Offsite Electives

We are a low-cost veterinary clinic and animal shelter located in East St. Louis, Illinois—one of the most economically disadvantaged communities in the United States, with an average household income of approximately $30,000. Our mission is to increase access to veterinary care and reduce animal suffering by providing free spay/neuter services and low-cost medical care to members of our community.

Our clinic is fully equipped with ultrasound, digital radiography, in-house bloodwork analyzers, and dental equipment, allowing us to provide a wide range of diagnostics and treatments comparable to those offered by general practice veterinary hospitals. We operate on a walk-in model, enabling us to accommodate urgent cases, walk-in emergencies, and same-day surgical procedures when needed.  

In addition to serving the public, our facility also functions as an open-admission, no-kill animal shelter. Due to significant underfunding of local animal control services in East St. Louis, we effectively serve as the city’s primary animal control resource. Our shelter has an annual intake of approximately 1,800 animals, providing lifesaving care, sheltering, and placement services for dogs and cats in need. The majority of our intakes (and owned animals) are heartworm positive so we also do 6-12 heartworm injections a day as well. 

During this elective experience, the student will shadow a mobile equine veterinarian in an ambulatory practice setting. The student will observe and assist (as appropriate) with routine and urgent farm calls, including wellness examinations, vaccinations, lameness evaluations, dentistry, wound care, and emergency procedures. The student will gain exposure to field diagnostics and treatments while learning how veterinary care is adapted to varied farm environments without the use of a fixed clinic.

The DVM Externship Elective Experience at Virginia Veterinary Centers (VVC) is designed to provide veterinary students with immersive, hands-on exposure to high-level specialty and emergency medicine in a collaborative, teaching-focused referral hospital environment.

Externs will rotate through a wide range of specialty and support services, allowing them to tailor their experience to their clinical interests while gaining a comprehensive understanding of referral-level medicine, advanced diagnostics, and interdisciplinary case management.

Clinical Services & Specialties

DVM externs may observe and participate (as appropriate to skill level and licensing regulations) in the following services:

• Emergency & Critical Care (ER/ICU)
• Internal Medicine
• Neurology & Neurosurgery
• Surgery (Soft Tissue and Specialty Procedures)
• Oncology (Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology, when available)
• Anesthesia & Analgesia
• Dentistry & Oral Surgery
• Ophthalmology
• Dermatology

Externs will work closely with board-certified specialists and specialty-trained technicians, gaining exposure to real-time case discussions, rounds, diagnostics, treatment planning, and client communication.

Northeast Equine Veterinary Services is a large animal ambulatory practice servicing Ashtabula, Geauga and Trumbull County as well as surrounding areas. With two full-time veterinarians, case-load consists of predominantly equine but also includes a portion of bovine and small ruminant patients. Students should expect to see a case load based heavily on equine reproduction (season depending), equine preventative medicine, castration, minor surgeries as well as lameness and emergencies. Hours will vary depending on caseload and emergencies for the day.

Our five-doctor small animal general practice leans towards dentistry and integrative medicine. We have a Board Certified Veterinary Dentist, a dental residency trained DVM, a DVM with a special interest in Dentistry, and two general practice vets - one of which being our Medical Director who is certified in chiropractic and acupuncture from the Chi Institute. We are located in South Florida with a varied client base, mostly varied due to the dental referrals from hundreds of practices in the tri-county area and beyond. 

Students will work closely with the supervising Medical Director to gain experience in gathering patient histories, performing physical exams, creation of treatment plans, diagnostics, dentistry services, observing/assisting or performing surgical procedures, and medical management of patients. In addition to practicing their clinical skills, student externs will have the opportunity to practice their communication skills with the medical team, support staff, and clients. 

Advanced dentistry procedures happen 3-4 days a week, depending on schedules. During their time in hospital, students may witness root canals, full mouth extractions, jaw fracture repairs, mandibulectomies, oral mass removals and a variety of other complicated dental issues. 

Elective experience will have a focus on teaching. The student will shadow the veterinarian in  exam rooms and learn how to communicate with clients as well as increase comfort in patient interactions . Student and DVM will discuss cases and determine treatment plans together. Expectations of Student will increase with time. Student will also work with technician staff opportunity to draw blood in place canine and feline patients as well as scrub into surgery and assist   will also be  to perform certain portions of  with oversight.

The student would have the opportunity to shadow multiple veterinarians. We are a mix of general practice and emergency/urgent care, and are open 7 days a week. We perform elective, emergency and orthopedic surgery at our hospital 4 days a week, while other DVMs are in appointments, so a student has an opportunity to learn from multiple veterinarians on each day.

Students will be exposed to a 24/365 small animal ER in Ann Arbor, MI. Students will be able to work on skills including physical exams, creating differential diagnoses, diagnostic interpretation, and treatment plans. Students will also be able to perform medical procedures under the guidance of the veterinarian, including laceration repairs, placing urinary catheters, performing cystocentesis, etc. Students will also be present during abdominal surgeries and practice tissue handling skills. Students will be exposed to specialties in the hospital including Oncology, Soft Tissue Surgery, and Zoologic Companion animal medicine. 

Student will spend 2 weeks in the clinic, 1:1 with the owner doctor covering a wide variety of skills and objectives. They will get the opportunity to hone their technical skills, observe or scrub in for surgeries (depending on clinic schedule), practice client communication, perform physical exams, and much more.

This is a referral specialty hospital with board certified surgeons, internists, criticalists, oncologists. We work with a company called Paralax for our imaging and have in house US, CT  (128 slice), and MRI (1.5T). The current student applying is planning on rotating with me on surgery. We have externships frequently as Western U rotates through our facility. We have a structured externship program although it is usually 1 month long. The student will shadow us on appts and have the opportunity to get histories and speak with clients directly. We examine the pets in the back together. We asks them to present cases and provide differential lists. They will examine the in house patients and letting us know their plan. They scrub into every surgery and assist. In addition, we have didactic lecture rounds on multiple topics. We go through a detailed orthopedic exam with every student who rotates. We perform all surgery except for total hips with advanced MIS including NIR imaging, fluoroscopy for MIS fractures, iLoc, etc... In addition I am one of 3 US members of Vet3D and so we perform in house 3D printing for complex orthopedic cases which they can get some exposure to.