Offsite Electives

Interact with clients during examinations, developing communication skills as you gather history and create a treatment plan.   Gain experience with diagnostic equipment, which includes digital x-rays, ultrasound and in-house laboratory testing.  Gain experience with anesthesia induction and monitoring during surgical procedures and post operate care.  Develop understanding of business and back office tasks associated with veterinary practice. 

Our hospital is open 7 days a week; students will assist doctors in exams (taking histories, handling etc) for well and sick pets.  Observe and assist in surgery and all other positions in the hospital, and assist the ward nurses.   This is done in an effort to provide the student with a full understanding and appreciation of how a hospital functions.    7% of our practice is Exotic and small mammals.

The primary purpose of the externship is to expose the veterinary student to the many aspects of wildlife population health. Major objectives are to acquaint the veterinary student with (1) the role of veterinarians in the maintenance of healthy wildlife populations, (2) the interaction of wildlife management and wildlife health, and (3) examples of major diseases of free-ranging wildlife.

Learning objectives that an extern is expected to achieve upon completion of the SCWDS externship in relation to the (modified) AVMA Clinical Competencies are as follows:

1. Problem Solving and Diagnostic Skills: An extern should be able to develop accurate differential diagnoses to wildlife mortality events and develop an appropriate diagnostic plan including samples to take, and ancillary tests to request.
2. Health Promotion, Disease Prevention, Zoonosis, and Food Safety: An extern should have an appreciation for biosafety, biosecurity, and zoonotic diseases of free-ranging wildlife including appropriate personal protective equipment and procedures for diagnostic investigations. Externs should also appreciate how to appropriately package and ship samples to a laboratory.
3. Demonstration of Knowledge of Wildlife Diseases: An extern should gain basic knowledge of common wildlife diseases through participation on the diagnostic service, rounds, seminars or teleconferences, as well as their assigned project.
4. Written and Oral Communication: An extern should gain experience with writing gross necropsy reports as well as scientific and translational writing for a lay audience, and be required to do a 10-15 minute oral presentation on a wildlife health topic.
5. Professionalism: An extern will have opportunities to interact with faculty, students, staff, and potentially wildlife agency representatives, and is thus expected to maintain a professional demeanor throughout his/her externship.
6. Proficiency at Necropsy and Diagnostic Sampling: An extern should gain experience at necropsy of a variety of wildlife species including birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians depending on the case load. In general, a SCWDS extern completes the rotation with a good understanding of avian anatomy and should be able to determine the sex and approximate age of a bird. An extern should be confident in obtaining appropriate samples for histology, bacteriology, toxicology, and virology as well as determining when each ancillary test may be appropriate for a particular work up.
7. Appreciation for Research in Veterinary Medicine: An extern should develop an appreciation for challenges and complications involved in wildlife research and be familiar with current topics. They should also gain an appreciation of where additional information on wildlife disease topics can be found.

 Equine-only ambulatory hospital with small clinic on-site. Students will ride along on ambulatory calls, assist with in-clinic cases

The Animal Health Department of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium accepts veterinary students in their clinical year for externships. The Animal Health Department serves the medical and surgical needs of the mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians and fish that make their home at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

Externships are 6-8 weeks long, with a work schedule of Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (weekend hours are possible). Externs will play an integral role in the day-to-day operations of the animal health team.

Dr. Ginger Sturgeon, DVM will supervise.

We are a Specialty Hospital and 24-Hour Animal Emergency, with a referral base of more than 200 veterinarians. We have boarded diplomats in Internal Medicine, Emergency/Critical Care, Neurology, Oncology, Surgery, Dermatology, and Canine Rehabilitation. 

TVBS is a referral practice dedicated to the treatment of animals with behavior disorders.  Our practice sees primarliy dogs and cats but also the occasional horse or exotic pet.

The Extern student will be part of a 2 or 4 weeks clinical rotation with 3rd and 4th year Cornell veterinary students.  Cases will be received 5 days per week.                       The student will be involved with all aspects of patient triage, diagnostics and medical and surgical treatment.

Our Hospitals are high volume practices, open 7 days a week. We also home Help Save Pets Humane Society.

The externship is available at most of our practices. We have a 10,000 sq ft. full service practice with an on site Humane Society. The externs stay 2-10 weeks and take care of all the Humane Society animals including spays and neuters. Externs do have the option to stay longer, if desired. They also participate in the numerous client medical and surgical cases. We are also now performing advanced surgeries, such as, TECA, TPLO, and THR.

We are booking quickly. We currently have nine practices. The practices stress high quality medicine and surgery in a full service facility. Externships are available at multiple practices. Please contact Chrissie Zarozny for more information.

Associate Veterinarians and special expertise available

Our combined staff of thirty-four Veterinarians sees a very dynamic caseload that includes a significant amount of soft tissue and orthopedic surgery.

Elective students will be exposed to all aspects of medicine, surgery, dentistry and diagnostics except for advanced imaging (CT, MRI). Interaction with clients and staff is encouraged and required, and participation in procedures is also encouraged.