Petplex Animal Hospital, OH

Description of Elective Experience: 

Opportunities to see general practice, emergency, referral and specialized imaging in a highly efficient practice setting.  Our practice is AAHA certified and practices Fear Free techniques giving the extern the opportunity to see a wide variety of valuable practice experiences.  At its foundation, we practice exceptional medicine in a highly efficient and well managed practice which caters to individuals of diverse financial resources.  We provide a high level of  registered technicians-to-doctor ratio allowing the doctors to work very efficiently and demonstrate how to utilize management software to organize paperless records and provide exceptional communication between staff and clients.  Our practice serves as a local referral practice for many of the smaller regional practices because of our extended hours and our ability to work up medical cases on site.  This allows us to see a higher than average number of  complicated surgical and medical cases.  We are also one of the few practices in Ohio to offer digital radiography, ultrasound, and CT imaging on site, allowing us to work up more complicated cases in house and reduce the opportunity for these cases to fall through the cracks and not receive the medical workup they deserve.

Institutional and Educational Resources - staffing, equipment, etc.: 

   We offer a high number of staff-to-doctor ratio.  Typically, there are 2-3 registered technicians assisting each doctor during the day, which allows the doctor to focus primarily on patient examination, treatment planning, and client communication.  Petplex Animal Hospital provides in house blood panels, ultrasound, digital radiography, and CT scanning.  All of the doctors work with a team approach, making time for rounds and daily case discussion.  We provide access to VIN for staff to investigate treatment options for nonroutine cases as well as access to telephone case consultions as needed.  We practice animal handling following Fear Free techniques and train all of our staff in the art of handling pets in this manner.

  The students would be working with the veterinarian to assist in surgery, client communication, and developing treatment plans.  They would have the opportunity to help with decision making, discuss ways to deal with client financial constraints and when necessary, learn how our practice tries to bridge the gap between providing excellent veterinary care and a client's ability to financially meet their responsibility.  The students would be able to have hands-on experience with state of the art diagnostic tools such as ultrasound, digital radiography, and CT imaging.  They would spend time with the Registered Technicians developing hands on skills like placement of i.v. catheters, taking of dental xrays, handling of pets in a Fear Free manner, and monitoring patients.

Student Responsibilities - what is expected of students in terms of hours, days of the week, shadowing or actual support?: 

Student responsibilities would be divided between shadowing Veterinarians and Registered Technicians.  Students would be expected to schedule approximately 40 hours a week at the clinic.  There is some flexibility in the scheduling since we typically see patients from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm Monday through Friday and then from 8:00 am until 5:00  pm on Saturday.  Ideally, they would schedule some time in the mornings to observe surgery, some time in the evenings to see our emergency patients, and possibly some time on Saturdays.  

Student Housing (include costs, amenities, pet friendly, contact info if different from elective contact info): 

The clinic is right off of I-70, approximately 30 minutes from the Veterinary College and so access to the practice is relatively easy from the downtown and east side of Columbus.

Supervisor: 
Dr Douglas Poorman
Website: 
petplex.net
Contact email: 
Address: 
4200 Walnut Rd
Buckeye Lake, OH 43008
United States
Animal Type: 
Practice or Institution Type: 
Is student housing available?: 
No
Hours of supervision by a licensed veterinarian per week: 
40