How do I get clinical experience??

[krodriguez]

So I did my rejection feedback at Tufts and it turns out my biggest weakness is that I do not have clinical experience (I have mostly worked with lab animals) So....... how do I get some? Is it really as simple as asking my vet if I can work for her? I feel a little strange about that since I've just started bringing my kitties to her. How did you all go about getting clinical experience?

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[twosoakers]

I approached my veterinarian and asked if I could observe him several days a week. A job opened, and I took it, assisting one of the veterinarians. I wouldn't recommend assisting, though. The vets are usually too busy asking you for help to show you how things are done/share knowledge (at least the vet I worked with). and the staff (assts and techs) I worked with ended up disliking me because they thought i was insulting their profession by using it as a 'stepping stone.'

i'd recommend asking a vet if you could shadow once or twice a week. this will also allow you to get a diversity of experiences--shadowing small, large, mixed, wildlife, zoo vets.

 

[silverelf]

I approached my veterinarian and asked if I could observe him several days a week. A job opened, and I took it, assisting one of the veterinarians. I wouldn't recommend assisting, though. The vets are usually too busy asking you for help to show you how things are done/share knowledge (at least the vet I worked with). and the staff (assts and techs) I worked with ended up disliking me because they thought i was insulting their profession by using it as a 'stepping stone.'

i'd recommend asking a vet if you could shadow once or twice a week. this will also allow you to get a diversity of experiences--shadowing small, large, mixed, wildlife, zoo vets.

i disagree with you on the assisting thing...the vets i've assisted for would call me over when they were looking at an xray or palpating something interesting, etc. the techs all loved me and got excited when i got to do my first catheter and first intubation, etc.....they were really happy when i was accepted into vet school, and loved teaching me because i generally made their jobs a lot easier by being an extra pair of hands for restraint and etc. i think its really a matter of where you work and the attitudes of the people you work with.

 

[twosoakers]

i guess so! i worked in a rather hostile environment (to put it nicely). it would have been illegal in the state of indiana for me to intubate. only cert. techs were permitted to perform most surgical techniques (let alone catheterizations).

 

[silverelf]

i guess so! i worked in a rather hostile environment (to put it nicely). it would have been illegal in the state of indiana for me to intubate. only cert. techs were permitted to perform most surgical techniques (let alone catheterizations).

oh, the beauty of living in a state where you don't have to be certified....

 

[Rebeki]

I recently was in search of clinical experience myself, here's what I did.

I went to the Yahoo Yellow Pages and looked for all of the vet offices within a certain radius of my house. In my case that was about 20-25 offices. I called them and asked if they had any vet asst positions open. Any offices that said they might be hiring I took my resume to in person and filled out their application. After only a week of handing out my resumes, I have been offered a full-time position at a clinic.

Also, I found that people were more receptive to me when I explained that I was applying to vet school.

Hope that helps!

 

[kate_g]

Sounds like I was in a very similar situation to you, krodriguez. I had loads of veterinary experience with lab animals but nothing else. I was strongly advised to get some private practice experience before applying, and thankfully I listened.

I agree with twosoakers that shadowing will actually get you more clinical experience than working (entry-level positions in clinics are generally more about answering phones and taking out the trash than about assisting in major surgeries). And it will give you more flexibility than eating up all your free time with one 20-hour job that you have to show up for. You should not expect to *do* a lot while shadowing (liability issues), but this is OK. Especially if I read you right and you have good hands-on procedural experience with lab animals, you're not there to get someone to let you do your first blood draw. You're there to see how private clinical practice works on a day-to-day basis.

If you like your current vet and you think she'd be into having you shadow, then by all means ask her. The other thing you should do is talk to whoever advises pre-vets at your school (if you've graduated, just go to the nearest college - they won't know that you're not a student there!) and ask if there are local vets that students have had good luck with in the past. You're going to want a rec from this person, so you want somebody who knows how the game is played. Also if you get someone who really wants to help you get into vet school, they may be able to set you up with other opportunities. The vet I shadowed hooked me up with the radiologist they use for consults, then the radiologist offered to set me up with a zoo vet that he knew... So it's to your advantage to find someone with good connections who's not afraid to use them.

