YOU CAN BE A VERY GOOD VET IN MYANMAR
- Belief, Passion, Drive, Perseverance and Focus
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS, Toa Payoh Vets, Singapore.
http://www.toapayohvets.com/
TALK TO FINAL YEAR VET STUDENTS
UNIVERSITY OF VETERINARY SCIENCE, YEZIN, MYANMAR
Aug 15, 2014
PART 1. INTRODUCTION
I graduated from Glasgow University
in 1974. I worked as an
army vet (Guard and Tracker dogs), a government vet (pigs and poultry),
a horse vet (racehorses) and a small animal vet. I started Toa Payoh Vets in 1982 and am still practising there.
40
years ago, I was a final year veterinary student like all of you. I had
to buy veterinary books and subscribe to veterinary magazines to
acquire skills and knowledge to become a competent young vet. Now, you
have online sources of veterinary information anytime to help you with
your research and study for examinations.
Veterinary
medicine
and surgery is too large a subject for any vet to master. Vets are
expected to know how to diagnose and treat many animals, unlike the
general practitioner who can refer difficult cases to the
specialists who focus on only people.
So, how can you be a very good vet in Myanmar? My opinion is that you must acquire or possess at
least 5 values -
Belief, Passion, Drive, Perseverance and Focus for your many years of practice as a vet.
1. BELIEF. A feeling that veterinary medicine and surgery is good, right or valuable for you.
If curing sick animals is what you believe in, you must practise veterinary science and do it well.
2. PASSION. A strong
enthusiasm
or interest for practising veterinary medicine and surgery for as long
as you live. You need to be motivated but how do you do it?
Motivation
is said to be either internal or instrumental. Internal refers to being
self motivated. You look forward to every new day to practise vet
medicine without considering how much money you will make. Instrumental
refers to a person wanting to make more and more money every day. Be a trader,
banker or property developer as veterinary medicine does not make the
average vet rich.
3. DRIVE. A determination to always try very hard to acquire veterinary knowledge and and be successful in treatment outcomes. You need:
- Lots
of energy to do emergencies, read up, research and be available for
clients.
- Hard work with most time spent at work.
- Little sleep. You may age faster,
get burned out or divorced.
If you want a work-life balance, office
hours 5 days a week job and time for your family, it is your choice.
4. PERSEVERANCE. A continued effort to become a very good veterinarian despite difficulties, failures or opposition from other people.
- Your
reputation of delivering good outcomes in the diagnosis and treatment
will get you many referrals.
- Referrals sustain your practice but you
must work hard and be available for clients. If you keep going abroad
for holidays, your clients just go to the competitors.
- It is much
easier to retain an existing client compared to getting new ones.
5.
FOCUS. An
ability to concentrate on how to provide better veterinary diagnosis
and treatment and pay particular attention to the case/surgery handled.
- You need to focus on the bigger picture of what you hope to be 10 years later.
-
Do you want to start your own practice?If you do, you need to focus on
acquiring a wide range of relevant knowledge and skills to correctly
diagnose and treat the animals and to manage your financial aspect of
your business.
PART 2 - SOLVE THE PROBLEMS
OF CLIENTS/PATIENTS
Five
of my interesting case studies showing some or all of the 5
above-mentioned values are discussed. I hope they may be useful in your
revisions for your September examinations.
These are:
1. The young military German Shepherd Guard Dog had Patent Ductus Arteriosus.
2. The egg-laying hens produced more abnormal eggs. Egg Drop Sydrome 76 viral infections.
3. The professional dog breeders wanted the cheapest Caesarean sections.
4. More racehorses were being shot by the vets.
5. Giving back to the veterinary community.
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Case Study 1. The young military German Shepherd Guard Dog had Patent Ductus Arteriosus.
He
became tired easily after a few minutes of dog patrol with his handler,
guarding the Tengah Air Base. The Army wanted me as an army vet, to put him to sleep.
He was young and had a curable congenital heart diagnosed by me as
Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). He needed a heart surgery. What should I
do to help him avoid death by lethal injection?
SOLUTION
1. The Ductus Arteriosus is a
foetal blood vessel that connects the pulmonary artery to the
descending aorta. During pregnancy, it shunts blood away from the
collapsed foetal lungs as the foetus is still not breathing inside the
womb. After birth it closes by around 8 days of age and becomes a
fibrous tissue called ligamentum arteriosum.
