Offsite Electives

Veterinary Student Externship

Our veterinary externship provides veterinary students with hands-on clinical experience in a busy, collaborative hospital environment. Externs will work alongside experienced veterinarians, credentialed veterinary technicians, and support staff while gaining exposure to the daily operations of a high-quality veterinary practice.

During the externship, students may observe and participate in physical examinations, diagnostic testing, treatment planning, case discussions, surgical procedures, anesthesia, dentistry, emergency care, and hospitalized patient management, depending on their level of training and the hospital’s caseload. Externs are encouraged to ask questions, develop clinical reasoning skills, and practice effective communication with clients and the veterinary team.

The program is designed to help students strengthen their medical knowledge, technical skills, professionalism, and understanding of the veterinarian’s role in patient care. Each externship experience may be tailored to the student’s interests, educational goals, and experience level.

Ideal candidates are currently enrolled in an accredited veterinary medicine program and demonstrate professionalism, curiosity, initiative, compassion, and a commitment to patient care. Externs must comply with all hospital safety, confidentiality, dress code, and professional conduct requirements.

This externship offers students the opportunity to explore veterinary practice, build professional relationships, and gain meaningful experience in a supportive clinical setting.

Veterinary externs will gain experience as a GP veterinarian at our small animal practice. They will accompany the medical director and associate veterinarians in exams and procedures and will gain hands on experience performing exams, entering patient notes, and communicating with clients. They will also observe and potentially assist with treatments, diagnostics, and surgical procedures.

Elective Experience – Two-Week Small Animal General Practice Externship

During this two-week externship, the veterinary student will be immersed in the daily operations of a busy AAHA-accredited small animal general practice. The student will have opportunities to observe and participate, as appropriate for their level of training, in wellness and sick-patient examinations, client communication, diagnostic workups, treatment planning, surgery, dentistry, anesthesia, and inpatient care.

The externship will provide opportunities to:

• Perform physical examinations and develop differential diagnoses under veterinarian supervision.
• Interpret laboratory results, cytology, radiographs, and other diagnostic findings.
• Participate in medical case discussions and treatment planning.
• Observe and assist with routine soft tissue surgeries and dental procedures, including anesthetic monitoring and perioperative care.
• Gain experience in preventive medicine, vaccination protocols, parasite prevention, and chronic disease management.
• Develop communication skills through client interactions, case presentations, and medical record documentation.
• Work alongside veterinarians, credentialed veterinary technicians, assistants, and client service representatives to gain an appreciation for the collaborative nature of companion animal practice.
• One day each week of the externship will be spent at a local animal shelter, where the student will have increased opportunities for supervised, hands-on clinical experience. Under the direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian and veterinary support staff, the student may perform and/or assist with technical skills appropriate to their level of training, including placing intravenous catheters, preparing patients for surgery, inducing and monitoring anesthesia, endotracheal intubation, patient positioning and surgical preparation, and perioperative patient care. Students will also have the opportunity to scrub in and assist with routine spay and neuter procedures and other surgical cases as appropriate.
• This shelter experience is intended to complement the general practice portion of the externship by strengthening practical clinical skills, increasing confidence with common technical procedures, and providing additional exposure to high-volume surgery, anesthesia, and shelter medicine.

The externship will emphasize evidence-based medicine, Fear Free patient handling, high-quality patient care, client education, and teamwork. Students will be encouraged to ask questions, actively participate in case discussions, and progressively increase their level of involvement as their knowledge and skills permit under direct veterinary supervision. By the end of the two weeks, the student will have gained practical insight into the medical, surgical, and professional responsibilities of a companion animal general practitioner.

Sports Medicine, Performance horse based practice with some general medicine and Limited emergency services.

Focus on Top tier diagnostics, critical thinking, and Lameness for the Performance horse.  With integration of alternative therapies(i.e. acupucture, Chiropractic, laser, shockwave, etc.)

Students are immersed in clinical service. Senior clinicians discuss cases and help the student formulate diagnostic and therapeutic plans. Students observe client interactions in the exam rooms. As patient stability allows, students are invited to participate in procedures, such as thoracocentesis, abdominocentesis, etc.

Duties for DVM students from AVMA-accredited veterinary colleges include:

• Mentored surgical and medical case responsibility, including patient examination, assessment, formulation of a diagnostic and treatment plan, and administration of treatments.

• Spay/neuter surgeries, assistance with dental or soft tissue surgeries, and assistance with anesthesia.

• Assistance with vaccine clinics and other procedures/events depending on availability.

Surgery (routine, soft tissue, exploratory, orthopedic,etc), Surgical Laser, Therapy Laser, Dentistry, Ultrasonography, Radiology, Laboratory (in house Idexx & reference), Pharmacy, Client Education & Communication, Avimark,  Nutrition, Preventatives, Vaccinations, Geriatric Care, Nursing & Hospitalization, Wound Care

General mixed animal practice including medical and surgical cases

Student shadows our veterinarians, participates in surgeries, treatments, interacting with clients, gaining experience in all areas, small animal, horse room, and cow room. Assists in after hours calls and farm calls. With the aid of our veterinarians, they are allowed to determine courses of treatment. 

The student will be riding with 1 of 4 veterinarians that work at the clinic. The clinic works with 90% dairy cattle, 5 % beef cattle and 5% small ruminants. The clinic is entirely ambulatory and the student will be on approximately 3-4 farms per day. She will have opportunities to palpate everyday of the week and use an ultrasound for pregnancy diagnosis and calf thoracic ultrasound. We also provide extensive sick cow work, and perform a high number of surgeries per week that she will be able to assist with.