Thrive Pet Healthcare Wedgewood, TN

Description of Elective Experience: 

Thrive Pet Healthcare's Veterinary Student Externship Program is committed to providing veterinary students with opportunities to enrich their skills and education through hands-on, hospital experience.

Our goal with this program is to ensure that hospitals teams that want to provide externships can be connected with students who fit their needs both from an experience and geographical perspective, and vice versa.

Our proven process ensures that there is both visibility and oversight of the veterinary students we host and that host hospital teams are supported along the way.  

This Externship Program Guide of Pathway Vet Alliance LLC, DBA Thrive Pet Healthcare, and its subsidiary and 
parent companies (collectively, the “Company”) is to provide 1st through 4th-year veterinary students with a 
personalized and structured experience that fosters learning and development while exposing them to all things 
that makes Thrive unique and the employer of choice.
Veterinary students are paired with a doctor in the hospital who will act as their primary mentor. Depending on the 
externship site, students may also work with other doctors in the hospital. Student responsibilities will vary 
depending on the level of education, length of externship, and host hospital

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

Students have access to 2 veterinarians ( one being their mentor) , practice manager and several assistants and technichian 

Students also have access to our online learning portal 

Thrive Wedgewood has the latest up to date equipment including surgery, dental, radiology, ultrasound, in house labs, smart microscopes  etc. 

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

Veterinary Student Extern’s Responsibilities:
Arrive prepared to learn and have fun!
Review any hospital-specific guidelines prior to arrival (e.g. arrival time, preferred attire, where to park)
Meet with a mentor at the beginning of each week to discuss goals and exchange feedback
Consider what you would like to learn during your externship. Discuss any specific goals with your mentor. If 
you don’t have specific goals, your mentor can help guide you.
Get involved – observe, ask questions, practice skills as possible, take notes on what you’d like to review, 
etc.
Ensure all required paperwork is provided to the mentor.
Students are responsible for their own transportation.

Supervisor: 
Shannon Vawter DVM, MS, CVBL
Website: 
https://www.thrivepetcare.com/locations/tennessee/nashville/wedgewood
Address: 
811 Wedgewood Ave
Nashville, TN 37203
United States
Practice or Institution Type: 
Is student housing available?: 
No
Hours of supervision by a licensed veterinarian per week: 
40