The elective experience will be an opportunity for the student to work in a busy, two facility small animal and exotic animal practice in an urban and rural setting. The expectation is to give the student an opportunity to work with the practice team (veterinarian, registered technician and lay staff) as they attend to patients each day. The student will be involved in medical, surgical and out-patient cases. The student will also have an opportunity to attend a staff meeting and management meeting when appropriate.
Facilities:
Bellevue Animal Hospital (established in 1996) in Bellevue, Ohio and Sandusky Animal Hospital (established in 2010) in Sandusky, Ohio make up our practice group. The facilities are located about 12 miles apart in two vastly different communities. The practices are operated as independent business, however share the same client base, medical records and staff. All employees are required to work at both facilities to maintain consistent quality of care and service.
Staff:
2.5 equivalent DVM's, 8 RVT's, 2 veterinary technology students and 5 lay staff. We have mandatory monthly staff meetings with continuing education opportunities at all meetings. The management team meet bi-monthly, independent of the staff meeting.
Equiptment:
Both facilities offer in-house laboratory services, digital radiography, digital dental radiography, complete surgical suites, monitoring equipment, separate treatment rooms with dental tables and high and low speed dental equipment, isolation wards, 3 out-patient exam rooms and an in-house pharmacy. Other services offered are soft tissue and orthopedic surgery (including TTA Rapid), therapeutic laser, cryotherapy, grooming, boarding and grief counseling services. We use outside vendors, in-house for the following services: ultrasound, ECG and histopathology and serology.
Educational Resources:
We have reference libraries at both locations and we utilize VIN as an adjunct to our libraries. We are members of AAHA, AVMA, AARV, AAV and AEMV and receive the associated publications. The doctors, registered technicians and lay staff are encouraged to attend continuing education events in the region as well as in Ohio and nationally.
The student will be expected to become acclimated to our facilities and our computer software system. They will be assigned a mentor team (DVM and RVT) to assist each day at one of the facilities. The expectation is to give the student an opportunity to actively work with the team as they attend to the patient being seen.
The student will be expected to actively participate in all aspects of surgical, medical and out-patient cases. This will include pre-surgical exams, testing and selection of the complete anesthetic protocol for the patient, assist with the surgical procedure, assess monitoring data and recovery of the patient. For medical cases the student will be involved in assessment of the case, diagnostic test selection, evaluation of data and developing a treatment plan for the patient. Out-patient services will be as comprehensive - with the student assisting the technician with taking a history, initial data collection, preparing the appropriate items for use in the exam room, briefing the doctor then assisting with the visit including client education prior to completing the out-patient visit. Hospitalized medical cases will be handled similarly.
The student will be supervised by a veterinarian or a registered technician throughout their time with us. The student will have an opportunity to gain a minimum of 35 - 40 hours of experience per week. Both hospitals are open from 8 am - 6 pm Monday thru Friday and 9 am - noon on Saturday. A specific schedule will be prepared for each student upon acceptance of the experience.