Internship or practice

[Old-Country-Vet-Tech]

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I am a rising 33 year old 4th year (34 when graduation comes in 2024) who wants to go into mixed animal GP ( Food+equine/ small animal) I was told I basically should do an internship and that there was no way I was going to be successful without one going into practice. I am a lower income student, to move separately from my fiancee and pets would put him in a bad position and myself. I am the type of person once I learn it then I remember the second time. I really don't want to do an internship where I'm working 80-90 hrs a week for little pay just to get experience that I could get in practice with a decent mentor.

I'm burnt out on being cheap labor and want to actually make a living wage after

 

[SnowJ]

That seems like extremely weird advice to me. Granted I'm on the small animal exclusive side, but people go straight into practice without internships all the time and do just fine. You do have to find a practice with good mentorship, but an internship doesn't automatically mean good mentorship either.
I know equine tends to prefer internships, but I'm not sure that's the case for mixed practices.

 

[MixedAnimals77]

I am a rising 33 year old 4th year (34 when graduation comes in 2024) who wants to go into mixed animal GP ( Food+equine/ small animal) I was told I basically should do an internship and that there was no way I was going to be successful without one going into practice. I am a lower income student, to move separately from my fiancee and pets would put him in a bad position and myself. I am the type of person once I learn it then I remember the second time. I really don't want to do an internship where I'm working 80-90 hrs a week for little pay just to get experience that I could get in practice with a decent mentor.

I'm burnt out on being cheap labor and want to actually make a living wage after

Hi please feel free to pm specific questions or anything about the mixed life. I live the mixed life and I'm a year our into practice now. Internship while it does have its place is for the birds esp for mixed practice. Unless you want to emphasize something. If someone tells you to do/offers a true mixed animal internship it's because they want you for cheap labor. Find the right job for you and you'll be golden. Also I'm always available if you ever end up needing help when you get practicing.

 

[Trilt]

Let me guess... the person saying this did an internship (or maybe is even a specialist?)

An internship is not relevant for a majority of cases in SA GP, especially when you start talking mixed/food animal. Perhaps it gets a bit murkier with equine, but eh. There are pros and cons to both decisions, but it's frankly absolutely false to state that you can't be successful without an internship, lol.

 

[SocialStigma]

As someone who did an internship, I would not have done one had I not specialized, unless I was looking to work in a busy SA ER only practice.

 

[JaynaAli]

As someone living in a rural area who has worked in mixed animal clinics but also did an internship and specialized, I agree that you don’t need one. The level of care and caseload between the average mixed practice in my area and the specialty hospital where I did my internship is like night and day. That’s not to say that one is better than the other, but I’d actually argue that getting used to a fancy specialty hospital and getting used to overnight care, CRIs, and all the bells and whistles then being relocated to Small Town America, population 12,000 where you have like one fluid pump, don’t have any oxygen besides your anesthesia machine, have to hospitalize things alone overnight because referral isn’t an option, and the average budget is like $200 would be just as difficult or even more so than the adjustment from vet student to practicing vet. Almost nothing I learned in my internship is applicable to my rural mixed best friend’s day aside from rare emergencies. I’d imagine the difference isn’t quite as pronounced between an equine specialty hospital and rural mixed than it is between SA specialty and rural mixed, but I bet it’s still there. An internship can teach you how to manage complex cases and shore up your knowledge base, but it doesn’t teach you how to be a GP because quite frankly you never see those cases. GPs who have done an internship might be slightly better at a work up and advanced stuff because they’ve had access to those things, but the vast majority of your cases don’t need that fancy stuff. I would not do an internship in your situation unless you’re wanting to do fancy procedures or make a name for yourself early on for equine sports med or something. But if you’re wanting to be an everyday food/equine/some small animal GP, it’s not worth it.

 

[Old-Country-Vet-Tech]

This was an equine GP/sports med who wished she did one but went into practice on her own coming out. I'm looking to be an associate and do equine+food with some small animal or vice versa. Basically she says I need to have tubed 100+ horses so I don't get bloody noses and won't be competent in basic tasks coming out.

I just taught my ex phlebotomist fiancee how to hold off dog veins so I could pull blood on my dog. I teach underclassmen horse med stuff ? I feel better hearing all of this. It's hard to find mixed people in so I'm glad to know some are on here.

 

[Old-Country-Vet-Tech]

Hi please feel free to pm specific questions or anything about the mixed life. I live the mixed life and I'm a year our into practice now. Internship while it does have its place is for the birds esp for mixed practice. Unless you want to emphasize something. If someone tells you to do/offers a true mixed animal internship it's because they want you for cheap labor. Find the right job for you and you'll be golden. Also I'm always available if you ever end up needing help when you get practicing.

I'm going to be messaging you 😅

 

[MixedAnimals77]

Basically she says I need to have tubed 100+ horses so I don't get bloody noses

...even the most experienced tubers will get bloody noses occasionally...😬