Fourth year students rotate on the nutrition service and maintain secondary case control under the direction of a resident or a faculty member. There are currently two residents and two DACVN faculty members involved with the UT Veterinary Nutrition Service. The majority of our case load is distance-based with consultations taking place via phone or video conferencing. Students listen in on all consultations and will be expected to write up a consultation summary for at least one case from each receiving day. If fully booked, which is a common occurrence, the students will be involved with 8 new patient consultations and multiple recheck appointments each week. Topic rounds take place on a daily basis and the students will also participate in a multi-center distance-based journal club on Thursday afternoons. ICU rounds are performed on a daily basis in order to assess inpatient feeding recommendations. When applicable, students are also involved with any in-person outpatient appointments, weight loss rechecks, and consultations for other services within the hospital.
The UT Veterinary Medical Center is a state of the art facility with specialists in internal medicine, surgery, emergency and critical care, dermatology, sports medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, anesthesia, radiology, community practice, and behavior. In addition to the standard imaging and clinical pathology services expected at a large academic teaching hospital, equipment directly related to nutritional practice and research includes a parenteral nutrition compounder, dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), force plate analysis, land and underwater treadmills, and canine activity monitors.
Students will expected to be on rotation within the hospital Monday - Friday from 9am - 5pm. If there is an inpatient associated with the service, which is a rare occurrence, students will also be responsible for daily SOAPs and any necessary treatments, including over the weekends. There is independent study time built into the rotation in which students will delve into topic/case research. The majority of the student’s time will be spent working alongside the primary clinician on duty for the service.
Housing is not automatically provided, but students may contact Ms. Victoria Coy (vcoy@utk.edu ) to schedule rotations and inquire about housing options.