Diagram of a Vet Student

Check out these creative and hilariously relatable sketches submitted by Hailey Curtis from Ohio State University!

AVMA Axon

AVMA Axon

This is a free source of information provided by the AVMA and has learning courses for SAVMA Members. (https://axon.avma.org) The information includes everything from leadership, career development, financial health, policy and practice, wellbeing, diversity, and MORE! Just takes a simple login with our SAVMA ID, and you'll find links to certificate programs, the My Veterinary Life Podcast and MORE!

What are you waiting for?! Go check it out!

Belize Zoo

Lily Thorsen, Ross University

My trip to the Belize Zoo was one of the most informative and exciting trips of my life. I got to apply so much of the information I learned during the previous five semesters of vet schools, but I got to apply the information to zoo animals instead of your typical dog or cat. This made it even more exciting and really drove the message home that the information we learn in school provides us with ability to navigate through most situations, regardless of the type of animal. 

During my internship, I was able to anesthetize a female howler monkey that was in poor condition. She had a luxated lens and several broken teeth due to head trauma, mastitis and a urinary tract infection. I was able to do an ultrasound guided cystocentesis on the anesthetized monkey, which was super exciting. 

We also sedated a jaguar, a four-eyed opossum, three peccaries, and 2 tapirs for routine physical exam, blood draw, fecal collection, parasite treatment, and treatment of any ailments. The blood draws really reinforced a lot of anatomy since we had to remember potential places where we could draw blood on all of these animals based on the domestic species to which they are similar. Sedating these animals required me to remember everything I had learned in pharmacology and anesthesia and required that I do a little research into what drugs are safe to use in each species. Running the blood work made me remember much of what I learned in clinical pathology. One of the peccaries had a red blood cell parasite that has yet to be identified, but it was very cool to see for many of us students.

 

Finally, we worked with crocodiles and birds. I had very limited experience with reptiles and birds prior to this experience, so this was initially very intimidating. One of the crocodiles had a wounded tail that we examined and rebandaged. I learned that crocodiles heal much slower than most mammalian species and that treating a wound on a crocodile is a constant balancing act of providing them with access to water but trying to keep their bandage dry at the same time. The other crocodile simply needed a physical exam and a blood draw, but this was still exciting since we had to draw blood from the basilar artery right above the spinal cord. The birds we cared for included ornate hawk eagles, harpy eagles, and a scarlet macaw, and they needed a blood draw and exam. Performing these tasks required that I remember what I learned during anatomy in second semester about properly restraining birds and where we can draw blood. This experience helped me get over much of my fear of handling bird and reptiles. 

I am very grateful for my experience at the Belize Zoo. It reinforced much of what I had previously learned and taught me much more about veterinary medicine and all of its vast fields. The trip also taught me a lot about the Belize culture, and I firmly believe that exposure to new cultures is always beneficial to becoming a well rounded person.

Spring 2019 EPDC Extracurricular Grant Awardees - Day 3

At Mizzou, we were able to host BOTH the Veterinary Nutrition Club and the Student Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society with the support from this grant!  We started with a lecture from Dr. Jenny Grither about feeding critical care patients, then split into small groups to discuss case examples and practice placing NG tubes in 3D printed models.  Students not only got the opportunity to practice technical skills, but also went home with a packet of information on currently available commercial critical care options and sample cases.  The event was a huge success, thank you!

This November, the Student Veterinary Surgical Society at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine put on a lunch talk and accompanying wet-lab on the topic of 3D printing and modeling in small animal orthopedics. The lunch talk presented by Dr. W. Michael Karlin was attended by over 70 students and covered different scenarios in which he and other orthopedic surgeons have used 3D printing to prepare for surgery or supply prosthetics for patients. In the wet lab, 35 students had the opportunity to practice placing pins and cerclage wire to stabilize fractures using 3D printed models of dog limbs. The majority of the students who attended the lab were in their pre-clinical years, and, therefore, had limited opportunity to learn and practice said techniques otherwise. This grant was tremendously appreciated by all the students that were able to benefit from it and the supplies it provided. Thank you, SAVMA!

SAVMA John Pitts Award

We all know (at least) one veterinary student that exemplifies service and dedication to the veterinary profession in some form. Please nominate them for the SAVMA John Pitts Award for Distinguished Service!

Every year, the national SAVMA President recognizes one veterinary student that has gone above and beyond in service and dedication to the veterinary profession. The award is open to ANY veterinary student who is a SAVMA member in good standing. The awardee will receive round-trip airfare, lodging (up to 3 nights) and registration to SAVMA Symposium 2020 (March 14-16) hosted by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The award will be presented to the student during the Monday evening (March 16) closing ceremonies.

Check out this link to nominate someone!