If your lab animal experience is not veterinary (caretaking rather than procedures), you might have better luck getting hands-on experience at a local shelter than at a clinic. Shelters rarely turn away free willing help. Just make sure you find one that has an in-house clinical setup, so they do meds, spay/neuter, blood draws, etc. Be clear about your objectives from the outset; if they don't need a hospital volunteer right now, go elsewhere rather than get stuck doing caretaking that won't count as veterinary experience. You don't need a full-time vet - in fact, you'll probably get to *do* more if the clinic is normally just run by techs and a vet comes in part-time. You just need to make sure you can schedule to be there with the vet some of the time, so they know you well enough to write a recommendation.

 

[fargeese]

For my first clinical job I went to the 2 offices in town (yes there are only 2, it's a small town) personally to ask for a job/shadowing experience, and only got the vet tech at the desk. Then I went back to one of the two and met with the vet, having given him a week to (a) know I existed and (b) decide if he wanted to hire me. It was not a great experience, didn't learn all that much to be honest, but it was a start.

For this summer's job I did a internet search of all the vets in my dad's area (where I will be living this summer) and sent out a letter to the equine and large animal vets since that is where I lack experience explaining who I was and what my qualifications were. Two of them I never heard from and the other called me back the day he got the letter and hired me. Of course I offered to work for free which might have helped. I can afford this since I am a teacher and will get paid over the summer; but the nice thing is that I can use the summer experience hopefully to get a paying job in the fall.

I think most vets had to do the same thing (beg for a tech job) at some point, and feel like they should give someone else the same option, karma and all that. Plus some of them really do need some extra cheap help.

 

[jfitzpatri8]

First of all... don't feel embarrassed to ask someone a question. As my husband says: "What's the worst they can do? Shoot us?" Brings things into perspective, huh?

Secondly, I would be just as picky as you think they will be. Ask them if they will let you try with blood draws, IV, IM, SQ injections, watch REALLY closely during surgeries (and talk through what they are doing-- "now I am making the first incision through the skin... now I am searching for the linea alba... now I am using the spay hook to retract the uterus, which I will follow to locate the ovary in order to detach the ovarian ligament from the body wall..." etc), calculate drug dosages, fluid dosages, etc. Explain radiographic and serologic findings. Teach you how to read a fecal float and a urinary cytology (and how to collect samples and set up the slide). Explain palpation techniques. Ask leading questions about next steps, allow you to explain treatments to clients.

Get the picture? If a Dr. is going to let you come in and just "observe," you don't get the "experience" part of the deal.

You need a set of all the different sized syringes... learn how to hold each with one hand and draw fluid out of a bag, inject fluid into the bag, empty air from the syringe. You need a set of lines to learn how to prime them to prevent air emboli.

That experience is what will get you into vet school. I am smart AND I have the technical talent to back it up. Look for a big Specialty practice in the area (I drove 45 minutes for mine- in SoCal, even), or find an emergency clinic. I worked swing shifts so that my job didn't interfere with my school, AND, bonus, when it wasn't busy and all the laundry was folded, I was put to work maintaining IV catheters, drawing blood samples from BG curve cases, giving treatment injections, etc.

If you're into large animals, get a few ride-alongs. With large animals, it depends on the vet- they are less likely to let you do procedures, since the owner is usually standing right there. But, you can watch lameness exams, radiograph set-ups, oral or nasal gastric intubations, castrations, vaccinations and blood draws, rectal palpations... and then ask all kinds of questions while you are on the way to the next farm- which restraint methods do you prefer? which drug combination do you use for chemical restraint? different ones for different situations? why? you actually CAN and absolutely OUGHT TO ask "why."

OK, I'm getting down from my soapbox- the view really is pretty nice from up here, though... think I'll go look for another one to climb onto!

