Accredited Vet vs. Non-Accredited Vet experience

[MoNYC]

Hi folks,

Just wondering what your thoughts are on the importance of choosing an AAHA-accredited vet versus a non-accredited one when obtaining animal experience in terms of the quality of the experience itself as well as how adcoms judge it on our applications? Are there value judgments made? Does it make a significant or insignificant difference etc?

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[No Imagination]

Don't personally think it makes a whole lot of difference. You may be drawing blood, evaluating skins scraping and fecal floats and prepping for surgeries at a non-AAHA while mopping floors and doing laundry at the AAHA hospital.

Of course, it could be the other way around. IMO, its the experience that you gain that matters.

I've always been told that AAHA accreditation was a money making scheme anyways, but i'm sure it has some advantages (don't you get a plaque to put on your wall or something?)

 

[Nexx]

I doubt it makes a difference. AAHA is a general marketing scheme if you will, an association that business owners my join (if their practice meets certain specs) to provide a sense of uniform requirements to ease the consumers mind. Kind of like being a member of the Better Business Bureau.

A good chunk of their requirements are things like "Must have an opthalmoscope in each exam room" "Exam rooms must be at least 10'x10'" "Isolation wards must have separate ventilation" "Surgical suite must not have an open drain" -- items that are indeed good practice and make for a cleaner hospital, but not necessarily a deal-breaker for a client (referring to room sizes, etc).

I worked at a specialty clinic that wasn't AAHA certified, they certainly were practicing top-quality medicine and the facilities, while there was room for improvement, were impeccable. Then again, my first job was at a total ****hole that was AAHA certified, complete disaster--they used to fudge some things for their AAHA inspections then change things back after the visit.

Anyhow, judge a practice by what you see, not what's listed on their wall. I can't imagine it would boost an application to say that you worked at a "XYZ animal hospital which was AAHA certified" versus just stating that you worked at "XYZ animal hospital"

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Nah, not a real problem either way.