If it
is still present, it is called Patent Ductus Arteriosus. In this case,
some of the unaerated (venous) blood from the pulmonary artery by-passes
the lungs and goes to the the descending aorta via the PDA. As he had less oxygenated
blood, he tired easily and was useless as a military guard dog.
2. In
1976, Singapore vets did not have diagnostic imaging like echocardiography
and angiography. I diagnosed PDA based on a
characteristic continuous
(machinery) murmur heard at the left axillary region and a palpable
cardiac "thrill".IMAGE
3. I got Dr James Tan, an experienced veterinary surgeon to operate free of charge. Intercostal thoracotomy at the
left fourth space to assess the PDA.
The PDA in dogs is around 1 cm wide and less than 1 cm in length. The
lungs would collapse when the thorax is opened and since we did not have
the mechanical ventilator. I pressed the anaesthetic bag regularly as a
manual ventilator to inflate the lungs while Dr James Tan operated fast, being experienced. He ligated the PDA. The dog was
cured as he no longer felt tired so easily. He went back to work.
4. Be
humble and spend time to network and learn from more experienced vets. Ask for help if you need it.
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Case Study 2. The egg-laying hens produced more abnormal eggs.
The Egg
Drop Syndrome 76 (EDS 76) virus caused severe drop in the egg production
in Singapore's large commercial poultry farms. This disease, present in Europe, was
confirmed by
the government lab vet testing for HI
(hemagglutination inhibition) titres. But the government (Primary Production Department)
prohibited EDS 76 vaccine imports from
Europe unless the vet could proven them to be locally effective. This big farmer
had over 100,000 layers and he would need to illegally import the vaccine to avoid being bankrupted.
I could see the egg layers producing
soft-shelled and abnormal shaped eggs for many months. The farmer was
losing a lot of money as the egg production was less than 50% instead of
80%.
IMAGE
I was the government vet in charge of
extension work. Seeking vaccine import approval from the big boss was
the responsibility of the Vaccine Production
Unit. There was a solution - I proposed a vaccine trial.
SOLUTION
An EDS 76 vaccine trial with Dr Ng Fook Kheong, Head of Vaccine Production Unit and the poultry farm was done. Half the
layers in one house would not be vaccinated. The other half was vaccinated.
HI titres were taken from each group. The vaccinated half of the house did not have
egg production drop or abnormal eggs. With this evidence of the efficacy of the EDS 76 vaccine, the government approved import.
Try to solve the veterinary problems of farmers by being pro-active in seeking help from other vets.
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Case Study 3. The professional dog breeders wanted cheap Caesarean sections.
A vet provided cheap Caesarean sections for $250 and sold dog hundreds
of vaccines/week to the professional dog breeders instead of vaccinating
the puppies personally. He was suspended from practice.
Jenny, my nurse asked if I wanted to offer similar cheap C-sections to a big breeder with several hundred female dogs?
Should
I work 24 hours/day, 7 days a week? Should I sacrifice my free time and
not switch off my hand phone after 9 pm? For the first 2 years, I
provided $300 C-section services for all the professional dog breeders
at any hour of the day. I gained valuable surgical skills with over 300
C-sections.
After each C-section, I would usually take
images of the dam and/or puppies. I would review each surgery and how I
would better manage the outcome in similar situations. See my webpage
at:
http://www.bekindtopets.com/animals/20081201PAGE2_Dog_Surgery_Anaesthesia_ToaPayohVets.htm
IMAGES
Some
vets
who start their own practice may have insufficient number of cases. A
good idea is to volunteer to spay and neuter stray dogs and cats cheaply
to gain more surgical practice rather than watch online videos. Animal
welfare people will appreciate your good work and refer more clients to
you.
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Case Study 4. More racehorses were being shot by the vets - Adding value to my employer.
Singapore Turf Club employed me as a vet on a 3-yearly contract. At one
time, Singapore's economy was in recession. I could see that the horse
owners were not paying their
horse trainers and the number of race horses were dropping as they had
to be put down.
In one
race, there were only 3 racehorse running. Ideally, there should be more
than 10. This decline in horse racing was a serious financial loss to
the Club.. As a
horse vet, I should not bother with the management problems of the
racing industry. My job was to look after the health of racehorses.