J

 

[Wahimsa]

Great advice....

I am still a few years from going back to school to get all my pre-reqs done before I can apply...is it ever too early to start getting experience? I know that sounds like it has an easy answer (No!!!), but I was wondering if the vet would be more receptive of the idea of having a shadow if I was a little closer to the pre-vet school stuff. I probably won't be able to start the app process until 2011/2012.....Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Monkey85]

I went to a local emergency clinic and asked if I could shadow a vet once a week. They were happy to let me do it and they said they usually have one or two people shadowing during the year to get experience. The biggest thing I had against shadowing is that you really can't do much. At my job (I work in a primate research lab) I intubate, draw blood, put in iv lines, run anethesia, and everything else to do with an animal. But since I am not a certified tech I couldn't do anything with the animals at the clinic beside restraint because of legal issues. So it was kind of annoying having to hold my hands behind my back and just watch all the time. A benefit was that I didn't actually work there so I got to hang with the doctor most of the time and didn't have to clean cages or other grunt work the techs didn't want to do. There are a lot of things to gain from just watching at a clinic, though. Working with lab animals most of the time I never saw client/doctor interactions so it was worth it just for that. So I would reccomend going to a local clinic and ask if there is a possibility of shadowing. I shadowed at an emergency clinic because they were open 24 hrs a day and the only time I could go with school and work was on Saturdays at various hours. Good luck.

 

[kate_g]

I was wondering if the vet would be more receptive of the idea of having a shadow if I was a little closer to the pre-vet school stuff.

I'm sure it depends on the individual vet, so you'll just have to ask. Maybe ask several vets if you could shadow them each for just one day, rather than trying to set up a recurring weekly gig right from the start. If you hit it off with any of them, see if you can continue once a week, once a month, whatever works out. You may end up with a mentor to help you through the entire process of going back to school and applying, which would be a great benefit I'm sure.

Also, if you haven't had much plain old animal experience, it would be great to get started with that before you try to do anything clinical. Volunteer at a shelter, barn, wildlife rehab, whatever you're into... And just get used to working around and with the animals. I'm a particular fan of the low-budget local operations, because they're always understaffed and you'll get to do way more than you probably should, legally speaking. I cleaned up after many litters of puppies with diarrhea, but I also had a tech talk me through placing a catheter in a six-week-old kitten because I couldn't hold it still enough for her to do it, and we were the only two people in the building. (Whoda thunk that a 1-pound kitten could kick my hundred-plus-times bigger butt, and that actually placing the catheter would end up being the "easy" part of the job?)

 

[zygote]

Shadowing is a good way to get a foot in the door, I learned a ton while shadowing, but some schools such as CSU don't give a whole lot of value to shadowing without hands-on experience which is how my shadow went, I mainly followed around the doctor. This was problematic for me since I was a full time student and could not find a job in a vet clinic that wasn't full-time, but I was lucky to already be volunteering at the local humane society when they were looking for volunteer help in thier spay/neuter clinic. It was great becuase I could come in only one or two days a week and they were really helpful in teaching me intubations,blood draws, etc. and really appreciated me working there for free. I also got a lot of hands-on experience volunteering at a wildlife rehab (although it wasn't run by a vet so it did not count as vet experience). So my suggestion is if you cannot find a job to maybe look into non-profit animal groups in your area to see if there is any vet related volunteer work you could do.

 

[Azawakh]

Hello Krodriguez,

Luckily one of the reasons for your rejection is one that is relatively easy to remedy. I am not sure where you are located but Angell Memorial Hospital has a pretty good volunteer program and is a great place to get some experience especially considering that they have a long standing relationship with Tufts. I would definitely let them that you will be applying to veterinary school. They have an online application and I would follow it up with an e-mail.

Here is the link MSPCA Angell

There is also a spay/neuter shelter in South Boston that LOVES volunteers and you get a TON of experience. You do pre-anesthesia, post-op care and discharge patients. It's where I intubated my first cat. Fabulous place. PM me if you would be interested.

