STUDENT EXPERIENCE: Schwarzman Animal Medical Center

Submitted by Chauntelle Dozier, Ross University

I spent 80 hours of my externship at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center in the upper east side of New York City between January 1st, 2024 to January 14th, 2024. Schwarzman Animal Medical Center (AMC) is a Level 1 Veterinary Trauma center in New York City and the world’s largest non-profit animal hospital. AMC has over 20 different specialties under one roof including: neurology, emergency and critical care, internal medicine, dentistry, radiology, cardiology, oncology, dermatology, ophthalmology, surgery and more.

During my time at the Animal Medical Center, I did my externship in the ER and ICU department. Over these two weeks, I was able to observe the fast-paced emergency medicine alongside being mentored by 7 criticalists, 8 ER veterinarians, ECC residents and rotating interns. Although the majority of my externship was observation due to the legality of things, I was able shadow the many different levels of veterinarians and be apart of difficult conversations and history gathering from clients, initial triage exams for critical and non-critical patients and see what stabilization looks like, observed CPR being performed, discussing differential, diagnostics and treatments for cases/illnesses, POCUS (point-of-care-ultrasound) training, listened in on ICU (Intensive Care Unit) rounds, observing emergency procedures (pericardiocentesis, thoracocentesis, abdominocentesis, unblocking a male cat, and an emergency proptosis repair: i.e placing the eye back in place and doing a temporary tarsorrhaphy), being apart of quality of life conversations, being included in neurology, surgery and cardiology consultations, and observing a wide variety of exotics in the emergency room including: Chinchillas, birds, hamsters, rabbits, and guinea pigs. On top of observing a majority of cases, I was able to perform my own physical exam, neurologic and orthopedic exams on certain patients, auscultate cases that are in respiratory distress or have cardiac disease to appreciate the degree of disease, practice using the ultrasound probe on patients doing POCUS training, performing rectal exams on patients with rectal masses present, making and interpreting blood smears, making and interpreting cytology slide exams taken from masses, being apart of interpreting blood work and radiographs, and answering and asking questions with the veterinarians that I shadowed.

With the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center being a Level 1 Veterinary Trauma Center in NYC, it serves as a referral hospital to the surrounding emergency and general practice hospitals. I was able to observe the amount of phone calls for referrals that AMC ER would get on the daily alongside the recommendations/consultations that the criticalists and the ER doctors would have with other veterinarians about referring cases.

During my two weeks at AMC, I mostly shadowed the rotating interns and I personally got to work with Dr. Lauren Saunders, DVM (ER Doctor) the most. One of the most valuable, repetitive and important conversations we discussed was whether or not to do a traditional rotating internship after vet school. I expressed that I want to do emergency medicine after my time in veterinary school is done. The conversations that I had with the interns, residents and ER doctors in pursuing a rotating internship is invaluable. The knowledge and experience gained through a rotating internship is unmatched as a majority of your time will be in emergency (~50% or more depending on the speciality you would to pursue), and the rest of your time will be spent rotating through other specialties such as oncology, medicine, radiology, neurology, ophthalmology, and cardiology.

Overall, throughout my externship experience, I learned so much just by observing. Some of the most important things I learned was what a triage exam includes and becoming more comfortable as to what a stable vs. unstable patient looks like, and becoming more comfortable with POCUS (point-of-care-ultrasound) training and acknowledging and identifying what we are looking for via ultrasound on an emergency basis and identifying organs, fluid accumulation, abnormal/suspicious areas, and mass-effects. I appreciate and I am grateful for all of the kennel workers, PCAs, technicians, interns, residents, emergency doctors and criticalists at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center for taking part in furthering my medical knowledge. I have always been interested in emergency medicine but never worked in an emergency clinic or setting prior to veterinary school and having this externship opportunity solidified my path towards emergency medicine in my future.

