At interviews we were told there were stethoscope vendors during orientation to take orders and such. Do you (or
@batsenecal) happen to know if they have ones you can try out and see what you like or nah?
And I saw the scavma list online from last years incoming class info and laughed at a $4 hoof pick. You can get two nice ones with brushes for the same price from a tack store
🤣
But like for the overboots it has on there, how necessary are those to buy if I already have a pair of knee-high nice muck boots that I wear to the barn?
iirc, I asked a current student at the time how much the vendor sold for and managed to get mine a bit cheaper outside of that particular sale (tldr: Idk, I didn't go see the vendor). Most people get the cardio III, but I think there's a IV out now so they may be pushing that one. No idea. I have the III and I like it just fine.
If you already have boots, you can definitely use those! It is best if they are low tread. It will save you a surprising amount of time since you have to clean them thoroughly after every first year palpation (aka weekly for 16 weeks), on clinics, etc. If they aren't low tread, you won't get yelled at, you just have put in more effort to keep them clean. More of a pain on clinics than during palpation. Some people like to have multiples esp. if they are large animal oriented so they can leave a pair in their locker for school and a pair in the car for going to the dairy/whatever on the weekends. Totally up to you though. Getting a 2nd pair of coveralls is definitely a good idea...I didn't need them 1st/2nd year but definitely did for my farm block 4th year. You could always try to borrow them like I did though! If you're a LA person it's a good investment.
I still haven't used the hoof pick I bought from ISCAVMA, but I have all of my equine blocks in a row coming up so I'm sure I'll use it them (and promptly sell it after). You need the instrument pack (Might find it cheaper online, might not) but after 2nd year you won't ever need them again. They're not quality instruments so it's not like you'd save them for a lac-pack you could use out in practice or anything. I might try to sell mine. Dissection instruments are provided in the anatomy lab, the pack you buy is for skills practice on clinics (dead stuff). The penlight they sold my year...every single person's stopped working within days of us starting clinics
🙄, hopefully they chose a different penlight after that. Honestly I have yet to use a penlight though. If you are testing cranial nerves, you'll reach for the transilluminator or your cell phone. Penlights are easier to have in your pocket, but unless you shell out $$$ for a legit one, they all seem to die/never get bright enough.
If you don't need to buy scrubs through ISCAVMA, don't bother. They aren't required and if they are the same that I was sold, just plain ceil blue with no good pockets. If you can get a few junky pairs for anatomy from Walmart for cheaper, do that.
Also, anyone hmu if you want a old school i-clicker for super cheap! It's been with me for 8 years now and we've bonded through the terrible times we've endured together, but he deserves to live on through an eager new student.
ETA: Percussion hammer is also unnecessary (still haven't used mine). If you can find the same instruments for less $, go for it.
). Go buy a hoofpick off amazon. Really the only super important thing is the surgical pack, in my opinion... I looked online but had a hard time finding anything that for sure had all the items that we needed.
