“…it’s not just about the medicine sometimes, it about the relationship you build with your client that enables you to provide the care the patient needs.”
Dr. Michaela Knowles – Rotating Intern
1. What is your current role, and what does a typical day or week look like for you?
Rotating intern at a specialist hospital in Queensland.
I alternate between primary case management of inpatients, primary accessions for emergency department and shadowing specialists
2. How did you find your way into this role — was it a goal from the start or something
you discovered along the way?
I was a vet nurse for several years first before going into vet school. Throughout vet school I worked in a large emergency and referral hospital. I found my current opportunity via word of mouth from other colleagues. It wasn’t on my radar initially but became open to the opportunity
3. What is the highlight of your job that keeps you passionate and excited to get out of bed?
Learning new procedures and management of complex cases. I love problem solving and putting all the puzzle pieces together.
4. What were the key steps, opportunities, qualifications, or experiences that helped you get where you are today?
DVM of course, but also I believe my 12 year veterinary nursing experience in GP, ECC, Internal Medicine and Surgical nursing play a critical role in understanding a clinical setting
5. What was the biggest challenge in getting into this field, or what is something you wish you had known about earlier?
Learning to be able to communicate in a different way that nursing does not prepare you for. I had the ability to understand treatments and protocols, being able to communicate this as the veterinarian something I had to develop.
6. What does someone interested in this career need to know before they pursue it?
That it’s not just about the medicine sometimes, it about the relationship you build with your client that enables you to provide the care the patient needs. It is also important to understand work-life balance and healthy mechanisms to cope
7. Who do you work most closely with, and why is that collaboration important to your role?
I work closely with nurses and specialists, whereby listening and critically thinking helps to achieve the best care for the patient. While ensuring a healthy work environment with a supportive and non-judgement setting.
8. What’s something about your job that would surprise other vets and nurses?
How much case management, primary accessions and procedures performed as a rotating intern
9. What’s the coolest, strangest, or most memorable experience you’ve had in this role?
3D printing a sternal cast for pectus excavatum kitten
10. What’s your number one piece of advice for a vet or nurse?
Be kind to yourself, others around you and seek to be curious not judgemental.