Students gain surgical and clinical experience in a high-volume spay/neuter/wellness setting: seeing wellness visits and performing spay and neuter surgeries under the direct supervision of a veterinarian. Everyone at PfA generally likes each other and gets along, even under stressful circumstances, and our externs seem to get a lot out of their experience with us.
We typically have three veterinarians performing surgeries 4 days a week and two veterinarians seeing wellness appointments six days a week (and Wednesday evenings). Our equipment is basic, unremarkable, and adequate for what we do.
Students are expected to to be there from 8am to 3:30pm Monday through Thursday, 9am to 4:30pm Friday, one of the two Saturdays 9am to roughly 2:30pm, and both Wednesday evenings 4pm to roughly 6:30pm. The first week of the rotation is spent observing, learning the flow of things, and helping out wherever necessary. Everything a student does is under direct veterinary supervision.