A day with us is full of hands-on animal and client experience. You will be able to see a multitude of different cases from internal medicine, ophthalmology, and dermatology to wellness and surgery. We see a large variety of cases and animals. We want you to be able to establish your thought process when dealing with both straightforward and challenging cases. Being comfortable with a complete workup of individual cases and being able to follow through with cases from start to finish of treatment or diagnosis is important. The sooner you establish an examination to treatment/diagnosis routine, the better practitioner you will become. You will be able to develop how to work through cases with a doctor overseeing your plan along the way to help when needed. We allow you to work up cases as if you were a private practice veterinarian with a discussion of your thought process every step of the way to ensure that your differential diagnosis and diagnostic/treatments chosen are appropriate. We want you to develop confidence in your case management and in client communication, relaying your professional recommendations needed to accomplish the goals of making the patient better within the financial means of the client. We practice high-quality medicine with all the diagnostic bells and whistles allowing us to be able to teach the highest standards of medicine. Surgical cases will depend on what comes in the door, from spays/neuters to mass removals and maybe some advanced surgical cases. We have a close relationship with our local shelter and rescues that allow us to provide a good surgical caseload during your time with us. We also have a cardiologist and an ophthalmologist if the student desires to spend a day with each of them to obtain more specialized experience in those areas. Spending a day with them is based on the availability of the specialty during the specific extern dates, we do not set the schedule for the specialist. If there are any questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Heather Hartley.
4 DVMs
6 CVTs
12 Uncertified technicians
2 Technician assistants
Full in-house lab, surgical suite, dental suite, a chemotherapy suite, 7 exam rooms, special procedures room, and comfort room for euthansias. We offer acupuncture, laser therapy, ultrasound, and chemotherapy in addition to general practice modalities. We have a surgical cutting laser, Force Triad, electrocautery, IM3 dental machines, digital dental radiography, sound digital radiography, patient warming, oxygen cage, along with the standard care equipment needed for a hospital. Visit our Facebook page or website to see more.
Responsibilities are individually based on students' capabilities. Depending on the amount of time spent at our location allows us to better access the capabilities and meet the needs of each student. We work with each student and push them to step outside their comfort zone and learn new things. We want them to feel better about becoming a stand-alone DVM the day they leave than the day they arrive. We allow them to shadow and once comfortable we allow them to take lead on case management from outpatient cases to hospitalized cases that need more in-depth care. We encourage students to take cases that expand their knowledge and require them to apply the critical thinking skills and medical knowledge that they have been taught to a real-world patient case. Seeing a case from start to finish and being faced with private practice day-to-day operations and limitations that are different from academia are critical to the success of a new graduate. We discuss what everyday practice cases look like and how to manage those who cannot afford to seek specialty care and also those cases that need and can afford specialty care. We want students to understand how to make recommendations without deciding for the owners. We want students to learn the importance of client education and communication and the importance of explaining the value of the recommendations made. Learning to communicate the value of veterinary medicine is crucial to the future of our profession in general and the sooner a new graduate learns this the better off our profession will be. We want them to be confident in their recommendations and they will need to learn to see the value in the diagnostics and treatments in able to convey the need of them to the clients. We allow students to perform solo spays, neuters, and other surgical cases based on experience and skill level. This is completely up to the medical director and the comfort level of the individual student. Students are expected to arrive at 7:30 am and the day ends when all patients are cared for and medical charts have been completed. This is a Monday through Friday practice setting.
MVP pays students a housing allowance. We have a studio apartment with a full kitchen (kitchen is shared with the team). Everything is provided that should be needed besides personal items.