The externships at the Brazos Valley Equine Hospital are 2 to 6 week programs designed to provide a high level of exposure to broaden the interest and skills of veterinary students. The extern will have the opportunity to sharpen their diagnostic and decision-making skills in equine medicine, surgery and intensive care, gain experience in routine procedures and advanced diagnostics, as well as develop confidence in interacting with staff and other veterinarians. Working in a fast-paced, friendly environment with the large caseload at our hospital can be very rewarding and educational.
We strongly believe in teaching and mentoring. The extern will always be under immediate supervision. The externship is the primary method of critical evaluation used for internship selection by the hospital.
Appointments are scheduled from 8 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday and 8 to 12 on Saturdays. The hospital accepts emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Hospitalized patients are treated in the mornings by the interns, externs and technicians. Overnight treatments and monitoring are done primarily by the interns and externs. Outpatients are seen throughout the day by the staff veterinarians and by accompanying externs. Elective surgeries are scheduled during the morning and afternoons. Clinic workload increases substantially during the show and breeding/foaling seasons. Chapter reviews, stall side rounds, and journal club offer supplemental learning to extern. The caseload is approximately 40% sports medicine, 20% internal medicine, 20% dentistry/wellness, 10% reproduction, <5% complimentary medicine, and 5% pre-purchase examinations.
The internship, externship in Salado is supported by three veterinarians: John Janicek, DVM, DACVS; Theresa Dwyer, DVM; and Beau Whitaker, DVM;
In Salado we saw 10,962 cases in 2015 with 70% seen at the clinic. The in-house caseload varies between 15-40 cases per day. The average number of hospitalized patients treated daily varies from 5 - 20 depending on the time of year. Specific case breakdown is approximately
- lameness = 1,000-2,000 / year
- pre-purchase = 100-150 / year
- surgery = 350-400 / year (35-40% orthopedic, 30-35% soft tissue, 20-25% emergency)
- reproduction = 1000-1150 / year (150 -200 semen collections, 30-40 ET flush, 5-10 high risk pregnancies)
- internal medicine = 500-800 / year (30-50 neonatal cases; 100 ophthalmology, 150-200 gastrointestinal, 100-150 respiratory, 5-10 cardiac, 50-100 neurologic, and 50-75 dermatologic)
- general health = 500-800
- corrective podiatry = 75-100
- dentistry = 900-1,000
- chiropractic/acupuncture = 100-150
- emergency = 225-275.
BVEH Salado is equipped with state of the art equipment including; 1 and 3 meter video endoscopes, 1 meter portable pediatric fiberoptic endoscopes, digital abdominal/tendon/cardiac ultrasound, ambulatory repro/tendon ultrasounds, portable digital x-ray units, video arthroscopic equipment, video laparoscopic equipment, internal fixation equipment, extra corporeal shock wave therapy units, powered dental floats, IRAP centrifuges, platelet rich plasma systems, and a clinical laboratory(SAA, CBC, serum chemistry, cytology and microbiology). Fully equipped ambulatory vehicles are available for use on farm calls.
The hospital in Salado is situated on 20 acres with 3 barns totaling 40 stalls, 18 paddocks, and 3 large pastures. The main hospital building consists of a large examination/lameness area and 2 stocks, 1 surgical suite with 1 induction recovery stall, 1 clinical laboratory, a pharmacy, a reception area, and doctor’s offices. The two additional barns are a stallion barn and the mare motel/reproduction barn.
Brazos Valley Equine Hospital is committed to provide the highest quality equine medical and surgical care for our patients and the best service for clients. The caseload leans toward lameness and sports medicine covering a wide variety of breeds and disciplines. The majority of cases are western performance/pleasure horses (60%), sport horse (15%), race (10%) with the remainder of the case load consisting of other show/performance horses, endurance horses, drafts, ponies, and miniatures. Dr. Dwyer has a large reproduction case load that consists of racing, western performance, and some sport horse. We stand 4 to 8 stallions a year. We also work 5 to 8 large barrel races a year in Texas and Oklahoma.
Primary duties include assisting with daily treatments, evaluation and record keeping of hospitalized patients, assisting staff veterinarians in lameness exams, surgeries, dentistry, reproduction and neonatal care. Night duties consist of assisting with patient treatments, intensive care monitoring, as well as, assisting with all emergencies including weekends and holidays. An expected breakdown of responsibilities includes: hospital treatments 5%, hospital ICU monitoring 5%, outpatient lameness 30%, outpatient medicine/general practice 20%, ambulatory 20%, surgery 10%, emergency 5%, and anesthesia monitoring<5%. Externs will assist with both in house and ambulatory emergencies. Two to five after-hours emergencies per week are normal.
A fully furnished house next the clinic is provided for externs. It is shared with the interns. The extern will have their own room. No pets are allowed.