IMAGES
What could a vet do
besides advising on health care of racehorses?
SOLUTION
I
was a member of the Club's task force to look into the racing problems
and suggest solutions. The Club sent us to talk to the administrators of
the racing clubs of Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand. The
Racing Manager of the task force was responsible for a management
report.
I
suggested interviewing two respectable horse owners who were stock
brokers and loved horse racing. They provided valuable feedback. I wrote
to several
racing clubs in the USA, South Africa and Hong Kong to ask them to send
me 5 years of their annual reports for my research. I read up marketing
books as I did not write management reports as a vet.
A new racing
magazine wanted an article on horses. I submitted the following report entitled "What makes a horse racing club
profitable?" and got paid $200. The board and management got a copy of
this magazine. See my report at:
http://www.asiahomes.com/dev/20120513history-1988-horse-racing-decline-veterinary-ToaPayohVets.htm
IMAGES X 2
Page 1 of the report
http://www.asiahomes.com/dev/Stc1.JPG
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Case Study 5. Giving back to the community.
When the internet started around 1997, I believed that it would would
be very useful in educating the pet owners in Singapore as they can read
the contents anytime. The usual method was to print out articles on
diseases or show the text book. This is time-consuming in a busy
practice.
SOLUTION
With
online, conveniently accessed knowledge, better vets and pet owners will
be better equipped to take good care of the sick pets or animals.
1. I started a blog in blogger.com and wrote case studies in this blog and in my website around one case per day.
The IMAGE of my first blog page, written in 2007 is at:
http://singaporecatskittens.blogspot.sg/2007/06/1-lady-who-loved-cats-was-chased-by-dog.html
2. I set up my company website,
http://www.toapayohvets.com
when the internet was just available and the webpages were grey and
black. Free websites sometimes close down their operations and all your
veterinary content will be lost.
3. In
the last 2 years, I started You Tube videos to teach undergraduate vets
and inform pet owners of veterinary cases. The younger generation
prefers videos to reading text. The webpage of my videos is at:
http://www.kongyuensing.com/animals/20100609Educational_Vet_Videos_ToaPayohVets.htm
In this talk, all the following videos will be shown if there is time.
1. An experienced vet gives an I/V drip efficiently. Dr Thein Tun Aung of Royal Asia Veterinary Surgery, Yangon, Myanmar.
2. Spay of a cat at Toa Payoh Vets - Myanmar language
3. Castration of a dog at Toa Payoh Vets - Myanmar language
http://youtu.be/0_c2ypTg6T0
4. Mammary neoplasia. Toa Payoh Vets - surgical techniques - Myanmar language
http://youtu.be/7qBCpl9Dg2I
5. Traumatic Proptosis of a dog's eye. Toa Payoh Vets - surgical techniques - Myanmar language
http://youtu.be/BNFXO5a8t7U
6. Dwarf Hamster with ear warts - English
7. Turtle with ear abscesses - English
I usually wake up at 3 am to do the social media writing and uploading and producing digital images.
This has been going on since around 2007.
All
vets should make a difference and contribute to the society which gives
them the opportunity to study to become veterinarians. A Singaporean
studying in an Australian veterinary university needs to pay more than
S$250,000 = 195,000,000 kyats.
I note that Drs Thein Tun Aung and his wife donates to the building and for the
education of the students at a monastery.
IMAGES
CONCLUSION
HARD WORK AND TIME ARE NEEDED TO BE A VERY GOOD VET
1. Be
proactive in helping the animals or clients to solve their problems.
Add value to your employer. This makes your veterinary career so much
more interesting as you wake up every morning.
2. At the of the day, nobody in
Myanmar know who you are if you are inexperienced or poorly located. You will need
to work hard and usually long hours for an experienced vet and tolerate office politics in order to be be a very good vet.
3.
You may need to work a few years in Singapore, Japan or overseas to
improve your skills. Dr Thein Tun Aung worked for around 10 years in
Singapore for different vets, seeing so many varieties of cases and it
was very hard work.
4. Distractions and pleasures
nowadays are many. Some young vets prefer online gaming and
partying till 3 am or watching online movies at the work place. This
take up
the time you could use to gain more veterinary knowledge by writing case
studies, following up with the owner, research on how to do a better
diagnosis and treatment. Why the outcome was not so good.
