Activites for Teens at Vet Career Day

[mbv]

Does anyone have suggestions for a simple activity that could be offered as a part of a veterinary career info session for teenagers (~13-16 yrs old)??

I know I've seen teddy bear surgery, radiographs, animal petting, etc. at vet school open houses, but I'm looking for some more ideas, especially since a lot of those activities seem to be more appropriate for a younger audience! I can't use any live animals. I have limited access to resources but I am open to all suggestions!

Also, I am doing this in a country where pets are not generally valued as they are in the US; most dogs are guard dogs. However, livestock is pretty important, socially and economically. There are a lot of food safety/regulatory jobs in the veterinary sector here. Plus, higher education is funded by the government, so I don't have to worry about encouraging students to take on a high debt load 😉

Thanks for any ideas you all might have!!!

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[Trilt]

I was pretty much responsible for the schedule of our vet camp here at NC State, and while researching for ideas for it I primarily looked at what other camps were doing - not sure if this'll help, but here are a couple I had looked at that had sample lessons/activities on their website:

http://vetmed.tamu.edu/bims/future/veterinary-enrichment-camp (Sample itinerary waaaay down the page).
http://www.bearriverranch.com/vet_camp.html (This one has a lot of ideas!)
http://www.madeira.org/summer/summe...ourse-offerings/veterinary-science/index.aspx​

I think labs for bandaging or suture lessons are always really neat, but they do require a lot of materials.

 

[Trematode]

-Our vet clinic had an open house. They had a "Guess The Animal" contest with the radiographs. All correct answers got put in a draw. Winner got free food. A similar thing was done when I had the vets come speak to the Girl Guides, except they got a pet first aid kit.
-Having preserved parasites and reproductive organs is always cool. Our vet got them from a client, who taught parasitology at the local university.
-You can have poster board with the steps of a spay or neuter along with pictures.
-At our open house, we even had a stuffed animal "parvo" dog in isolation hooked up to IV fluids.
-Perhaps you can do up a poster that goes through a vet's typical day or list off all of the things that vets do.

I do not know how relevant they would be for your situation, but it may give you some ideas.

Good luck! .

It is really cool that you are doing it in another country. I have a contact that may be able to help you with ideas. If you are interested, drop me a PM.

 

[Minnerbelle]

How about a surgery skills box? All you really need is a cheap dissection kit and a needle holder, and a box that's like a lil more than foot deep with cups in it with marbles of difference sizes, a pad of post-its, etc... We actually had these during first-year to build up manual dexterity and instrument handling skills. You can teach the teens how to properly hold the instruments and give them a few tasks to do in the box. Move the marbles from this cup to that cup using a hemostat. Add a couple other obstacles of your choosing (or I'm sure you can find ideas online). A really good one is to draw a squiggly tortuous line on the post-it that goes across one sheet (one edge to another edge, doesn't matter which). Put that in the center of the box and have the participant try to maneuver and cut it as continuously as possible using a hemostat and scissors without taking the scissors off and repositioning. Doing that elbow deep in a confined space is pretty challenging to do. If you'd like, you could even paint the box exterior into a puppy/cow and add a head/tail to it.

Also, if you don't have funds to get sutures (and plus sharps are a problem anyway), you can always just get thin polyester (?) ropes that you could even give away. All you need is some type of handle, and you can teach them how to do a square knot and/or a surgeon's knot. Hand-ties are cool, but instrument-ties are cooler if you can get a couple of needle holders (hemostats would work too i guess). Not sure what your budget is, but you can find pretty cheap ones.

Not sure if you're trying to get people involved in companion animal care, or you're just going for livestock stuff. But if the latter, a "name that parasite" kind of poster might be cool, with little flip ups that give info about each.

 

[scb44f]

I was pretty much responsible for the schedule of our vet camp here at NC State, and while researching for ideas for it I primarily looked at what other camps were doing - not sure if this'll help, but here are a couple I had looked at that had sample lessons/activities on their website:

http://vetmed.tamu.edu/bims/future/veterinary-enrichment-camp (Sample itinerary waaaay down the page).
http://www.bearriverranch.com/vet_camp.html (This one has a lot of ideas!)
http://www.madeira.org/summer/summe...ourse-offerings/veterinary-science/index.aspx​

I think labs for bandaging or suture lessons are always really neat, but they do require a lot of materials.

😍 Bear River Ranch! I shadowed the vet who works on all their animals. Really cool place, and they have lots of animal-free activities that still teach them about vet med.

Anyway, I second the "guess the animal" and preserved objects/parts/parasites ideas. That's one thing we did for a program similar to the one you're trying to do and it went over really well. It also might be fun to walk through a physical exam and mention all the things a vet will check out in such a short period of time (heart sounds okay, lungs sound good, lymph nodes not swollen, etc.)

 

[mbv]

Thanks everyone! Very good ideas and awesome links! I am friends with quite a few (people) doctors here so I'm going to try to see if I can get some expired materials/old instruments. I would love to do suturing but I can't use any sharps.. although the sharp-free suturing ideas you guys have suggested sound good!

 

[Trematode]

That also reminds me, we also had radiographs of foreign bodies. We asked the visitors what they thought the animal had eaten. .