This Elective Experience is a practical educational experience in Veterinary Dental Procedures, This will occur via a mobile consulting and dental care service for patients/procedures throughout SW Pennsylvania and NE OH. Each day will involve travel to one practice (sometimes 2) to observe vet dental patients in a general practice and observe the patient consultation, oral treatment plan development and execution of the plan for the patient(s) for that day. The student will be asked to be involved in observing and discussing the patient's general health, pre-operative work-up, anesthetic protocol, and the performance of the patient procedure(s). The student is also expected to participate in discussion of the aftercare for the patient(s). The student should have time to observe the general activities in the background of practices each day and have some time to interface with several veterinarians and staff members.
The schedule should involve 5 business days each of the two weeks and possibly a Saturday on one of the weekends. The student should have gained exposure to 10, or so, general small animal practices in the region described above during the elective period.
Dr. John Showalter DVM (OSU '86) is licensed in PA and OH and is operating as a Practice Limited to Vet. Dental Procedures for at least 10 years and has actually been training in the veterinary dental field since 1989. Dr. Showalter counts at least 120 practices that he has worked in directly since graduation and eventually pursuing general small animal practice relief work while evolving into a focused practice limited to vet. dental procedures.
We will be working within several different small animal practices and utilizing much of the hospitals' equipment and medications. The hospital staff includes 1 or 2 technicians to help with the procedures. This allows Dr. Showalter to see the patients in their "home clinic" and see several versions of current practice styles. There is usually 1 or more other veterinarians working in the practice as we are there doing our work.
Dr. Showalter carries several reference books and articles along each day and provides his own hand tools and support equipment not found in many practices. The plan is to meet at a convenient place each AM and travel to a practice, handle a case or two, and then return in the late afternoon to the student's morning meeting place.
The expectation is for the student to ride along 5 business days per week; student is also invited along on a Saturday if that comes up for dental cases to be addressed.
Usual time in a practice is about 10am to about 5 or 6 pm. The commuting time is averaged to be about 45 min to 60 mins from a convenient rendevous location. This allows for plenty of discussion time and casual observation of the regions' scenery and some history, etc. during the commutes.
Dr. Showalter drives the student around the area unless the student wants to just meet at some of the hospitals. Generally, the greater Pittsburgh area is involved. There may be a 2 or 3 day block opportunity to travel to Cleveland during an elective period.
Some practices support shadowing of veterinary students, some allow very closely supervised "hands on" for some aspects of the case. I flex with the practice's general concerns about personal liability issues in the practices I visit and the State Board Guidelines.
Maybe some student accomodations during some of the period of the visits. This would depend on what expectations the student has for a place to stay.
There could be allowance for a pet or two, also. Basically dogs would fit this idea if they can be left alone for 8 -10 hrs./day. This will need a thorough discussion prior to doing this. The hospital facilities we visit usually frown on bringing personal pets along for the day. My vehicle is generally full of my equipment, and stuff like that.