Volunteering/job shadowing during a pandemic

[LeahKesley]

Hi,
I’m really curious to see if there are pre-vets out there who have tried volunteering during this pandemic. Not very few vets were available for shadowing in my area, and I want to start as soon as possible. Are there any virtual shadowing options?

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[LetItSnow]

Huh. If there are virtual shadowing options, I'd be curious to hear about it and how it was implemented.;

I personally can't see doing it. As a vet, what's in it for me? I have to somehow set up some sort of virtual shadowing thing - requiring effort and innovation and probably both financial and/or time investment. Why would I do that?

Be cool if it were available, because I do sympathize with people trying to gain hours right now. But I just can't see it from my end of things.

 

[britzen]

Most of the opportunities seem to be more structured than standard shadowing. Things like bigger organizations doing case rounds or subject specific talks.

I'll see if I can remember / look up a few. Even if you can't go in person to experience the day to day life of a clinic, you can start learning about different aspects of the profession and medicine.

 

[LeahKesley]

Huh. If there are virtual shadowing options, I'd be curious to hear about it and how it was implemented.;

I personally can't see doing it. As a vet, what's in it for me? I have to somehow set up some sort of virtual shadowing thing - requiring effort and innovation and probably both financial and/or time investment. Why would I do that?

Be cool if it were available, because I do sympathize with people trying to gain hours right now. But I just can't see it from my end of things.

It’s a bit unusual I know, but I’ve seen so many ads about it only for pre-meds. Someone did do a poll once whether they should put up a virtual shadowing for pre-vets, but unfortunately lost to the many physical therapists (I think those are the people) who wanted virtual shadowing.

 

[Polocrosse2017]

Instead of shadowing I worked for a vet this summer (May - early August). He is a grad of the vet school I'm going to and mentored me while I worked. I earned a good wage and got to "shadow" him too. He offered me a job for next summer and I'm going back for a week this winter for an externship (elective we get credit for) that he agreed to do with me. His partner's husband also agreed to let me shadow him one day a week next summer since he is an equine surgeon for additional experience. I think you need to show value added to the vet (like working hard for him - I did 50 hours a week) or know someone at this point in time. Full disclosure - I got the job through knowing someone who got me the interview pre-pandemic. His practice was still busy and his state allowed it so he chose to have me still come.

 

[KittyCat99]

I would keep in mind that some schools will not accept virtual “vet experience” as valid for their application. I know that UC Davis does not count virtual experiences as vet experience. Check with the specific schools you are applying to. You need to see and experience things hands on for it to really be valuable experience that will help your application.

Also, things like seminars/talks/classes taught by vets is also not vet experience for UC Davis SVM (check with your specific schools though).

 

[longtailmonkey]

I tried emailing some of the vaccine clinics in my city who are holding outdoor drive-through clinics once a month. Managed to get a volunteer position this way! But I definitely agree, depending on where you live, it's hard to find volunteer/shadowing opportunities right now

 

[battie]

In the Denver Metro Area, clinics/hospitals are literally drowning in patients. There arent enough assistants or techs to help doctors manage it all. So I would suggest checking out your state's vet med association job boards or local tech school job boards to see if there are assistant, reception, or tech positions open. You'd actually need to be working, but assistant/receptionist/tech hours would count toward your application as vet hours. It would also give you a foot in the door to spend extra time in the clinic to get more one on one time with doctors