Week 17: Zootoxins, Internships, and Mentorships
17 weeks down and one more to go! We started this week off learning about lipids and their importance in an animal’s diet. The subsequent morning lectures focused on pharmacodynamics (how a drug affects the body) and therapeutic drug monitoring! The afternoon consisted of an ethics lecture on economic issues in the veterinary profession.
Finances are often a tricky subject and it’s not a secret that a majority of people will struggle financially at some point in their life. That hardship may be while they are trying to care for their animal so I believe understanding the economic limitations that a majority of clients face is critical to becoming a successful veterinarian. Economic barriers are something that veterinarians have to deal with on a daily basis and often get in the way of the level of care that can be provided to the patient. This is a challenge that our human counterparts do not have to consider while treating their patients due to the wide availability of insurance and special programs. Pet insurance is not as common, and owners are likely caught between a rock and a hard place when their pet has an emergency. The limits that finances often place on the level of care that a veterinarian can provide can quickly start to weigh on the practicing veterinarian and the staff because often times they have the skills and resources to help the animal, but cannot realistically do everything for free.
Tuesday started off with a pharmacodynamics centered discussion followed by ruminant and domesticated large animal nutrition. During lunch we had an awesome talk on internships from Dr. Odie Marcovici, the senior director of intern development at VCA. This talk covered the different levels and progressions through veterinary medicine as well as key things to look for while searching for internships. For those of you that may be unfamiliar with the way veterinary education works, here is a quick outline of some of the key terminology that will hopefully clear up any confusion!
Vet school: A four-year professional program that proceeds an undergraduate degree.
Externships: A period of time where you go out and work/learn at different locations (hospitals, clinics, farms etc.). These are commonly done during summer or winter breaks between your first, second, or third year of vet school.
“Clinics”: Your fourth year of vet school where you do clinical rotations in the teaching hospital
Rotating internship: A one year program where you rotate through different specialties and practice as a doctor under supervision.
Residency: Another 3-4 years of education and training
*Almost all specialties require an internship, if you do not plan on specializing you can still do an internship but it is not required
**This is also just referring to programs in the US
Now since that is all cleared up, here were some of the main takeaways from the talk:
1. A good internship can be equivalent to 3-5 years in private practice
You will be a much more confident doctor after one year of intensive training under different specialists than you would be having just come out of vet school. An internship can help you improve your clinical skills and provides support during the steep learning curve associated with the transition out of school and into practice.
2. Picking the right program is key!
You want to have done your research before applying for the internship so that you can ensure that you are going to get what you want out of it. You also want to make sure that if you are planning to specialize, they have a good number of specialists in the discipline of your interest.
3. The bar is being raised regarding intern pay and quality of life.
Interns were notoriously known for making the absolute bare minimum (not even a living wage in some programs) while working outrageous hours. This is slowly changing, and some internships are paying interns upwards of $80,000 for a year of work.
Overall, it was interesting to hear about the benefits of doing an internship and the improvements that are being made to the intern's quality of life. Even if you don’t necessarily plan on specializing right away, an internship may be a good way to gain confidence and propel your professional career.
Wednesday started off with learning how to build a feeding plan for companion animals which was followed by a lecture and discussion on decontamination procedures. This was an interesting way to learn about different ways to respond to the ingestion of toxic substances. I had initially assumed that activated charcoal was the just the go-to for every toxicant ingestion, but I now know that there are certain situations where that will not be effective and could potentially do more harm than good. That afternoon was spent at a mentorship workshop hosted by Dr. Dani Rabwin, a UC Davis grad and founder/CEO of the program Ready, Vet, Go, a program that focuses on connecting new veterinary graduates with the mentorship that they want so that they can become more confident doctors. During her two-hour workshop, Dr. Rabwin walked through the basics of mentorship and how different mentor-mentee relationships may look. We then had time to work through some activities which ultimately lead us to crafting our own mentorship agreements and figuring out what we were really looking for in that relationship.
A good mentor is crucial for building success and confidence after graduation, so it is important to understand what you want from that person. It was also important to note that you can and should have more than one mentor, I know personally that I take away different things from each doctor that I work with and then see how I want to implement their methods into the way I will practice. You can have a surgery mentor, a communication mentor, a medicine mentor, and even a life mentor. Throughout your journey you will likely “collect” a lot of different people along the way, and they will all influence the type of doctor that you become and the way that you practice medicine. The more people you can connect with the more well-rounded you will be as a doctor and oftentimes, mentors also gain valuable knowledge from their mentees. If they have been out of school for a while, you may be able to share a new or different method for treating a certain disease or condition while they will be able to show you techniques that they were taught and how they approach different conditions. It is a win-win relationship so reach out to those people that you admire and start forming those connections!
Thursday started off by learning about different zootoxins which was super interesting! It’s fairly common knowledge that black widows, brown recluses, and rattlesnakes are not things you want to interact with, but knowing the reason why their venom creates the clinical signs that we see in the clinic was fascinating. The rest of the morning was spent learning about adverse drug reactions and compounding drugs along with the FDA drug approval process. Friday’s lectures covered information on metal toxicities as well as different toxins that may be found in feeds. The rest of the afternoon was spent studying followed by a movie night with my housemates and Churro!
Saturday started off with a 10-mile run at the arboretum followed by some quality study time. That afternoon Morgan, Katelyn, and I went to the vet school’s talent show and were surprisingly impressed with the performances! It was a very wholesome way to spend a Saturday evening and everyone that participated did a fabulous job. Sunday was spent hanging out with Churro, studying, and prepping for the last week of the semester!
Quote of the week: “Feces is my thing.” -Dr. Rossow
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