emergency veterinarian vs emergency specialist

[vetter45]

Hey guys,

I am interested in pursuing a residency, possibly in emergency medicine. I was wondering what the main difference is between veterinarians who work in emergency clinics vs veterinarians that have a specialization in emergency medicine? It seems a lot of emergency practices have veterinarians without specializations.

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[CalliopeDVM]

A lot of emergency clinics don't have specialists because either they can't afford enough of them, or there simply aren't enough of them to go around. And some simply don't have the facilities where a specialist would offer much of a benefit (eg if you don't have the equipment to do mechanical ventilation or bronchoscopy, you don't really need someone who's familiar with and can utilize that type of care).

There are different levels of "emergency practice" or emergency clinics - some are acute care for nights and weekends, whereas some offer more sophisticated, intensive care. http://www.veccs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=142&Itemid=288

 

[TXvet]

I work at an emergency clinic but am not boarded. Starting my 19th year, 18th at the same practice. We just went 24 hours in the fall and now have a criticalist during the day. I find I know just as much if not more-but this is likely b/c I have much more experience, plus I do surgery, she does not. She does get to work in the daytime which might be nice though I am a night owl. If you get boarded you will have better hours and possibly better pay (but I think the later is debatable).

 

[JHerriot14]

The issue with boarded emergency vets is that they don't know how to do surgery or don't want to(most of the ones I've met). So their work is fairly limited to large referral centers and universities. When there's a shortage of boarded vets, this doesn't really matter but when there's a glut (as there will likely be in the near future), this could potentially be a huge problem.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

The issue with boarded emergency vets is that they don't know how to do surgery or don't want to(most of the ones I've met). So their work is fairly limited to large referral centers and universities. When there's a shortage of boarded vets, this doesn't really matter but when there's a glut (as there will likely be in the near future), this could potentially be a huge problem.

I can name at least half a dozen emergency veterinarian colleagues of mine just off the top of my head who would heartily disagree with this assumption.

 

[LetItSnow]

I can name at least half a dozen emergency veterinarian colleagues of mine just off the top of my head who would heartily disagree with this assumption.

I don't like @JHerriot14 's choice of words ("don't know how" and "don't want to" - the first is absurd, and the second doesn't jive with my experience), but in general I think it's true that more often than not the boarded criticalists aren't doing surgery whereas us non-boarded hacks are ... just because of where the boarded people end up working.

My time is split between one of our out-state facilities (no referral center) and one of our metro facilities (co-located with a referral practice). 80% of my surgical patients in the metro facility opt to turf to the boarded surgeon when I give that option (more like, when I encourage it..... I mean, if it were my animal I'd want the boarded surgeon), so I haven't cut many cases there. But at our out-state facility, I cut 100% of my surgical patients because that's the only option they get.

As an aside .... as expected by the rules of the universe, the ones that I am least excited about cutting are the ones that inevitably decline the transfer to the boarded surgeon.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

I don't like @JHerriot14 's choice of words ("don't know how" and "don't want to" - the first is absurd, and the second doesn't jive with my experience), but in general I think it's true that more often than not the boarded criticalists aren't doing surgery whereas us non-boarded hacks are ... just because of where the boarded people end up working.

Yes - it's certainly more about where they are working than whether they know how or want to do it......if they are working in a small hospital, they may be doing a lot of surgery (as the one case I have seen), but I can also imagine that if a Boarded vet was working in a bigger hospital with available Surgeons, they may not. Even non-boarded ER docs who work in a bigger clinic with available Surgeons do little surgery (I know a few who are required to call in Surgeons for ER surgery).

(edited for typos - got a new keyboard)

 

[vetneuroperson]

Hey guys,

I am interested in pursuing a residency, possibly in emergency medicine. I was wondering what the main difference is between veterinarians who work in emergency clinics vs veterinarians that have a specialization in emergency medicine? It seems a lot of emergency practices have veterinarians without specializations.

Personally I don't think specialization in emergency medicine would be worth it. The difference in salary is minimal from what I've seen. However, I think as a boarded criticalist you could probably make up for that by doing talks, CE, and having a "supervising" role for multi-specialty referral centers with interns and non-boarded ER docs. The trade off is that boarded criticalists really don't do surgery very often, so they're missing out on A LOT of production.[/QUOTE]

 

[nyanko]

If you really, really like advanced critical care type stuff you should probably specialize IMO but if you just like emergency there's really no reason for that.

 

[Bracco Pointer]

If you really, really like advanced critical care type stuff you should probably specialize IMO but if you just like emergency there's really no reason for that.

On that note... How much critical care do you find is possible/reasonable without specialization?