VCA Animal Hospital Internships and Sponsored Residencies

[Mark G]

I went to a lecture given by VCA today about small animal internships/externships and it seemed like a pretty good deal. Anyone here have experience at one of their small animal hospitals? We had a recent Cornell grad there, but I was looking for some more feedback.

I'm still a first year, so I have plenty of time, but I am definitely interested in Internships and very possibly specializing in Internal Medicine, Cardiology or something related.

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[Bill59]

Basically, they pay a university (usually) to train a resident and the resident agrees to work for a certain period of time at a VCA hospital. The university gets the money in exchange for taking a VCA intern instead of going through the match. The resident gets a position instead of taking chances through the match in exchange for a contract to work at VCA. VCA gets a resident for a fairly set cost instead of having to train one or hire one on the open market.

 

[Mark G]

Thanks, Bill. With the relative paucity of residency programs out there it sounds like a ecent system. I have my concerns about working for a 'corporate' vet-hospital, but at the same time I really want to do an Internship (at least I think I do now) and these types of hospitals seem to increase the chances of getting to do an internship and/or residency.

I have no idea how they are viewed in the industry, though. We saw another presentation yesterday, thistime by NVA. I found their rep to be quite open and honest about how things work, which was refreshing.

 

[Bill59]

I don't have and any personal experience but based on what I hear, VCA has a good reputation, both with their general practices and their specialty practices.

 

[adOggy07]

Hey there!

I used to work for VCA for about 2 years before I started vet school. I had an awesome experience there. We were a pretty busy practice and 24-hour, with about 8 doctors, 25 techs, and 10 receptionists. I didn't do an internship there or anything like that, but I started as a kennel assistant and worked my way up to be a tech. They taught me how to do a lot of things.. restraint, blood draws, catheters, med administration, etc!

I saw a lot of the Western University students come through our place to do their internships and they've always left us good feedback (and goodies!) =)

I had some apprehension about working for a corporation too. But after working there and some other hospitals as well, I think they were very well run and the only "corporation" type issues I felt I faced was with the pricing. Which, a lot of the times, can't be helped anyway. The doctors all definitely think on their own (and with each other) and are not restrained in their treatment methods by corporation limitations or rules.

You can PM me if you have any specific questions! =)

 

[Mark G]

Thanks guys! adOggy07 I may just PM you on this. It's such a long way off and I have a place I love to work already, but there's a VCA hospital nearby that i may investigate at some point.