5. It is a pain
to write case studies and research more on medical cases.
However,
hard work and time are required if you want to be a very good vet. The
above-mentioned 5 values, amongst others, will guide you to be a very
good vet in Myanmar.
6. I hope you enjoy this talk and wish you all good luck to your final year examinations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I thank Dr Tin Tin Myaing, President; Dr Soe Min, Secretary and committee members of the Myanmar
Veterinary Association for organising this talk. I thank Drs Ling Ling Soe and Thein Tun Aung of Royal
Asia Veterinary Surgery for their generous sponsorship.
IMAGES AND YOU TUBE VIDEOS will
be presented at the talk. A powerpoint presentation with images and
videos will be shown at the talk on Aug 15, 2014 to the final year vet
students.
REFERENCES
Toa Payoh Vets webpage
http://www.toapayohvets.com/
Case studies of dogs at Toa Payoh Vets
http://www.bekindtopets.com/animals/20081201Dog_Surgery_Anaesthesia_ToaPayohVets.htm
Article of "What Makes A Horse Racing Club profitable?". 12 pages.
http://www.asiahomes.com/dev/20120513history-1988-horse-racing-decline-veterinary-ToaPayohVets.htm
Page 1
http://www.asiahomes.com/dev/Stc1.JPG
Page 2
http://www.asiahomes.com/dev/Stc2.JPG
Page 3
http://www.asiahomes.com/dev/Stc3.JPG
Page 12
http://www.asiahomes.com/dev/Stc12.JPG
Case studies of Caesarean Sections at Toa Payoh Vets
http://www.bekindtopets.com/animals/20081201PAGE2_Dog_Surgery_Anaesthesia_ToaPayohVets.htm
Case studies of hamsters at Toa Payoh Vets
http://www.toapayohvets.com/surgery/050609hamsters_ToaPayohVets.htm
Be Kind To Pets website
http://www.bekindtopets.com/
Veterinary Videos from Toa Payoh Vets
http://www.kongyuensing.com/animals/20100609Educational_Vet_Videos_ToaPayohVets.htm
Blog No. 2
http://2010vets.blogspot.sg/
------------------------------------------
Aug 13, 2014 4.20 am. To Mr Bak and Marcus
AMENDMENTS AND ADDITIONS TO VIDEO
1. Insert in
References the following:
INFO
Dr Sing Kong Yuen graduated from Glasgow University
in 1974. He worked as an
army vet (Guard and Tracker dogs), a government vet (pigs and poultry),
a horse vet (racehorses) and a small animal vet. He started Toa Payoh Vets in 1982 and am still practising there.
2. Insert name of President of MVA as follows:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I thank Dr Tin Tin Myaing, President;
3.
3.1 Insert screen capture image of my first blog. click on
http://singaporecatskittens.blogspot.sg/2007/06/1-lady-who-lovaed-cats-was-chased-by-dog.html
3.2 Amend/replace the text in the relevant section in the video. Repetition of first paragraph about starting my first blog (repeated info on 2nd line again .
3. REPLACE PARTS WITH THE FOLLOWING:
With online,
conveniently accessed knowledge, better vets and pet owners will be
better equipped to take good care of the sick pets or animals.
1. I started to blog in blogger.com in 2007. Perseverance is needed to
write from 2007 to 2014 as it is hard work and takes lots of time to
write and process pretty images. I wrote around one case study/day in
this blog around one case per day. My first blog article is at:
http://singaporecatskittens.blogspot.sg/2007/06/1-lady-who-loved-cats-was-chased-by-dog.html
It is a case of a cat with an armpit abscess.
4. Insert latest SCREEN IMAGES OF MY CORPORATE WEBSITE
under section saying "I started my corporate website.... "
5. Insert "All articles in my corporate website are archived in www.bekindtopets.com."
Insert a link to "Be Kind To Pets" www.bekindtopets.com and insert screen capture image.
6. Part 1 of your present video has 'abrupt ending." A black screen. Try to give some warning with text or pic to inform about transistions for Parts to Parts 1 to 3.
Try to make each part 20 minutes for 3 parts rather than present 1 hour for Part 2.
Excellent work. I learn about movie-making from experience in this project. I hope you acquire some practical skills too.