into growth and learning zones and it’s such a rewarding experience.
What challenges have you encountered in your career or in the profession, and how have you overcome them?
Veterinary medicine is littered with challenges, many of which are common to us all in practice. Certainly, trying to achieve a relatively healthy work-life balance is a challenge which never goes away, and this has been especially challenging since 2017 when my daughter was born. I returned to full time clinical work after six months of maternity leave and the challenge of being a working parent is huge. Parent guilt takes a lot of adjusting to and being a perfectionist, I have struggled with letting things go when they are completed well enough but not as perfectly as I might like. My desire to develop professionally saw me enroll in a second RCVS certificate, which adds to the workload but drives me too. I have had to become more strict with myself in earmarking family time and I’m still learning to juggle – it’s great to see a session running on this at Congress this year.
“Facing my fear of rejection by chucking my name in the ring was the best thing I’ve done. This has really pushed me from my comfort zone into growth and learning zones and it’s such a rewarding experience.”
If you had to give vets three pieces of advice, what would they be?
Be kind – to yourself and others. It’s very easy to judge another clinician when you get a second look at a case, or when you reflect on your own cases. We are all trying to do the best we can all the time and inevitably challenges arise along the way. My favourite book is To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, and the quote ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,’ is well worth a thought before passing judgement in any situation.
Be honest with yourself, your team and your clients. Ask for help if you need it, be it professionally, physically or emotionally. If you don’t know, it’s ok to say so, but with a plan for what to do next.
Learn how to reflect – take what you need and leave the rest. Every day there will be a case or task that didn’t go as well as it could have. I’m a great fan of reflective learning. I like to mull things over, best done with a colleague and a cuppa, and take something away to learn from, so I can develop and grow as a consequence. The bit I find more challenging is letting go of the feeling that I could have done better – that’s work in progress, but learning how to park that ‘thing’ and take just what I need away from the experience is really valuable.
Finally, what do you consider to be your most valuable learning opportunities during your career, and how can others benefit from or find similar opportunities?
The most valuable learning opportunities have come from the everyday learning I think. Listening to my colleagues, phoning a referral practice and seeking advice from a friendly specialist, and networking at events. The more I’ve challenged myself to speak up and ask questions, admitting my own knowledge gaps, the more I’ve learnt. Those conversations led to relationship building and creation of a network that has become increasingly supportive and diverse. These relationships resulted in opportunities – job offers, becoming involved with the University of Surrey undergraduate rotations, work in the welfare sector, BEVA council and much more for me – every situation has come with learning opportunities. All these opportunities started from starting conversations so I’d encourage anyone to do the same.
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