River Valley Veterinary Hospital, PA

Description of Elective Experience: 

River Valley is a busy general private practice that has vast opportunity for a variety of experience for students or new graduates alike. Our cases range from routine preventative care and vaccines to in depth medicine cases with hospitalization. We offer a wide variety of soft tissue surgeries and general practice dental procedures. Our support staff is experienced and extremely capable. We also handle emergencies during business hours. 

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

Our lab includes basic blood machines for CBC, Chemistry, Electrolytes, Bile Acids, Phenobarbital levels, Cortisol, Ionized Calcium, T4, TSH, SDMA and CRP, along with all Idexx snap tests.  Our lab offers full urinalysis capabilities as well as on site Heska cytology machine. We have Sound Digital radiology with access to stat Radiologist consults, dental radiology and Ultrasound. We have tonometry, cryotherapy and electrocautery available as well. We have access to outside labs for any else that needs send out. All of our technicians are board certified.

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

Students will have the opportunity to observe anything they would like to see but will be absolutely responsible for their own education here. They are required to take their own initiative to learn. They will get out of this externship what they put into it. The student should come prepared with a long list of what they want to learn, and the number of hours they want to put in. The facilitator cannot predict when cases will appear, so a set schedule may not lend itself well to learning. A student may consider being flexible to be able to be exposed to cases that would be good learning experiences. A student will be permitted to do what the facilitator is comfortable with them doing in terms of technical support. 

Supervisor: 
Linda Newbrough/Rick Linkenhiemer/Michelle Honse
Address: 
1046 Pittsburgh St
Springdale, PA
Springdale, PA 15144
United States
Practice or Institution Type: 
Is student housing available?: 
No
Hours of supervision by a licensed veterinarian per week: 
60