ECC Veterinarian, Perth South

Need a new challenge?

At one of Australia’s largest emergency hospitals, we currently need part time and full time Emergency and Critical Care Veterinarians with a difference to join our growing team and save lives!
We are looking for enthusiastic, energetic, intelligent and compassionate veterinarians who view being a vet as a calling and not just a career. If you have an energetic, positive outlook, work best under pressure and think fast in times of emergency, then you be the person we are looking for. At our hospital, you will be a true diagnostician, solving challenging medical problems and making life saving decisions for your patients. We need emergency vets who are genuinely interested in learning about all aspects of veterinary science as our field covers all disciplines. What we do here is important and makes a real difference to the lives of our patients and their owners. Our main focus is optimal patient care and having a happy hospital team.

You’ll be providing patients with the highest standards of care and feel confident that you are doing the best for people’s pets but must be able to recognise that when financial limitations are present, a live pet is more important than a perfect diagnosis. We are committed to finding the right team to staff our hospital over the long term. We are looking for dedicated veterinarians who understand that being an emergency and critical care vet isn’t a 9-5 job and that shifts may run over time by several hours depending upon case load. You must be able to multitask and consistently provide high quality patient care in a sometimes hectic environment. You will need to be emotionally resilient and able to accept feedback on your case management and view it as a positive learning experience rather than a personal criticism. You must be able to work independently but also realise when it may benefit your patient to request help from a more experienced or specialist veterinarian.

You need to have at least 1 year of general practice experience to apply for a junior position and at least 4-5 years of experience and membership or Fellowship qualifications from the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists or be a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care for more senior positions.

All non-specialist positions have a requirement to work overnight shifts on a shared roster. Previous experience in emergency and critical care is an advantage however your approach is the most important thing to us. If you have the right attitude and desire for Emergency and Critical Care but lack experience we can provide you with training, continuing education and workplace support. Our pay structure reflects your skills and knowledge. We actively support our staff in continuing education, including distance education courses, international conferences and membership examinations. Our veterinarians pay rate increases with their level of education, membership qualifications and abilities.

You must be registered or have the necessary qualifications to be able to be registered with the Veterinary Surgeons’ Board of Western Australia.
Please only apply if you are happy to work overnights, weekends and public holidays including Christmas and Easter on a shared roster. It is a requirement of this position that on overnight shifts, veterinarians are able to perform manual handling and lift heavy weights when required.

Your work will include consulting, surgery and providing advice to local veterinarians and to pet owners, and monitoring emergency cases, critical care cases and in-hospital patients of the various specialists. You must be able to prioritise your workload yourself, be able to multitask without becoming stressed and keep meticulous records on the patients in your care. You must have empathy for local veterinarians and be able to provide them with non-judgmental advice as required as well as accepting that all veterinarians aim to do the best for all of their patients even if their treatment decisions may be different to yours.

You’ll be working with a large team of veterinarians and highly skilled, supportive, and friendly nurses to facilitate patient care and deal with your patient’s problems rapidly and appropriately. You will need to encourage and support all staff in the team, especially junior or less experienced members whether they are nurses or vets and be able to work in a commonly hectic and stressful environment. If you yell, or scream at others when you are stressed, then please don’t apply. The team we have is calm under pressure and work well together because we avoid employing people who may increase their stress. Our emergency team likes to socializes together outside of work.

You must be able to deal with the stress of clients and remain compassionate even if clients are upset with the situation they find themselves in. Additionally you must be emotionally flexible and able to rapidly shift from the long emotional support required for a patient being euthanized, to the demands of a critically traumatised patient which needs rapid treatment decisions to be made. The workload is heavy and demanding and when a rush of cases occurs it can feel overwhelming. There are no set meal breaks so you will often have to eat on the run and if you have time, you can have a coffee too.

If you are the sort of person who always asks why, researches your cases to see how you could have done better and worries about your patients then you might be the sort of veterinarian who we are looking for.

In return for your hard work and dedication, we will:

• Encourage and support your further education over the years
• Give you the training you need to develop your emergency and critical care skills
• Provide a healthy and happy workplace for you and everyone else
• Acknowledge you need work-life balance
• Deal with negative workplace behaviour to make sure you enjoy working here with us
• Provide you with a challenging and satisfying career
• Provide all the equipment you require to optimally care for your patients
• Genuinely care about you as a member of the family and respect your opinion on how we can be improved
• Provide chocolate Tim Tams and M&M’s on request.
• Celebrate your birthday

Annual salary ranges from $54,000 to $120,000 commensurate with experience and qualifications.
Emergency, critical care and specialty veterinary medicine isn’t for everyone. To take on this job you need: perseverance, a belief that miracles are possible (they are), a healthy dose of pragmatism and the ability to pro-actively think ahead for your patient’s requirements. But, the rewards can be amazing! You will love the team and get a real buzz from working with us.
We take recruitment very seriously because we know it is important to get the right people and it’s also important that you are going to like working with us. We want to build up a team of people who will stay for years, be part of the our family, and grow with us.

So if you have made it to the bottom of this job ad then you may be the person we are looking for. We are looking forward to hearing from you.