The place where I did my externship will remain anonymous unless you are in the JJC Vet Tech program.
The good:
* I got to see a lot. This is a busy walk-in clinic that has a separate emergency clinic that operates in the same building overnight. Advertising for the emergency clinic, I suspect, means that this clinic sees a lot of emergencies regardless of the time of day.
* The Tech supervisor graduated from JJC so she knows what to expect out of JJC students and can relate on a personal level to the experience of being an extern.
* The other Assistants/Techs are very nice and helpful.
* They pay $100/week.
* Shifts are 6:30am to 1:30pm, so the possibility to work a second job or do things after your shift is there. I chose to work the afternoon shift on Mondays and Tuesdays which I liked (1:30pm to 8:30pm) and putting in extra time in addition to your shift is no problem if you want to get your hours done more quickly.
The bad:
* The doctors are always very busy juggling rooms and don't have a lot of time to answer questions. Teaching time with doctors is very rare.
* There are 10 or so doctors and sometimes a Veterinary intern on staff here. It's hard to get to know them and to get them to remember that you are an extern looking to learn things so that if/when they do have time or something interesting they might let you know about it.
* The Techs/Assistants, while helpful, will generally give newbies the easy jobs just to keep up with the pace, so if you want to try a catheter, jugular blood draw, etc you have to either wait till everyone else is busy and you are the only one available or speak up!
* Techs/Assistants are not well utilized. Doctors do most of their own blood draws, injections, radiographs, etc. so much of your time is spent restraining. This leaves few opportunities to practice, so again you have to jump on opportunities when they arise. (Techs/assistants are mainly responsible for surgery and hospitalized patients, though, so these are your best opportunities to get practice!)
* I had to buy a uniform from them. For 2 sets of scrubs it was about $100.
The indifferent:
* There is no structure at this clinic. You aren't assigned to any job or vet, everyone just jumps in and does what needs to be done. You go from prepping for surgery, to cutting nails, cleaning cages, drawing blood, mopping the floor, washing surgical instruments, shuttling animals around -whatever needs to be done at the moment. There is little to no down time, but you aren't stuck with one task or one doctor all day either.
What I got to do:
Daily to several times a week:
* restraining
* cleaning cages, dishes, surgical instruments, the treatment area, etc
* drawing up vaccines
* TPR's for hospitalized cases
* giving medication to boarding and hospitalized patients
* prep animal for surgery (restrain for induction and intubation, then you shave, scrub the surgical site, and open the pack for the vet)
* nail trims with or without dremel
* cephalic blood draws on dogs
* putting in IV catheters (almost always in dogs)
* SQ injections
* IV pump use
Weekly or so:
* jugular blood draw(s)
* putting drugs away (cabinets by type of drug, helped w/ re-learning drugs)
* run in-house blood tests (PCV, Pre-surgical or Chems, rarely CBC's, or electrolytes)
* nebulization(s)
* giving subcutaneous fluids
* monitor patients' anesthesia level
Rarely:
* scrub in on a surgery (once, foreign body)
* take x-rays yourself
* dentals
* calculate and/or give premed
* induce anesthesia (once)
* intubate (once)
* anal glands, fecal collection
* microscope work, mostly earmite checks (a couple aspiration biopsies and skin scraping results always because I asked to look at it)
* run EKGs (done over the phone)
* use esophageal stethoscope
* set up suction and/or cautery for surgery
* wing clipping
* microchipping
Never:
* fecals -always sent out
* urinalysis -sent out
* blood smears -sent out
* physical exam -doctors do, although techs do TPR's on hospitalized cases
* interact with customers by phone
* needle aspiration biopsy -doctors do
* skin scraping -doctors do
* FDT/STT -doctors do
* otoscope/ophthalmoscope use -doctors do
* take histories-doctors do
* bandaging -techs do, I just never did it
* calculating fluid rates, estimating dehydration -doctors do
* dental radiographs -not available except w/ regular x-ray machine
* blood pressure, ETCO2 -BP available, ETCO2 not available
What I got to see:
* oxytocin use, puppies being born (got to stimulate puppies to potty)
* eclampsia
* hit by cars
* respiratory arrests and other emergencies
* collapsed tracheas
* toxin ingestions (Decon, Aleve, marijuana, transmission fluid, unknowns)
* saddle thrombus
* GDV
* HGE
* severe anemia
* hepatic lipidosis in a cat
* compound fracture in cat
* lacerations, abcesses, necrotic wounds
* an impalement
* glucose curves
* ACTH stim tests
* acute and chronic renal disease
* acute and chronic liver disease
* acute and chronic heart disease
* cardiac arrests
* splenic, liver, skin, and other tumors
* two eye removals (dog and cat)
* heat stroke (dogs and a chinchilla)
* severe dry eye
Surgeries:
* limb, tail, toe amputation
* declaws
* spays, neuters
* foreign bodies/gastrotomies (rocks, blankets, rubber toys, etc)
* cystotomies
* blocked cat
* CCL's
* tight ropes
* TPO's
* patellar luxation correction
* lumpectomies
* aural hematomas
* kidney removal (HBC)
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