vet specialty and general practice combined?

[micro555]

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Hey all,

I'm considering specializing in veterinary ophthalmology after vet school. I was able to shadow a vet ophthalmologist, and her job seemed pretty cool. However, there were not enough referrals in the small town we are in to keep her busy for 40+ hours a week, so she ended up driving to the neighboring urban area to get enough work. Hypothetically, could one practice as a general DVM for part of the week and then practice as an ophthalmology specialist for the rest? Or once you specialize, is that the only area of medicine that you are allowed to work in?

Cheers,

 

[Caia]

Hey all,

I'm considering specializing in veterinary ophthalmology after vet school. I was able to shadow a vet ophthalmologist, and her job seemed pretty cool. However, there were not enough referrals in the small town we are in to keep her busy for 40+ hours a week, so she ended up driving to the neighboring urban area to get enough work. Hypothetically, could one practice as a general DVM for part of the week and then practice as an ophthalmology specialist for the rest? Or once you specialize, is that the only area of medicine that you are allowed to work in?

Cheers,

You can do general practice as well.

For example, repro specialists aren't typically busy all year round so they are involved in general practice as well.

 

[jmo1012]

Hey all,

I'm considering specializing in veterinary ophthalmology after vet school. I was able to shadow a vet ophthalmologist, and her job seemed pretty cool. However, there were not enough referrals in the small town we are in to keep her busy for 40+ hours a week, so she ended up driving to the neighboring urban area to get enough work. Hypothetically, could one practice as a general DVM for part of the week and then practice as an ophthalmology specialist for the rest? Or once you specialize, is that the only area of medicine that you are allowed to work in?

Cheers,

a DVM degree grants you the ability to practice any sort of veterinary medicine you choose. i suspect its very uncommon for specialists to also dabble in GP, but i think thats mostly because of where their interests lie. also, you would have to have a contract (unless you had your own business) that allowed you to practice outside of the specialty hospital. that said, i knew an internist (boarded) who worked part time as a GP and not at all in a specialty capacity because that was the lifestyle she wanted.

 

[that redhead]

Hey all,

I'm considering specializing in veterinary ophthalmology after vet school. I was able to shadow a vet ophthalmologist, and her job seemed pretty cool. However, there were not enough referrals in the small town we are in to keep her busy for 40+ hours a week, so she ended up driving to the neighboring urban area to get enough work. Hypothetically, could one practice as a general DVM for part of the week and then practice as an ophthalmology specialist for the rest? Or once you specialize, is that the only area of medicine that you are allowed to work in?

Cheers,

You can do whatever you want, really. You might consider a "traveling practice" where you go to different clinics where they'll stockpile their optho cases for you. We had that arrangement with an orthopedic surgeon and he was a busy guy. You could also work at a practice where you're GP but see the eye cases whenever they come in as your special interest.

The issue with optho specifically is that it isn't usually something that can wait for long periods of time - glaucoma, exploded/proptosed eyes, foreign bodies in eyes, etc. are emergencies and you can't really tell the client to come back in a week when you're there or whatever.

 

[sumstorm]

The reason most specialists don't do GP is because GP's might be hesitant to refer to you. The idea of referring to the specialist is that they do the specialty job and you retain the GP portion of the work. If a specialist is doing GP work as well, there is a chance the client would stay with you for GP. if that happens a few times, your reputation among vets would falter