Good luck!!!

 

[winkle1983]

A lack of small animal clinical experience was also what I was told in my "loser" interview (as I affectionally called it). I had done some shadowing here and there but never actually worked in a small animal hospital setting. I had done more wildlife, equine volunteer work and such. Anyways, I now work part-time in an animal emergency hospital 2 nights a week (great b/c it's 24hours and it can work around my full-time job and my master's program come this fall). And since I work there, even as an asst, I am still expected to do most of what the licensed techs do. Example, subq, IM injections, drawing blood, IV catheter placement (hopefully!), treatments, running labwork...everything really! It is great experience And the people I work with want to teach me and want me to get into vet school...very positive!

But back to your questions....lol Def just look up vets in your area...shadowing will get your foot in the door and hopefully a job will open up.

 

[cubs11]

I am just now starting my experience. I have 4 opportunities lined up, starting this summer and fall. What I did was looked online for local vets in my area. I looked at those who had websites because they often supplied information regarding what types of services they offered (small animal, large animal, exotics, aviary, etc.), information for each of the vets, their contact information, etc. I emailed one of the vets at the clinic I was interested in. She called me back today and was extremely excited about helping me prepare for vet school. We talked for 15 minutes and she gave me recommendations/contact information for two dairy vets in my area with whom she had interned/shadowed when preparing for vet school. She told me I could come in as soon as I wanted, set my own schedule, and come as often as I like. She told me she performs surgeries in the mornings and asked if I would be interested in viewing surgeries. I start thursday morning with an exotic surgery!!! She is the type of vet who explains what she is doing as she is doing it, so you receive the best possible learning experience.

I will also start volunteering with a neuter/spay/release organization and the "S.N.I.P" clinic at my local humane society this summer. In the Fall I will be volunteering with the Vet at the zoo.

As I am currently starting this process, I have no words of wisdom (as I have not been accepted to vet school yet), but my advice is to start with researching local vets. If you meet with one and feel as though it will not be beneficial to your learning, look into other vets. Yesterday I met with a vet at an animal hospital within walking distance of my house. However, she was not eager to have pre-vet students shadowing her. She made it clear that her idea of my "experience" was not going to be following her...

I don't want to waste my time getting "experience" hours doing nothing. I found a vet who wants me to start learning immediately, will walk me through procedures, will serve as a mentor through the preparation/application process, and would probably write a strong LOR based on our working relationship and her dedication to helping students succeed.

Good luck!

 

[Wahimsa]

I think I am going to move to Kentucky :0)

Congrats on all the opportunity headed your way!!!

 

[cubs11]

i know it!!!

thanks!!!


now if we could just get a vet school...

 

[Wahimsa]

How have most of you received large animal experience? Vets who work with large animals? Dairy farms? It is relatively easy to find small animals experience with vets, humane societies, etc, but I am not quite sure where to start with large animals. I live in Maine, so I know it can't be THAT tough to find around here, but where have most of you had your most beneficial experiences???? Thanks in advance :0).......

 

[silverelf]

How have most of you received large animal experience? Vets who work with large animals? Dairy farms? It is relatively easy to find small animals experience with vets, humane societies, etc, but I am not quite sure where to start with large animals. I live in Maine, so I know it can't be THAT tough to find around here, but where have most of you had your most beneficial experiences???? Thanks in advance :0).......

i grew up raising goats and sheep (now THATS the easiest way! ) and i rode on my school's western team in college, and got involved with the block and bridle club, where i learned to halter-break beef cattle and handle pigs and heifers. i didn't have that much actual experience with a vet, but what i did do that was really helpful is the Association of Rural Veterinarians has a mentor page on their website...I emailed the one closest to me, and spent two weeks riding with him, and the experience was amazing!! I learned more in two weeks than I thought was possible. If you're interested in a specific species, you can usually find someone who would be willing to help you (unless its alpacas, they're expensive and their owners don't want "newbies" ruining their precious 50,000 dollar investment...). You could work milking cows, get experience in a barn working with horses (I would still like more horse experience than I've got, so I'll be working with a woman this summer cart-training ponies). Its not hard to find experience, generally the hardest thing is that all the experience doesn't pay...unlike small animal medicine when you can tech or work in a kennel or etc.