EXTERNS ON THE HILL

Submitted by Meg Knox, Washington State University

"Not just dogs and cats

When I began my externship at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Government Relations Division (GRD), I had a major goal in mind: to branch out. Like many small animal oriented veterinary students, I spent the better part of my life grasping for experiences and opportunities in clinical settings. My laser-like focus on gaining hours, technical skills, and connections led me to pigeon-hole myself in the small animal general practice world. This is the last summer before my third year and clinical rotations, and it came as a wake-up call. I wanted to do something different for a change! I wanted to feed my passion for animal advocacy, public policy, and leadership - passions I had been unintentionally neglecting. I wanted to dive headfirst into non-traditional pathways in veterinary medicine, to see what else I could do with my DVM - and dive headfirst I did. 

In the past month, I have met many outstanding and interesting individuals in the veterinary community. I’ve talked to veterinarians who work in the federal government, from USDA to FDA to NIH to NABR (National Association for Biomedical Research). Basically, every acronym organization you can think of. Each story has been unique and inspiring. Some veterinarians went directly into inspection work or laboratory medicine; some had years of experience in more veterinary areas than I could count on my hand.

I’ve met with veterinarians from organizations that advocate for animal health and veterinary-related legislation on Capitol Hill, including my colleagues at the AVMA GRD. During these interactions, I’ve learned about the importance of veterinary medicine representation in both state and national politics. The unique perspective of a veterinarian when lawmakers are discussing agricultural, pharmacological, and appropriations issues is essential. The compassion, intelligence, and strength we have throughout our field is impressive, and now I realize how important it is to use those attributes.

As an extern, I also met with veterinarians who work for Zoos, at sea on humpback whale research investigations, and on East Coast shores doing necropsies on dolphins. Every single person has outlined a wild and unique journey, and everyone was excited to tell me about it. 

At times, I’ve walked away from these conversations overwhelmed, but in a good way! There are so many more opportunities for a veterinarian outside of the exam room. Though I still want to start in small animal practice when I graduate, I now know veterinary medicine is not just dogs and cats. It’s reading 30 pages of confusing legal jargon to understand a bill amendment. It’s petting an Aotus research monkey as it comes out of anesthesia from a dental extraction. It’s talking to a lawmaker’s chief of staff about their puppy. It’s feeding a pig a Starburst candy. It’s talking about learning retention in higher education. It’s discussing withdrawal times in dairy cattle. It’s whatever you want to make of it, really. 

Through all these meetings, I am happy to know that people in our community are comforting and willing resources for one another. I’ve been met with kindness and enthusiasm at every visit. I’m also happy to say that I’ve met my goal of branching out during my time in Washington, D.C. I’m excited for what’s next, whether that be with dogs and cats, or otherwise."

Student Experiences: The Big Fix

Submitted by Lauren Bynum, Texas A&M University

One of the reasons I first became interested in veterinary medicine was because of the time I spent volunteering with SNIPSA, Spay Neuter Inject Protect San Antonio. SNIPSA is a group that rescues, fosters, and adopts dogs out of shelters and holds large scale low cost spay/neuter operations out of San Antonio. It’s also the rescue organization from which I adopted my own dog, a foster failure Great Pyrenees named Riley. In high school, I volunteered at SNIPSA adoption events where I loved on the animals as we helped them find forever homes, and I worked the check in desk at quarterly “Big Fix” events where 400+ animals were spayed or neutered in a single day. I enjoyed my time helping out at check in or at adoption events, but I always longed to be a part of the actual surgeries. 

Now that I am a veterinary student with several years of technician experience, I was given the opportunity to work as an anesthesia technician at the last Big Fix I attended. I will admit—the fifteen hour day was quite long. My sore feet at the end of the day can confirm this. But getting to be a part of the action after years of watching from the outside of the surgery room was so worth it. Assisting the veterinarians as they neutered faster than we could even prep the next pack was intimidating, but so inspiring. They put my five cat minute neuters on my shelter rotation to shame! It quickly became impossible to keep track of the number of patients I’d worked on as the hours passed. Being in charge of running anesthesia was also a huge confidence booster. Learning about anesthesia and running cases on a rotation, under supervision, is one thing. But having a veterinarian trust you to keep their patient asleep and pain free as they focused on solely the surgery was a whole new level of responsibility that truly made me feel prepared to be a veterinarian myself in not too long. 

