Meet Dr Abbie Tipler – she’s an educator joining VetPrac in 2018 and will make her “debut” assisting Dr Brent Higgins at the OssAbility Stifle system workshop at UQ Gatton on February 9-10, 2018. Abbie is a fellow Kiwi, who moved to Australia to find warmth, as she only likes cold weather if there’s snow nearby. Abbie has 2 young children which keep her very busy, as well as 2 Ragdolls. One of the Ragdolls is cross eyed and not very intelligent, but is nevertheless much loved by Abbie and her family. Abbie has a love and a passion for surgery, and was born an animal lover, so it’s no surprise she became a veterinarian. Soon after graduation she developed her surgical skills, initially in London, in a combined GP and orthopaedic referral centre. Luckily the series “Suits” was not aired when Abbie was at secondary school, as she may have become a lawyer instead of a veterinary surgeon. Abbie watches Suits on constant repeat (when not running after her 2 young children, running, skiing or doing ballet), and thinks she was the character Donna in another life. She secretly would love to be called up for Jury Duty one day!
Abbie performs mainly orthopaedic procedures now, but loves ophthalmic surgery, as she gets to wear Loupes which, in Abbie’s words, make her feel more intelligent. Her advice for general practitioners who wish to pursue further education in surgery is to invest in CPD like you did your university education. In Abbie’s opinion your practice CPD allowance is usually not enough. She also suggests to not let anyone tell you that you can’t do a particular surgery, but pick the right cases with help from more experienced mentors and build gradually. Abbie highly values practicing on cadavers to help with improving skills with tissue handling, identifying surgical landmarks and anatomy. Sounds like Abbie will fit in perfectly with the VetPrac philosophy which is “Practical skills for practical vets”.
Abbie rates the support from OssAbility highly, and appreciates the safety of the whole system. She likes its step-by-step approach, and is keen to assist Brent to help others benefit from the OssAbility system. Like Brent, Abbie realises the importance of post-operative rehabilitation exercise in order to optimise outcomes, and involves her nursing staff in the delivery of advice to owners at discharge. She values a good team spirit in her workplace, and encourages new graduates to develop enhanced client communication skills, and to involve the owner in the decision making process.
VetPrac is excited about Abbie joining our team. For more information about the OssAbility stifle system workshop, click here. Or check out the workshop brochure here.
Written by Alison Caiafa