Offsite Electives

Participants will be following one of our veterinarian's throughout their daily schedule, including appointments and surgical procedures.

Ability to be a part of comprehensive team of General Practitioners & surgical team.

We are 2 small animal general practices with a total of 3 FT DVMs on staff. During the externship, we typically have students shadow our DVMs at first and then have them take appointments while overseeing them depending on student comfort. If able, we have rescue dogs we spay/neuter that we sometimes have students perform. They will see a combination of wellness, comprehensive/sick and urgent cases. 

The City of Boston's Animal Care and Control shelter receives stray, abandoned, abused, evicted and quarantined animals, We primarily care for and treat dogs, cats, small animals, domestic fowl, and triage injured and sick wildlife. The veterinary team, shelter manager, director of Boston Animal Control and the kennel staff hold daily rounds and care for approximately 10-20 animals on a daily basis.  The student will assist and/or perform medical examinations, vaccinations, venipuncture, heartworm testing and/or other in house lab tests, and administer routine parasite treatments and preventatives. We focus on preventative medicine however we treat day to day illnesses or injuries as needed in the shelter. The student may observe and/or participate in routine spay and neuter of shelter pets. We oversee animals on quarantines and the student will be able to assist or witness behavior evaluations and humane euthanasia. The extern may also be involved in postmortem exams in cruelty investigations. The student will be able to use Chameleon for medical record keeping and be expected to keep their own medical logs of animals examined and treated during the externship.

Description of Elective Experience:

The Banfield Externship Program provides veterinary students in their clinical year the opportunity to practice medicine one-on-one alongside an experienced coach veterinarian as a “doctor-in-training” to develop medical and surgical skills. Each extern is assigned a DVM coach and is expected to complete an individual set of weekly goals based upon their interests and Banfield hospital procedures. Externs will be exposed to a wide range of experiences geared towards developing their clinical skills in a nurturing, supportive environment, ranging from technical applications to inter-personal relationship techniques.

In accordance with the State Practice Act, Externship participants are provided with the opportunity to:

• Gain experience in general pet medicine in a bond-centered practice.
• Understand Banfield’s best practice standards, code of conduct, and ethics.
• Understand the concepts of quality medicine and preventive care.
• Understand how both high quality and high case load can complement each other.
• Learn to perform a physical exam and to record a thorough medical history.
• Improve technical skills such as: drawing blood, placing catheters, giving injections, starting fluids, assisting with anesthesia and surgeries under the mentor doctor’s direct supervision.
• Collect and interpret laboratory specimens.
• Learn how to order the appropriate diagnostic tests.
• Learn to establish effective therapeutic plans.
• Learn how to properly restrain dogs, cats, and exotic pets for different medical procedures.
• Learn how to efficiently and effectively use hospital equipment.
• Learn how to charge appropriately for services provided and why this is important.
• Learn and practice effective client and team communication skills.
• Learn to work effectively with hospital associates and others critical to their success."

Spend time with specialist or ER service with appointments and surgeries 

Shadow of 3 dvms, with primary being Dr. Bennett (Practice Owner). Present for examinations of patients for wellness, rechecks, diagnostic appointments. Shadow in surgery for procedures, most commonly seen; OVH, castration, mass removals, dentistry, etc. Assist DVM with sedated procedures; torn nails, aural hematoma repair, laceration repair, abscess, etc. 

Externs will be involved in physical examinations, case discussions, and may help with formulating treatment plans. Opportunities for viewing radiographs, ultrasound exams, and performing elective surgeries under supervision. 

The opportunity for hands on learning and mentorship. in a state of the art facility.

We are a rural independently owned, small animal GP practice with a touch of urgent care that cares deeply about our staff, clients and patients. We are a 2 FTE doctor practice with special interests in gentle handling (working on practice Fear Free Certification), dentistry, soft tissue surgery, and exotics (new and developing). We also have many high quality diagnostics. 
Our owner loves veterinary medicine and has a strong desire to share a positive practice owning experience. We want to provide hands on experience for medicine, surgery and practice ownership.