The veterinarians volunteering at SNIPSA came from all over Texas, and some even from out of state. Some were shelter veterinarians, some private practice, some mixed animal, and an equine vet was even there helping out! The planning and organization required to put this event into motion, to staff it, and to keep the day running smoothly can’t be understated. Even lunch was meticulously planned, which all the doctors and technicians were grateful for—long days are much better when you have a near constant supply of fajitas and brownies available to you at all times. Despite the long hours, morale was high, as we all shared a common goal: to save the animals. Spaying and neutering pets to reduce shelter overcrowding is one way we as future veterinarians can have a direct impact on animal welfare. I plan to continue doing this through SNIPSA, and I cannot wait to graduate so that I can give back to the animals of San Antonio and to the organization that helped inspire my love of veterinary medicine.   

PDF Scholarship Experience: Zachary Schmauch

PDF Scholarship Experience: Zachary Schmauch

During my clinical year at Ohio State University I was able visit VCA University Animal Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii to complete my last externship before graduation. With the help of the PDF scholarship from the SAVMA board I was able to afford this opportunity. VCA university hospital is a very hands-on general practice. There were two doctors on shift at a time, with one doing surgeries while the other doctor would be seeing appointments and the occasional emergency. The entire team at VCA University Animal Hospital were all very welcoming and really loved to teach me while I was there. Even the technicians were constantly helping me with ways to improve my blood draws and catheter placements and encouraged me to keep trying if I was having trouble. Being able to see the different kinds of cases in Hawaii versus somewhere I am used to like Ohio was very interesting. While I was discussing cases and treatment options with the doctors, it made me realize I had to sit back and think of different options that they carry in hospital. For example, they do not have the tick that carries Lyme disease on the island, and so therefore prescribe their patients with different flea and tick preventatives. A few months ago I completed an externship at a specialty dental clinical in Florida. This VCA externship was very heavy on their dentistry and had procedures every day. It was perfect for me to apply the skills and knowledge I learned at my previous externship and really feel confident in that area. I had such an awesome experience during this externship and being able to travel and work in Hawaii for two weeks was the best ending to veterinary school I could have asked for.

PDF Scholarship Experience: Nicole DiLevo

VCA University Animal Hospital - PDF scholarship

During the last two weeks of my clinical year I had the amazing opportunity to complete an externship at VCA University Animal Hospital on Oahu, Hawaii. I was awarded a Professional Development Fund scholarship through SAVMA which really helped me be able to afford externing in Hawaii. VCA University Animal Hospital is a five-doctor general practice in the heart of Honolulu. Two veterinarians work a day, one performs dentals and surgeries while the other sees appointments. I had the opportunity to work with all 5 doctors and they were honestly all amazing. The staff overall was so welcoming and made me so comfortable my entire stay! I was able to assist in several dental procedures, ranging from prophylactic cleanings to extractions, and got to practice taking dental radiographs. It was helpful to see cases in a different region of the United States and discuss how diseases and treatment options change from place to place. For example, Hawaii is a rabies free island. Therefore, it is not one of their core vaccines, and pet owners only vaccinate for rabies if they are traveling to the mainland. The doctors at this hospital also do a lot of the hands-on work, so I was able to take their place and practice many technical skills, like blood draws, catheter placements for surgeries and dentals, and monitor anesthesia, which was great practice. I was assigned to one doctor each day I was there and performed my own physical exams, and then discussed the cases and treatment options with the doctor after each patient’s appointment. The pace at the hospital provided just enough time to do so which was super helpful. I also had a few days off during my two week stay and was able to explore the entire island. The staff gave me great recommendations for food to try and places to explore. This externship was seriously the best way to end my clinical year and final year of veterinary school.