Offsite Electives

Penn Vet Working Dog Center is the premier detection dog research, development and training facility in the US. All aspects of working dog medicine including nutrition, behavior, training, dentistry, sports medicine, conditioning, disaster response, reproduction, emergency first aid, preventive medicine and genetics will be addressed. There is both research and practical component to this externship. Students in their clinical year are welcome to apply for a 2-4 week rotation at the center. No stipend is provided. For more information see www.PennVetWDC.org

To provide a high quality clinical experience for 4th year veterinary students in a 24 hour multi-specialty referral and emergency practice with an emphasis on high quality advanced clinical practice. In addition we have a strong didactic program for interns & externs.

The Spay Me! Clinic is operated by Shelter From The Storm Animal Rescue, Inc. - an all breed cat and dog rescue based in Madison, Wisconsin. Our goal is to reduce euthanasia of healthy and adoptable animals and to provide affordable veterinary care. Shelter From The Storm Animal Rescue, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization.

The Spay Me! Clinic is primarily a high quality high volume spay neuter clinic, which averages fifty sterilization procedures per day three to five days per week.  In addition, the Spay Me! Clinic offers wellness services, other surgical procedures, and dentals.

The goal of this externship is to give students an opportunity to practice their surgery skills as well as to learn how to work with clients and pets with financial limitations.  During a two-week externship, students will be involved in all aspects of the clinic, including the various positions in the S/N clinic and wellness appointments. 

Students will be allowed to complete veterinary skills that they are comfortable with that are agreed upon by the client, DVM and student. Experience will include mainly small animal and some large animal farm calls excluding equine.

Our objective is to acquaint the student with the scope and pace of a busy 13-doctor, 3-location small animal practice and teach the student aspects of client communication, history taking, examination, assessment, formulating and implementing treatment plans, surgical skills, business management, personnel relations, and finances as can best be found in a private practice situation.

Multi-veterinarian equine ambulatory practice located in central Kentucky practicing on large and small breeding farms, primarily thoroughbred.  Work includes reproduction, radiology, imaging, lameness, internal medicine, emergency management and herd health.  Our case load also includes sport horses of all disciplines and racetrack work at Keeneland Racecourse and surrounding training facilities.

Students will participate in daily rounds, observe and assist in outpatient exams and surgery. We care for dogs, cats, and exotics. We do ultrasounds, echos, dental work, laparoscopy, laser surgery some orthopedics. We have a CCRP on staff. 

For Pet's Sake is a private practice devoted 100% to birds, reptiles, and exotic mammals. Students will get hands-on experience with medicine, husbandry, surgery and practice management.

Students will work side-by-side with a veterinarian on medical and surgical case management. The practice only accepts one extern or preceptor at a time. Students will assist or perform under supervision castration and OHE of small mammals such as rabbits (as available). Students will learn various techniques for laboratory sampling, restraint, anesthesia, and diagnostic imaging on the different species. Students will participate in client education on animal husbandry and at-home care. Owner offers full disclosure on practice finances and emphasizes practice management.

Our externs are teamed up with the interns to assist in patient assessment and care. The externship itself is largely open to whatever your interest. Occasionally the externs are scheduled with one specific doctor as an assistant, but largely you are free to follow whichever case interests you whether that be in hospital or ambulatory (as room in the truck allows). The practice is 95%+ equine and two of the ambulatory veterinarians will also see small ruminants, camelids, pigs, and backyard poultry as well. With time and proven competence externs will get to perform procedures such as IV catheter placement, abdominocentesis, and monitoring dummy foals.  Many of our externs are interested in applying for the internship, but this is not a perquisite for participating in the externship. 

Interns have primary case responsibility under the supervision of a senior clinician for the duration of the internship. The interns perform daily assessment of their cases, complete medical records, present cases in daily rounds, perform diagnostics, administer anesthesia, assist in surgery and medicine procedures and participate in monthly journal club. The interns on ambulatory service are under the direction of our three doctors on all cases such as dentals, lameness exams, etc. There are shared emergency duties which include receiving hospital cases after hours and anesthesia for emergency surgeries. After hours/weekend on call rotation is for referral emergencies and the intern will see all cases alongside a senior clinician. Each intern is on call two of every three nights and weekends. They will rotate between primary receiving (with a senior clinician), being on anesthesia/back up call and off call. During the week, even on nights off call, the intern is responsible for the care of their hospitalized cases. These cases will be transferred to the on call doctors/interns during their weekends off.

Each spring the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine offers a two week elective in Large Animal Neonatology and
Intensive Care Medicine at the New Bolton Center campus.  This clinical elective is open to veterinary students who have completed their preclinical
training and who have a special interest in equine neonatology/perinatology and/or intensive care medicine. Our case load includes intensive care neonates
(primarily equine) and high risk pregnancy cases (equine, caprine, bovine).  We also attend all dystocia births (equine, bovine, ovine, caprine, alpaca) and any other birth                                         that occurs in the hospital.

Students can elect 2 weeks of neonatology. The elective provides students experience managing these critically ill neonates and complicated pregnancies. Daily rounds emphasize normal
physiology and pathophysiology of perinatal diseases, the use of monitoring equipment (eg capnography, ECG, BP monitor), fetal and neonatal ultrasonography
and various treatment modalities (eg oxygen therapy, parenteral nutrition, positive pressure ventilation, fluid therapy, inotrope/pressor therapy)
required in the management of critical care neonates and late-term pregnancies.

Students will have the opportunity to master some of the following manual and theoretical skills; blood gas analysis, calculation of parenteral and enteral nutrition formulations, establishing and maintaining long term jugular catheters, principles of fluid therapy as applied to patients with septic shock and patients requiring maintenance fluids, interpretation of fetal and neonatal sonograms, familiarity with various types of respiratory support therapy and resuscitation protocols, and a working knowledge of a wide variety of pharmacological agents including antimicrobials, anticonvulsives, analgesics, pressors and inotropes. Consecutive two week rotations begin during the last week of February and continue through the first week of June.