Month: February 2008

A very rewarding medial career that provides needed medical attention to our animal friends is veterinarian medicine. A veterinarian is a trained and licensed medical professional who specializes in the medical care of animals.

There are many individuals who have a love for animals who may wish to combine that love with a profession in the medical community. To become a veterinarian requires a significant commitment of time. This extensive process requires a significant number of years in the classroom as well as practical on the job experience. This on the job training is known as veterinary internships.

How veterinary internships work and the experiences that the intern can expect are important components of the veterinary internship program.

How Veterinary Internships Work

Formal veterinary internships are opportunities that are offered through universities that allow for the veterinarian students to work under the professional guidance of licensed veterinarians. Veterinary internships are available through local veterinarian offices or can be offered through public or private zoos.

The purpose of veterinary internships is to provide for a broad range of experiences that will allow the intern to fully understand the profession, engage in the medical treatment of animals and satisfy part of the requirements in becoming a licensed veterinarian.

The specifics of veterinary internships can vary from university to university. However, as a general rule, an internship program can range from a summer experience to a full one-year internship opportunity. In addition, depending upon the program, academic credit may or may not be given for the participant s work in the internship program.

Other requirements may need to be adhered to in order to be awarded a certificate of completion. Such requirements may be the successful completion of an internship seminar and endorsement of the collaborating veterinarian.

Expectations

The participating intern can expect to be involved in most facets of veterinarian work. Some of those medical opportunities will include experience in the areas of cardiology, emergency care, anesthesiology, dermatology, radiology and assisting in the operating room. These opportunities are afforded to the intern through a rotation process. For example a certain period of time will be spent in radiology, emergency care, etc.

Additional exposure to the various facets of veterinarian work will include the involvement in a number of procedures. Some of those procedures may include the spaying and neutering of animals. Also, veterinary internships will provide valuable instruction on the importance of immunizations, animal care and control of the animal population.

Veterinary medicine is as complicated as the principles behind human health because it also applies diagnostic, therapeutic and medical principles but employs them to domestic, wildlife, exotic, production and companion animals.

Although many animal owners bring their pets to clinics for basic grooming and hygiene, the importance of veterinary medicine goes way beyond it protects animals from diseases that could infect humans, livestock and wildlife health. For this reason, the study of veterinary requires the knowledge of multiple disciplines and skills in handling veterinary instruments for surgery, disease prevention and diagnosis.

The Complexity of Veterinary Medicine

The modern veterinary medicine has expanded comprehensively because of new and advanced technology, diagnostic, therapeutic applications and medical techniques for different species. For this reason, professional veterinary technicians and licensed veterinarians are well trained in using veterinary instruments for various tasks involving dental, medical and surgical procedures.

Veterinary specialization has become common during the past years. Today, there are twenty specialties recognized by the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association). These include surgery, radiology, neurology, oncology, cardiology, dermatology, anesthesiology, internal medicine, behavior and emergency or critical care.

For this reason, veterinarians should complete extra training programs after a four-year veterinary degree for proper education of the specific specialty and handling of veterinary instruments under that particular specialty.

Because of the complexity of veterinary medicine, a specialized surgery veterinarian should be able to master the handling of various veterinary instruments, such as forceps, needles and syringes, scissors, towel clips, needle holders and instrument cleaners. Since each of these instruments include dozens of specific tools for various surgical tasks, only a skilled veterinary technician and licensed veterinarian can perform these tasks.

If you are a licensed veterinarian and you wish to open your own clinic, choosing laboratory equipments and veterinary instruments are important for your business. The basic instruments you will need include diagnostic strips, blood tubes, test kits, sensitivity disks, vacutainers, laboratory consumables and other basic laboratory equipments.

Just like human medicine, hygiene is an important part of your animal clinic. For this reason, you need to provide veterinary instruments that promote hygiene to prevent spreading of diseases. These instruments include gloves, cleaning agents, dressing towels, odor eliminators, disinfectants, bandages and dressings, masks, aprons and overshoes, sterilization equipments and other basic tools for hygiene.

Of course, to prevent the spread of disease from animals to humans, wildlife or crops, it is important that all veterinary instruments be sterilized before use. Veterinary technicians and licensed veterinarians are responsible in ensuring that both animals and their owners are safe from any kind of disease that may spread under their supervision.