Offsite Electives

Student will pair with a doctor on staff for the day and will shadow in exam rooms and assist in surgeries.  Medical and surgical cases will be reviewed from history to outcome.  Student will interact with all staff members and with clients associated with any patient the student is involved with.  The experience will be as interactive and fully encompassing as possible.

Students will participate in a one-week hands-on learning course at a small animal clinic and teaching facility learning about and practicing physical exams, basic anatomy and physiology, in-house diagnostics, diseases, preventative medicine and will assist in anesthesia and surgery of spay and neuter patients. Students will learn and practice aseptic technique and sterile gloving, anesthetic monitoring, catheter placement, drug dose calculations, and have several labs including suture patterns, heart necropsy, and more.

Students will also participate in a one-week volunteer experience at a world renowned elephant sanctuary,  They will learn about the plight of the Asian elephant, participate in volunteer activities aimed at improving their welfare, shadow veterinarians as they treat and provide care to elephants and many other species at the facility (horses, water buffalo, dogs, cats, avian species, etc), and have lessons on anatomy, physiology, ethics, and veterinary care.

Students who participate in an elective at our facility will be given opportunities to learn about the various aspects of working in a large urban hospital.  The student will be working with the veterinarians on both outpatient and hospitalized patients, as well as surgical and rehabilitaton cases.  Ideally, a student will come away with an understanding of how to intergrate all of those areas in order to effectively treat their patient.  Also, students will gain some experience with the business aspects of a practice, from staffing to ordering of supplies, as well as some discussions about what to look for in their first job.

Two week elective externing at our clinic.  Externs will be going into exam rooms with the DVM, going over diagnostic plans, reviewing charts, doing physical exams.

The extern will also be aiding in surgeries ie scrubbing in for soft tissue surgeries, evaluations and discussion of radiographs with dental cleanings

This is the Small Animal Primary Care rotation for OSU students – a combination of medicine, general surgery, dentistry, and behavior. Currenty, students average about 42 spay/neuter surgeries per student, 45 medical exams per student, 8 hospitalized patients per student and 2 dental/oral surgery experiences per student.

Students are assigned to a busy 24-hour, 7-day per week emergency service on a shift system. The students are responsible for diagnosis and management of animals presented to the service under the supervision of Emergency Service staff. Emergency Service rounds are held Monday through Thursday inclusive, and include topics related to emergency medicine and surgery centered around case discussion.

Students shadow a coach doctor and are considered a doctor in training with 100% of the time foacused on learning objectsives and goals selected by the extern.

During their stay with us, we will mentor students through exam rooms with patients as well as shadowing in surgery.  For exam rooms, we will have them shadow us into the room and then, when able to, have them perform their own physical and then compare after the room is over.  Again, when able discuss the thought process before going over the work up of the case/treatment.  For shadowing in surgery, we will have them scrub in and assist.  Discussing the procedure and maybe for some that they had scrubbed in, perform a part of the procedure under us being scrubbed in as well - pending on how the surgeries go.

The intern will experience our well-equipped, computerized hospital with digital X-ray, surgical and therapeutic laser units, high speed dental equipment and dental radiography to support our rapidly expanding pet dental health program, as well as in-house diagnostics. They will learn about our on-line shopping sites and our newly implemented Wellness Plans to facilitate increased compliance for our patients. Additionally, our practice benefits from a great relationship with referral practices in the southwest Ohio area.  They will also enjoy our hardworking, dedicated staff and learn what it takes to develop and keep a loyal clientele such as we have.

The volunteer / student will work in our daily shelter clinic where he/she will see both clients and shelter animals. Regular consults from vaccines, general examinations, skin infections, ear infections, sickness check-ups, snap testing and parvo testing / treatment will all be seen by the volunteer/student. The volunteer/student will work alongside one of our experienced vets and will also be included on daily surgeries, anything from routine spay and neuter operations to lump removals and wound stitch-ups. 

The facility does have a digital x-ray machine, to which the volunteer/student would also gain experience in using and reading. 

The volunteer/student would work Monday to Friday 8.30-4pm.