Coral Springs Animal Hospital, FL

The extern program at Coral Springs Animal Hospital is designed to give you an opportunity to take the knowledge you have obtained in the classroom and observe it in the setting of a general, emergency, and multi-specialty private practice. We hope to help you develop your skills in gathering and assessing information accurately by observation while developing an ability to arrive at sound clinical judgments. You will get out of it as much as you put in. Our program does not offer a lot of hands on work except for individuals who are experienced in veterinary nursing duties. The maximum amount of time you can do an Externship with Coral Springs Animal Hospital is a total of eight (8) consecutive weeks (longer externships can be arranged for international students based upon availability).

Coral Springs Animal Hospital is a general practice and emergency hospital with a specialty referral center for Surgery, Internal Medicine, Oncology, Dermatology, Radiology, Cardiology, Ophthalmology, E/CC, Behavioral Medicine, Specialty Dentistry, and Neurology.  We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Coral Springs Animal Hospital is an AAHA Accredited hospital in General Hospital, Specialty Surgery, Specialty Internal Medicine, Specialty Oncology, Specialty Canine Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, and Specialty Neurology. We are proud to have been awarded the AAHA Referral Practice of the Year for 2015 as well as PetPlan Pet Insurance Hospital of the Year. We were VETERINARY ECONOMICS "Hospital of the Year" in 2012 and AAHA Featured Practice of the Month, August 1990.  Our 42,000 square foot hurricane-proof building originally built in 2008 is one of the most modern, attractive and efficient veterinary hospitals anywhere. Our on-site 1250 KV diesel generator provides automatic switch over power for the entire hospital in case of an electrical failure. The hospital can run for approximately five days on a full take in case of a hurricane power outage.

Our goal at Coral Springs Animal Hospital is to expose the extern to ethical and expert clinical standards. 

• Five Operating Rooms – orthopedic, soft-tissue, neurosurgery, minimally invasive surgery.
• Physical Rehabilitation
• Video Endoscopy,
• Bronchoscopy, Colonoscopy, Gastroscopy, Endoscopy and Rhinoscopy
• Cancer Center
• Ultrasonography,
• Electrocardiography,
• Interventional Cardiology
• Vimago CT, Fluoroscope, and Digital Imaging
• Pulse Oximetry,
• Video Otoscopy,
• Dental Operatory with Digital Dental Radiography,
• Defibrillator.
• Two Snyder Intensive Care Units with oxygen, heating and nebulizer,
• Microsurgical, Neurosurgical, and ASIF Equipment,
• Mechanically assisted Ventilators
• Minimally Invasive Surgery
• 300 MA, 125 KVP Digital Radiology Unit,
• Full In-house Laboratory. 
• Idexx Reference Laboratory
• Electromyography
• MRI , 1.5 Tesla

• After you request to participate in our Extern Program, the Hospital Executive Coordinator, Stephanie Cavrudatz, will send you a Questionnaire that you will need to fill out in full and submit for approval with the proper documentation. We will do our best to try to accommodate your requests, however we sometimes have heavy demand and therefore limited space available, and we may not be able to accept your application for the dates or the rotations you are requesting.

• You are expected to look and act professionally at all times. Please see section on dress code/appearance.

• We recommend that you purchase a small 3 or 6 ring binder notebook that fits in your pocket so you may take notes throughout the day.

• Front Office Hours are as follows:

Monday-Friday                7:30 AM - 7:00 PM

Saturday                           8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Sundays/Holidays             Closed except for Emergencies

• The Hospital is open and staffed for emergencies 24/7/365. (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year).

• You are expected to be on duty by 7:30 AM every morning you are scheduled. Case rounds start promptly at 7:30 AM.

• On your first day, please arrive by 7:20 AM.  Stephanie Cavrudatz will greet and introduce you to the veterinary medical staff in case rounds at 7:30 AM.  If anyone other than Stephanie is going to greet you, we will notify you in advance and designate another member of Management to assist with expediting paperwork, providing your name badge, schedule, key card and take your picture.  You will then be introduced to the veterinary medical staff at Case Rounds.

• Emergencies at nights/Sundays/Holidays - (optional) tell the night staff to call you if you want to be called in for "out of hour's" emergencies.

