Offsite Electives

This Elective Experience is a practical educational experience in Veterinary Dental Procedures, This will occur via a mobile consulting and dental care service for patients/procedures throughout SW Pennsylvania and NE OH.  Each day will involve travel to one practice (sometimes 2) to observe vet dental patients in a general practice and observe the patient consultation, oral treatment plan development and execution of the plan for the patient(s) for that day.  The student will be asked to be involved in observing and discussing the patient's general health, pre-operative work-up,  anesthetic protocol, and the performance of the patient procedure(s).  The student is also expected to participate in discussion of the aftercare for the patient(s).  The student should have time to observe the general activities in the background of practices each day and have some time to interface with several veterinarians and staff members.

The schedule should involve 5 business days each of the two weeks and possibly a Saturday on one of the weekends.  The student should have gained exposure to 10, or so, general small animal practices in the region described above during the elective period. 

The student has the opportunity for extensive small animal dental experience including advanced periodontal therapies, extraction techniques, orthodontics, endodontics and crown therapy.  The student also has the opportunity for extensive experience in dental marketing and disease recognition, dental x-ray techniques, and evaluation of dental x-rays (computer and digital storage of dental cases).  The student will get to experience how all of the above is incorporated into a general high quality small animal practice.  The clinic is networked for 4 online stations.  It is a full veterinary small animal clinic that has fully equipped lab for hematology, microbiology, and serology.  This is an excellent learning environment in a setting close to campus with a great support staff.

Participate in routine and scheduled farm calls, and emergencies

Students will begin by observing clinic protocol, move to participating in patient restraint and care. Cases will be discussed from examination through diagnostics, reassessments, treatments, and follow up.

The experience is going to center around general every day medical appointments and surgeries.  They will have the ability to assist in diagnosis, treatment options, interacting with clients in a hospital setting, and general surgery.

Chimera Veterinary Services was started by Dr. Foster Anderson in 2012 as a food animal mobile-only practice in east-central Ohio. As of February 2017, we have expanded to a mixed animal practice with the addition of Bailey Veterinary Clinic in Newark, Ohio as our base of operation. We provide small animal medicine, surgey and diagnostics in a semi-rural area. Our large animal mobile services cover mostly Licking, Muskingum, and Perry counties, but branch into several adjoining counties south and east. The large animal clientele is 75% beef cattle, 15% cervidae and small ruminant, 10% other (dairy/equine/swine/exotics). Students have the opportunity to assist in the clinic and with ambulatory services on a daily basis, including after-hours emergencies. Wednesdays are sale day at Muskingum Livestock Auction where Dr. Anderson is the market veterinarian. Students can gain hands-on experience in USDA/Ohio Ag. Dept. regulatory responsibilities at the stockyard as well as experience processing cattle for buyers at the sale.  Seasonally, there is reproductive work on the beef and deer farms where breeding soundness, artificial insemination, pregnancy diagnosis and birthing/dystocia work are a big part of the practice. There is always plenty of regulatory testing for seedstock sales and whitetail deer herds. April through July we work with our USDA regulated exotics breeders de-scenting baby skunks and examining skunks, foxes, raccoons, and other exotics for sale and interstate transport.  We are also expanding our apiary to the Newark clinic this year. With honeybees officially listed as food animals, students can learn about and work with us in our hives, if they are interested.

An elective at Leighow Veterinary Hospital will enable the student to see "real world" small animal practice where we strive for quality veterinary medical care.   Our clientele includes a variety of loving care owners, as well as shelter organizations.  As a student, one will be able to work with those clients that are able to do anything and everything for their pets including referral to a specialty clinic as needed.  In contrast, the student will interact with those clients who have limited funds and we have to "think outside the box" to help the pets.  The practice is a busy practice and we encourage all of our veterinarians and students to "think on their feet" throughout the day.  With a staff of 3-4 veterinarians and an excellent support staff, mentoring young students is a priority.

The student will be exposed to all aspects of a 24/7 general practice. Our 8 doctors and 13 registered techs provide high quality medicine and surgery. In additon we offer day care, physical rehab, boarding and grooming. We expect to expose students to all aspects of our busy practice. We will make an effort to allow them to do minor surgeries and work in the exam room.  In addition I hope to expose students to the realities of the veterinary business. 

Shadowing the doctors of Rivergate Veterinary Clinic through their appointments, diagnostics, and surgery.

Student will get first hand experience in the art of working in and running a solo small animal veterinary hospital. Given the volumes of academic material necessary to properly educate a veterinary student, there are aspects of the profession that receive little to no attention.This is essential information that one must know in order to run a successful business as well as being a successful practitioner. Experience will focus primarily on the solo practitioner and the unique challenges that are faced on a daily basis. Student will learn to cope with an extremely limited staff and space and how to deal with emergency situations and sudden changes to schedules while trying to practice a high level of quality care. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of when to properly refer cases as well as successfully practicing without the benefit of a fellow colleague.Student will also experience the business aspects of the profession, including inventory, cost of materials, pricing goods and services, salaries, expenses, building maintenance, safety, and employee issues.