Offsite Electives

Busch Gardens Tampa, Animal Care Center

Type of Experience: Zoo Animal Medicine

Practice Name: Busch Gardents Tampa, Animal Care Center

Description Experience: Four clinical veterinarians with a combined 54 years experience in zoo animal medicine. Two are board certified in the American College of Zoological Medicine. A Board Certified Veterinary Pathologist with 15 years experience.

Institutional Resources: A 3 year old12,000 sq. foot, fully equipped,  State of the Art Veterinary facility. A quarantine facility. A collection of roughly 220 exotic animals including over 300 species of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Educational Resources: A comprehensive library of veterinary textbooks ; many related to exotic animal medicine. Access to the JAVMA & Journal of Zoo & Wildlife Medicine. Daily rounds of ongoing cases. Access to in-house medical records program. Will be expected to complete a small research project/data mining, under the guidance of the veterinarians.

Responsibilities of Students: They will participate in morning rounds to discuss the cases for the day. Students will observe veterinarians during both field procedures and hospital procedures.  They will also observe veterinarians and technicians administering treatment to hospitalized cases. They will learn how to formulate diagnostic and treatment plans for animals in the collection. They will be involved in formulating diagnostic and treatment plans for injured wildlife brought to the park. Time will be spent observing the veterinary pathologist performing gross necropsies and learning comparative anatomy, recognition of gross lesions, and sample collection procedures for histopathology and ancillary testing. Students will learn about the importance of a preventative medicine program for a zoological collection and be exposed to various aspects of it. There will be opportunities to observe the veterinary technicians in the clinical lab and learn how to run blood chemistries and hematology. Technicians will also familiarize students with preparing fecals for parasite exams and identifying parasite ova.
During down time in the clinics students will have an opportunity to work alongside animal care specialists who care for animals in the collection. This will expose them to proper husbandry techniques, exhibit maintenance and behavioral conditioning. They will also be able to spend time in the Nutrition Center learning what it takes to feed our collection on a daily basis and learning about nutritional aspects of animal health from our Nutrition Manager. 
Students will always be encouraged to participate in discussion of cases and ask questions. Veterinarians will be challenging students to apply the knowledge and skills that they have worked so hard to develop in the course of their veterinary education.

Student Supervision: Direct supervision at all times by one or more of the 4 clinical veterinarians and/or Veterinary Pathologist for at least 8 hours a day for 5 or 6 days per week.

Is Housing Available? No

Practice Information: 3605 E. Bougainvillea Ave Tampa, Fl 33612 ● Telephone: 813 987-5560 ● Fax: 813 987-5548 ● email: mike.burton@buschgardens.com ● http://buschgardens.com/

Clinical Supervisor: Michael S. Burton VMD, Peter Black DVM, Dominique Keller DVM, Maria Spriggs DVM

Location: 

Tampa, Fl

Elective categories: 

Zoo Animal Medicine

Green Meadow Veterinary Hospital is a growning mixed animal practice.  We currently have a fulltime veterinarian/owner and a well trained support staff.  We are looking to expand our veterinary staff to 4 fulltime veterinarians.  The majority of our practice is small animal but our large animal side is growing.  We see small and large animal patients in the hospital and provide ambulatory services for small and large animal patients.

We are a busy four doctor general practice that has been open for over 50 years.  We have 4 full time technicians, a fantastic support staff and a loyal client base.  We invite you to come experience the daily workings of our hospital.  We do surgery five days a week and perform almost every orthopedic and soft tissue surgery in-house (the rare back surgery is typically sent to a referral hospital).  We encourage students, soon-to-be-doctors, to be involved with each and every case - this includes dialogue with the doctors and hands on experience.

We provide a broad spectrum of diagnostic procedures through in-house testing and the use of external laboratories. We also work closely with local practices when special diagnostic procedures are
required. The facility includes a well-stocked pharmacy, in-hospital surgery suite, in-house digital x-ray capabilities, a closely supervised hospitalization area, and indoor boarding kennels with outdoor walking areas.

Interning here will be very hands on and in some cases very demanding. We can usually get upwards to 10 surgeries a week, mostly spays and neuters and we are frequently busy. There are some slow days but there is always something to do.

Shadowing and practice of veterinary medicine paired with coach/mentor Dr. for duration of externship and tailored to individual students' interests and skillset in a fast-paced small animal practice

Topics can include:  Conservation & Wildlife Medicine (East African Large Predator & Prey Animal Health Monitoring & Interventions; Rescue; Restoration; Livestock-Wildlife-Interface Disease Monitoring; One Health [Echinococcus-Research]); Field-Lab Diagnostics; Community Conservation & Education; Human - Wildlife Conflict-Mitigation

Participate in all program activities (incl. non-vet) so as to gain sufficient insight into complexity of wildlife health & conservation particularly at the wildlife-livestock- & conservation area-community interface.

The Uganda Carnivore Program (www.uganda-carnivores.org) is multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to the monitoring, research, and conservation of predators in Uganda. We focus on both scientific research and monitoring and community-based wildlife conservation. Students can be involved in all aspects of our program.

Students will accompany Miller & Associates veterinarians on ambulatory and in-house veterinary calls for primary and emergency veterinary care in our  primarily show - horse practice. Students will have the opportunity to observe extensive lameness evaluations, & assist in formulating treatment plans based upon a thorough review of imaging and examination results. 

Rotating externship. RBVH is a 24-hour emergency and critical care facility, referral practice, general practice and house call service.

Externships

The Hagyard Equine Medical Institute externship program provides students the opportunity to gain “real-world” experience in a group practice dedicated to caring for some of the most valued equine patients in the world. The program design allows students to choose from a wide array of high quality equine veterinary medical services, each one a specialty of the firm.

Field Care Externship:
The student will observe primary field veterinarians and experience services ranging from reproduction, radiology, and herd health to acupuncture and chiropractic medicine. Students must have transportation if they choose to participate in this externship. Available from February – October.

Medicine Externship:
The student will observe ACVIM board-certified internists at the McGee Medicine Center, in addition to patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Intermediate Care Barn, and Primary Care Barn. Available from February – November.

Surgery Externship:
The student will observe a variety of surgery procedures within the Davidson Surgery Center, in addition to nuclear scintigraphy, digital radiography, and MRI. Available from February – October.

Theriogenology Externship:
The student will observe one of Hagyard’s reproduction specialists and observe assisted fertility and infertility services provided in the field and at the McGee Fertility Center. Students must have transportation if they choose to participate in this externship. Available from February – June.

We strongly encourage externships be scheduled between the months of February and May to allow a broader learning experience.

Prerequisites for Externship:

1. Primary professional interest in equine veterinary medicine.
2. Preferences given to third and fourth year veterinary student or graduate veterinarian.
3. Transportation to and from Hagyard.

Application Process:
E-mail information to: Jamie O’Flynn at joflynn@hagyard.com

1. Letter of Intent – Include the specific dates you would like to participate in an externship as well as the areas of Hagyard in which you are interested.
2. Resume
3. Two months notice is preferred.

Externship Dates and Durations:

1. Minimum of one week not to exceed one month. (please note: OSU CVM only schedules using increments of 2 weeks) 
2. Most externships offered during the months of February - May.

Students will attend rounds and participate in diagnosis and treatment of most species in a zoological setting. A mentored project (research, teaching module, case presentation, etc) is to be completed during the externship.