 

[krodriguez]

Wow thanks for all of the advice!! I am starting off by contacting the nearest emergency vet in my area. I've had to bring my cat to them a couple of times (she has CRF ) and they have all been really fabulous. Plus they are 24hrs which is the best thing for me since I still have my regular full time job 8:30-5 everyday. Thanks again for the advice!

 

[thereservoirdog]

First of all... don't feel embarrassed to ask someone a question. As my husband says: "What's the worst they can do? Shoot us?" Brings things into perspective, huh?

Secondly, I would be just as picky as you think they will be. Ask them if they will let you try with blood draws, IV, IM, SQ injections, watch REALLY closely during surgeries (and talk through what they are doing-- "now I am making the first incision through the skin... now I am searching for the linea alba... now I am using the spay hook to retract the uterus, which I will follow to locate the ovary in order to detach the ovarian ligament from the body wall..." etc), calculate drug dosages, fluid dosages, etc. Explain radiographic and serologic findings. Teach you how to read a fecal float and a urinary cytology (and how to collect samples and set up the slide). Explain palpation techniques. Ask leading questions about next steps, allow you to explain treatments to clients.

Get the picture? If a Dr. is going to let you come in and just "observe," you don't get the "experience" part of the deal.

You need a set of all the different sized syringes... learn how to hold each with one hand and draw fluid out of a bag, inject fluid into the bag, empty air from the syringe. You need a set of lines to learn how to prime them to prevent air emboli.

That experience is what will get you into vet school. I am smart AND I have the technical talent to back it up. Look for a big Specialty practice in the area (I drove 45 minutes for mine- in SoCal, even), or find an emergency clinic. I worked swing shifts so that my job didn't interfere with my school, AND, bonus, when it wasn't busy and all the laundry was folded, I was put to work maintaining IV catheters, drawing blood samples from BG curve cases, giving treatment injections, etc.

If you're into large animals, get a few ride-alongs. With large animals, it depends on the vet- they are less likely to let you do procedures, since the owner is usually standing right there. But, you can watch lameness exams, radiograph set-ups, oral or nasal gastric intubations, castrations, vaccinations and blood draws, rectal palpations... and then ask all kinds of questions while you are on the way to the next farm- which restraint methods do you prefer? which drug combination do you use for chemical restraint? different ones for different situations? why? you actually CAN and absolutely OUGHT TO ask "why."

OK, I'm getting down from my soapbox- the view really is pretty nice from up here, though... think I'll go look for another one to climb onto!

J

this is really helpful. I got my first veterinary experience yesterday shadowing the local vet and I was trying to keep what you said in mind.

 

[krodriguez]

So I shadowed for the first time today and I loved it!! I'm going in twice a month to watch surgeries. Do you think Tufts will even care that I'm doing this since I'm just watching? Do you think this is what they had in mind when they told me I needed to get clinical experience?

 

[AuburnPreVet]

It's a start. I think the main idea is to be sure that you know what a "typical" veterinarian does from day to day -- so you know what you're getting in to. It's not that they want you to have tremendous skill before admission.

With that said - I'm sure after you're 'shadowing' for a while, they'll start to trust you and ask you to help with little things.

 

[cubs11]

i agree...i've been shadowing a small animal/exotic vet for a month and i give vaccinations, draw blood, assist with surgeries (epi flush, oxygen levels, etc.), etc.

i also shadow a large animal vet, and that's a different story...i usually load fly tags or something small like that. but from what i've experienced, and heard from others as well, large animal shadowing tends to be hands off for various reasons.

no matter what you're doing, shadowing is great experience. if nothing else, it makes you realize whether this is what you do or do not want to do for the rest of your life!!!