Externship Courses

Students participating in this elective rotation will be assigned with the core students in VCSN700 in the Medicine Section. These elective students will participate in the same manner as core students, although attempts will be made, when possible, to allow them to focus more on some cases or diseases of particular interest to them. They are expected to participate, to the same extent as core students, in all emergency duties including night and weekend on-call duty. At least eight hours per day, plus duty hours.

The course is designed for those students anticipating entering large animal or mixed practice. Students will participate in the diagnosis and treatment of clinical reproductive cases in the hospital. Students will be responsible for the daily treatment and examination of all hospitalized cases at the Hofmann Center. Students will also assist in the management of reproductive problems of Widener Hospital patients. Exposure will vary due to fluctuations in case load. Additional "hands-on" practice of reproductive procedures will occur by the use of teaching animals. Organized laboratories will allow the student to become comfortable with diagnostic techniques of large animal species. On-call, weekend, and night duty are required. Students will be required to give a 15 minute presentation during the rotation and prepare two case letters/discharge instructions on animals they evaluated during the rotation. If student interest and time permit, students may go on field trips to breeding farms.Priority given to EQ, FA, LA majors.

This rotation will provide students with experience in the diagnosis and treatment of large animal cardiac diseases and the use of M-mode, 2-dimensional real-time, pulsed wave, color flow and continuous wave Doppler echocardiography and exercising electrocardiography. Students will also gain experience in the use of diagnostic ultrasonography in the evaluation of tendon and ligament injuries, diseases of the thorax and abdomen, and the evaluation of masses, swellings, neonates and high-risk pregnancies. Students will also gain experience in patient preparation; obtaining a quality ultrasonographic or echocardiographic image and cardiac Doppler studies; and in interpretation of these images and studies with staff and faculty supervision. Students will be responsible for patient care of animals presented to the Heart Station/Ultrasound Service during the rotation.

This rotation is a post-requisite of VCSN645 Large Animal Surgery and Surgical ExercisesThis is an elective clinical rotation equivalent to VCSN800. Students electing VCSN645 during Large Animal Block are required to take this rotation in addition to VCSN800 in their fourth year.Students rotating through Large Animal Surgery at NBC will participate in all aspects of examination and diagnosis, including lameness evaluation and endoscopy, medical and surgical treatment and daily patient care of large animals. During one week of the two-week rotation, each student will be assigned to treat cattle, other domestic farm animals and horses, and during the other week, horses only. Night, weekend and holiday assignments, including treatments and emergency service, will be made according to the requirements of the overall hospital operation during a given session. Students usually are exposed to various surgical procedures (general soft tissue, abdominal, orthopedic, etc.) during any one rotation. During the rotation, students may gain experience with horses being examined on the High Speed Treadmill or undergoing imaging in the Nuclear Scintigraphy Unit. Students will also participate in a variety of didactic teaching rounds, barn rounds and teaching laboratories as described below:Rounds:Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday4-5 pm – Surgery Teaching RoundsThursday3-5 pm – Surgery Teaching Laboratory (Wet labs)Monday 8-9 am – Radiology Rounds (case-based discussion led by surgery faculty)Tuesday 8-9 am – Lameness Rounds (case-based discussion led by Sports Medicine faculty)Wednesday 8-9 am – Radiology Rounds (case-based discussion led by radiology faculty)Thursday 8-9 am – Grand Rounds (Student case presentations)Friday 8-9 am – Medicine Teaching Rounds (case-based discussion with Medicine faculty and house officers) Nursing staff performs treatments between 9am and 5pm, Monday through Friday and 6pm to 6am Monday through Thursday to allow daily student participation in surgical cases. On Fridays, students perform treatments 6am - 8am, at 6 pm and midnight. On Saturdays, students do treatments from 6am through midnight and on Sundays, from 6am through 10pm. On the last day of a rotation, students do midnight treatments. To facilitate a smooth transition to your next rotation, nursing does 6am and 8am treatments on the first day of each new rotation.

In this rotation, students will gain experience in making and interpreting large animal radiographic examinations. They will assist the radiology technicians in taking and processing routine radiographs, attend film reading sessions, daily hospital rounds and review large animal radiographs independently and under supervision. Students will be required to write radiology reports.

The elective rotation in small animal internal medicine will provide further contact and experience in problems of internal medicine (diseases of the endocrine, gastrointestinal, hematologic, pulmonary, and urogenital systems). Students in the elective rotation will be assigned more complex cases, and they will be expected to assume more responsibility for patient management and decision-making.

This is an elective clinical rotation equivalent to VCSP717.This rotation will expose students to a comprehensive approach to clinical oncology in small animals, including cancer diagnosis, staging, treatment, and palliative care. This service is primarily comprised of faculty and staff from Medical Oncology, Surgery, and Radiation Oncology. Other services, such as Interventional Radiology and Dentistry and Oral Surgery, will also be involved. Students are expected to participate in the care of outpatient and hospitalized cases (including pre and post-operative care for Surgical Oncology patients) and in patient care rounds in the morning and afternoon. Weekend duties include morning and afternoon treatments for hospitalized patients. Each student will present and discuss a journal article or relevant tumor topic once during the rotation.

This is an elective clinical rotation equivalent to courses VCSP800. Students rotate through the Soft Tissue Surgery Service and are responsible for the diagnosis, preoperative, operative and post-operative care of animals presented to this service under the supervision of Surgery staff. Night and weekend duties will be scheduled. Ward rounds (informal case discussions) are conducted regularly. A neuter service is scheduled each week. Every effort will be made to provide at least one opportunity for each student during the 2-week rotation to have primary responsibility as surgeon to spay or castrate a dog or a cat. CONFERENCE HOURS:3 hrs/day of clinics (5) = 15 hours2-4 hrs/day of surgery (5) = 10-20 hours1 hr/weekend morning (4) = 4 hourTOTAL 29-39 hours

This is an elective clinical rotation equivalent to course VCSP813.Students are assigned to a busy 24-hour, 7-day per week emergency service on a shift system. The students are responsible for diagnosis and management of animals presented to the service under the supervision of Emergency Service staff. Emergency Service rounds are held Monday through Thursday inclusive, and include topics related to emergency medicine and surgery centered around case discussion.

Students are responsible for anesthetizing animals presented to the anesthesia service under the supervision of the Anesthesia staff. During the day, students will work closely with either the anesthesiologist on duty or a senior technician. Students will be scheduled with a technician for "on-call" night and weekend duty. On-call duties begin the first Tuesday (or second day) of the rotation and continue through to the last Sunday (or last day before the next rotation). The anesthesia service provides on-call services from 8 pm until 8 am during weekdays, and from Friday 8 pm until Monday 8 am over the weekend. In general, students schedule themselves for the on-call duties. Most rotations assign one student on-call per night during weekdays and split the weekend into 8 or 12-hour shifts. Anesthesia student rounds are conducted Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The first rounds on the first day of the rotation (usually a Monday) will occur at 9 am. Rounds on Wednesdays are at 8 am. Rounds on Thursdays and Fridays are at 7:30 am. Students are expected to attend grand rounds on Tuesdays. It is highly recommended that students prepare for their rotation by reviewing the course notes from the anesthesia core course and student surgery labs. The anesthesia handout will be given to students on the first day of the rotation. The rounds schedule and topics will be presented in more detail then. For those students still requiring completion of clinical competencies in anesthesia, students will be evaluated on the following tasks: 1) Intubate an anesthetized animal; 2) Select & administer an appropriate sedative drug regime, 3) Score pain & devise an appropriate analgesic plan, 4) Select and administer an appropriate anesthetic protocol for an animal of ASA status I, II, or III.