ROUNDS:

TYPES OF ROUNDS

1. "Morning Transfer Rounds" occur daily and allow transfer of hospitalized cases between shifts.  Newly admitted cases are discussed and ongoing cases are updated in these rounds.  Intern teaching is done through real-time feedback.

2. "Continuing Education Rounds" (or "Teaching Rounds") occur two to three times/ week (you can get a copy of the schedule from Stephanie Cavrudatz) and provide a rotating mix of Journal Club, Intern Lecture Series, Intern Topic Presentations, Radiology Teaching Rounds, and Morbidity & Mortality Rounds. 

MORNING TRANSFER ROUNDS

CSAH Morning Transfer Rounds occur 7 days a week.  Rounds are designed to be informative, efficient, and medically oriented.   They serve three purposes:

1. Facilitation of optimal and thorough patient care
2. Maintaining open communication and proper transfer of cases between services.
3. Teaching interns through direct feedback on case management.

Schedule

Mon- Fri:                           7:30 AM – 8:00 AM   (Upstairs Conference Room)

Sat, Sun, Holidays:          7:30 AM – 8:15 AM   (ICU Cage-side)

 MANDATORY ATTENDANCE:

1. ALL on-duty interns and externs,
2. ALL on-duty ECC/GP doctors and
3. ALL specialists assigned to receive daily transfers for their service.  Specialists that are not in attendance will not have transfer preference (exception: if a patient emergency takes precedence).
4. Every Service must be represented by at least one specialist from that service.

PRESENTING OF CASES:

1. ECC doctor leads rounds and is responsible for starting and ending rounds on time and keeping rounds on schedule.
2. Cases are ALWAYS presented in a concise and efficient manner. ECC doctor may call time if presenter exceeds guidelines below.
3. Emphasis is placed on new cases and ongoing complicated cases.
4. Order of presentation is transfer of new cases, and surgery cases (surgery and IM staff has dept. specific rounds at 8:00 am)
5. All hospitalized ICU cases are to be mentioned (even if only briefly). Nurse supervised boarders are not to be discussed.

NEW CASES:

Sixty seconds or less, presenters should condense their presentations to a paragraph including:

• Presenting Complaint
• Signalment
• Review of pertinent Physical Exam findings
• Problem List
• Differential Diagnosis

ONGOING CASES: in thirty seconds or less, presenters should give:

• Signalment
• Diagnosis
• Update of new significant information

CONTINUING EDUCATION ROUNDS

CSAH Continuing Education Rounds occur on a rotating schedule throughout the year.  These rounds are held weekly or biweekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays mostly) and rotate between the intern lecture series and intern topic presentations, morbidity & mortality rounds, journal club, and radiology teaching rounds. 

The intern coordinator schedules the exact schedule with relevant topics and the assigned presenter and the schedule is available to all doctors and externs the month prior. 

Sample Schedule:

Tuesdays & Thursdays:         8:00 AM – 9:00 AM   (Teaching Rounds)

Wednesdays:                         8:00 AM – 9:00 AM    (Intern Topic Presentations, Journal Club, M&M                                                                                                 Rounds)

Thursdays:                              8:00 AM – 9:00 AM   (Cytology Rounds)

NOTE: Full schedule is released monthly with assigned topic/presenter--there may be additional teaching rounds scheduled as well as additional breakfast and learns and lunch and learns.

HOUSING:

Free dormitory housing is available in a private quiet area of the hospital. Bedding and towels will be provided. Showers are located in the locker room area of the main bathrooms, and are just down the hall from the dorm rooms. You must be dressed appropriately (bathrobe) when walking between your dorm room and the bathroom as you will be walking through a public area. You are also welcome to use the lunchroom for any meal preparations and dining. In our lunchroom, we have a refrigerator with a freezer and cabinet space to store your food. We also have a microwave and commercial size coffee machine (free) available for use. Your personal laundry (if applicable) needs to be done at a local laundromat. There are restaurants/shopping within walking distance. For more information on Housing, please contact Stephanie Cavrudatz for additional details.

2160 N University Drive
Coral Springs, FL 33071
United States