Offsite Electives

Observation at a busy referral veterinary dermatology and allergy practice with 2 board certified dermatologists and one third year resident in dermatology.

Shadowing in a 100% wildlife practice in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Students live on site in a wildlife reserve/game farm. 90-100% ambulatory wildlife practice, up to 10% research depending on time of year, opportunity to spend a day with government livestock vet if desired. Most work is immobilisation and translocation of healthy wildlife. Practice specialises in giraffe, rhino, hippo immobilization but treats all wildlife. As well as translocations we do wildlife herd health, snare removal, rhino dehorning, medical care of poaching victims at a rhino orphanage, occasional field surgeries (e.g., lion vasectomy, rare).

Opened in 1975 by Dr. Barbara Stein, Chicago Cat Clinic has been the premier destination for Feline care in the Chicago area for 50 years. We utilize the latest in-house diagnostics, digital x-ray and monitoring equipment. We have a cardiologist that performs echocardiograms several times a month as well as a DVM who travels here often and performs abdominal ultrasounds as needed on site. We have great relationships with local specialists who will consult on an as needed basis.  We perform numerous dental and soft tissue surgeries.  Our patients range from kittenhood to geriatric, seeing many cats into their 20's.  We see wellness visits as well as non well visits, so your experience here will be well rounded.

Come extern with us!

Heartland Veterinary Partners' Externship Program works to provide 1st-4th year veterinary students with hands-on experience and mentorship to help have them 'practice ready' by their first day in practice. 

Externships are typically 2 weeks long and Heartland will cover the cost of lodging if needed.

Length of externship is flexible & we can support your preceptorship documentation as well.

Appointment experiences

• Student will have the opportunity to shadow in exam rooms for wellness and illness/injury appointments for dog and cat patients.
• Student will perform their own physical exams (and the doctor will as well) and will have the chance to compare/contrast findings.
• Student will be given opportunities to engage with clients in terms of history taking, relaying medical findings, and discussing treatment plans.
• We will have frequent teaching rounds to discuss cases with the student having the opportunity to lead a discussion of how to proceed with each patient. 

Surgical experiences

• Student will assist with soft tissue surgical procedures including spay/neuter, dentistry, and mass removals.
• We perform a variety of other soft tissue surgeries as needed including foreign body removal, bladder stone / cystotomy, and gastropexy.
• No orthopedic surgeries are performed here. We can do the evaluation but would refer for surgery.

Student will gain experience using surgical laser and compare with traditional scalpel techniques.

Sterner Veterinary Livestock Professionals is a private food animal practice working with dairy, beef, small ruminant, and swine. 

Students participate on daily herd healths including palpation, sick cow, dehorning, disbudding and other routine work. They are able to participate on regular scheduled work from vaccination, dehorning, disbudding goats, beef cattle work if in the fall. They also attend emergency calls as they come in varying from obs, bloats, surgeries from LDAs to rumenostomies. We try to put students with vets each day who have a busy schedule but also a schedule that allows students to get more hand on experiences so they can develop their skills. 

Full experience encompassing the day-to-day workload as a GP veterinarian in NYC; This includes but is not limited to: Learning how to go about the regular flow of appointments, discussing differentials with other DVMs and coming up with a treatment plan, gaining confidence in client communication skills and understanding of preventative medicine.

Cadaver based wet-lab (barring time availability) going over routine procedures such as OVH and neuter; while also gaining some hands on experience with other surgeries that a GP veterinarian should be able to perform, if need be, such as: enucleation, R&A, enterotomy, splenectomy, amputation, and so forth.

Middletown Animal Hospital is a full service small animal (canine/feline) veterinary clinic located in Middletown, Ohio. We have a brand new JPI digital radiology system and Dr. Combs specializes in physical therapy and homeopathic medical alternatives (acupuncture, laser therapy, PRP, Chinese herbs, etc.) in addition to traditional medicine teachings. We are looking to add an additional DVM to our practice and welcome new graduates! We are offering mentorships in both surgical and general practice areas of our clinic, and are willing to provide no-cost, pet-friendly housing to those willing to work for MAH. 

Main activities performed by students on the Navajo Nation Externship

1) Herd/Production Medicine

-castration

-dehorning

-tail docking sheep

-establishing vaccine protocols and vaccinating beef cattle, sheep, and goats

-pregnancy diagnosis by rectal palpation and ultrasound

-blood collection for biosecurity screening

-fecal sample collection for fecal egg counts

-body condition scoring and providing advice on nutrition

-aging animals and providing advice on culling old animals

-bull breeding soundness examinations two days in the spring

-Round on medical problems as well as rural practice, challenges, and opportunities

2) Individual Animals

-Diagnose and treat individual sick animals 

3) Mentoring high school students and sharing experiences about vet school

We are a large animal veterinary service which is primarily mobile.  We differ from the traditional brick and mortar practices in a couple ways.  The obvious one is typically a brick and mortar practice will be small or mixed animal where the patients come to you.  Being mobile, we go to our farm and ranch clients' location.  To provide the highest quality patient care with our pledge to educate our clients, helping them understand all aspects of animal health and preventative care.  Providing exceptional medicine and an effective treatment plan outlining the care of their well, sick, or injured animal through our state-of-the-art mobile treatment services.

Bay Beach Veterinary Emergency Hospital in Virginia Beach, Virginia is a multi-doctor 24/7 emergency practice serving 90% companion animals and 10% exotics. We have a strong focus on maintaining exceptional client communication, patient care and medical protocol standards. We believe every patient and client deserves the best medicine and care we can offer. Bay Beach Veterinary Emergency Hospital also has a General Practice sister hospital (6 doctors, fully staffed) located just 20 minutes away, in the heart of Virginia Beach. Visiting specialists provide echocardiogram and advanced ultrasound services. Bay Beach Veterinary Emergency Hospital is part of the VetEvolve network. 

Our Externship Program is created to give each student a personalized experience.  Students will work alongside our staff doctors to we offer the flexibility, mentorship, and diverse learning experience you want. Our Externship Program gives students intensive hands-on emergency medicine experience and the chance to work alongside skilled emergency doctors. Students will focus on learning how to communicate effectively with our clients, diagnose a variety of emergency conditions, develop emergency treatment plans, and collaborate with support staff in a fast-paced environment.  If desired, we have a fully staffed general practice about 25 minutes away that offers surgery, dentistry, at which students can also split their time between the ER and the GP/elective surgery.