Offsite Electives

Student will go along  and help with the LA Drs for routine and emergency farm calls. Students will observe and help the SA Drs with routine, emergency, and surgical procedures;  also will assist the techs as needed.

We offer three week clinical rotations at a fully accredited veterinary school.  Student's experience with us will depend  upon the service.  

We expect the person to shadow the doctor, help with running blood work & xrays.   The doctor will also allow the student to observe surgery; they may also be able to help with doing dentals and easy procedures.

Small animal (canine/feline) general practice including wellness and sick care. We also see a high volume (~25%) of avian and exotic patients including, but not limited to, avians, reptiles, lemurs, and small mammals.

Veterinary Specialty Care is a 24-hour emergency and specialty facilty that includes the following specialties:  Surgery, Neurology, Internal Medicine, Oncoloby, Dentistry, Cardiology.  Our facility offers veterinary students as opportunity to shadow and observe the specialty of their interest as well as, with proper proof of insurance, help with cases under the direction of the doctor.  

Students will be shadowing the doctors in the exam rooms and given the opportunity to take the lead during exams also.  They can develop their own treatment plan with the input of the doctor on duty.

Students will be assisting with surgical procedures and allowed to perform surgeries under doctor supervision if time allows.

Students will be performing dental cleanings and extractions under doctor supervision.

We encourage students to perform jugular blood draws and place i.v. catheters.

We encourage any and all questions.  We want our students to obtain real clinicl experience during their 2 weeks with us.

The extern will accompany Institute veterinarians on clinical rounds in facilities housing rodents and non-rodents.  Under their supervision the extern will participate in diagnostic evaluations, post-operative care, quarantine procedures, colony health management, and rodent surveillance.  Participation may include venous catheterization and endotracheal intubation of swine, rabbits, ferrets, non-human primates, and rats; collection of samples for clinical chemistry, hematology, parasitology, and urinalysis of those species; and administration of medications for pre-, intra-, and post-operative support.  Externs may also participate in rat surgery workshops as time permits and may participate in necropsies.

Will attend weekly seminar series focusing on lab animal medicine, weekly research seminars and biweekly journal club meetings; opportunity for hands-on experience in diagnostic lab and transgenic center.  May attend seminars sponsored by the various institutions in Boston (e.g, MGH, Harvard, Broad Institute, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, etc.)

Will complete safety training and appropriate IACUC training.

The Pet Emergency and Specialty Center is a 24-hour specialty referral hospital serving San Diego. We have two locations. Our main hospital in La Mesa provides referral services which include internal medicine, emergency/critical care, oncology, surgery and avian/exotic medicine along with 24/7 emergency care. Our facility is closely associated with advanced imaging centers, making MRI readily available and we recently installed a 16-slice CT machine. We are affiliated with Eye Care for Animals and ophthalmologists receive cases in our La Mesa location twice a week. Our Chula Vista location is a 24-hour emergency hospital. At this site we are affiliated with a local dermatologist who sees appointments at our facility one day every other week. There are 21 staff veterinarians including two board certified criticalists, three board certified internists, two board certified surgeons, one board certified medical oncologist, one board certified anesthesiologist, an avian/exotic specialist (also board certified in aquatics) and fifteen highly trained internship trained emergency doctors. Senior students will shadow senior ER clinicians and criticalists on cases as well as some shadowing with our other specialists. They will participate in twice daily cage side patient rounds. Students will also participate in weekly intern topic rounds presented by one of our specialists and bi-weekly radiology rounds.

We are an AAHA accredited hospital.  We do CO2 laser surgery, digital radiolgraphy, MedRX videoscope, companion therapy laser.  

The student will participate daily in necropsy, biopsy or ZEAPS services and at the end of the elective shall be able to

• Perform all aspects of a necropsy, including gross evaluation, tissue trimming for processing, histopathology, and correlation of pathologic findings with history, clinical questions and ancillary testing, to formulate a final diagnosis.

• Perform all aspects of a biopsy, including tissue trimming for processing, histopathology, and correlation of pathologic findings with history and clinical questions, to formulate a final diagnosis.

• Synthesize and communicate findings in a written format.

The student will participate in anatomic pathology residency training functions.

The student will develop scientific writing skills