VTMED 6623 - Clinical Rotation in Shelter Medicine: Principles and Practice

Fall, Spring. 2 credits. Letter grades only.

Highly recommended prerequisite: VTMED 6425. Enrollment limited to: fourth-year veterinary students.

E. Berliner, L. DeTar, M. Henry.

Shelter medicine is a relatively new discipline within the practice of veterinary medicine and requires the application of herd health principles within a small animal setting. This clinical rotation will expose students to the principles and practice of veterinary medicine in a shelter setting. While much time will be spent providing direct veterinary medical care to individual shelter animals, there will be a directed focus on introducing students to population-level principles. Topics include but are not limited to infectious disease diagnosis, treatment, and management; shelter wellness protocols; high-quality, high-volume spay-neuter; shelter data management; behavioral assessments in shelters, animal welfare, and population and capacity planning. Other aspects will be covered depending on shelter activities and needs at the time. The daily schedule will include topic-related online modules, clinical work, and daily topic rounds. Students will also be expected to complete several on-line webinars and assignments to round out their learning.

While spay/neuter is part of shelter medicine, this is NOT a spay/neuter intensive rotation and although students are likely to do some surgery, caseload will depend on the needs of the shelter(s).