Host a Shelter Medicine Extern
Lauren Edwards, Class of 2010 Maddie's Extern with Koda at Best Friends Animal Society
Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program strives to provide our students with the highest quality training and education in shelter medicine.
In addition to providing a series of lecture courses in shelter medicine topics, we count on our shelter partners to assist us in providing practical training during student externships. Shelters participating in the student externship program strive to adhere to the ASV Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters.
Pay it Forward!
You can help cultivate student interest and enthusiasm in our field. If it looks like your shelter’s externship program is a good match for our students, or if you’d like guidance in developing an externship program, we hope that you’ll accept some future Gator vets! Let us know if we can count your shelter in for the coming year and we will send you the program description form and answer your questions about developing an externship program. We are looking for high quality experiences in both Shelter Medicine and Spay/Neuter.
"The veterinarians I worked with were amazing – they are very patient and really treated me as a peer (but were always available when I wanted to confirm a treatment plan or encountered a difficulty during surgery)."
How it Works
Most of the student’s externship time will be spent working with a veterinarian in the shelter, but some time may be spent with technicians, kennel staff, animal control officers, and front office staff to gain a full appreciation of the wide range of shelter activities. The student should participate in daily rounds with a veterinarian on most days.
After the externship visit, both the student and the externship mentor will complete written evaluations to be submitted to Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program. We would also love to hear from you any time you have an idea regarding the program.
Don’t have an externship set up yet? No problem. We’re glad to help you develop a program that will maximize each student’s experience at your shelter.
You’ll Make a Difference
Nothing bonds a veterinary student to shelter work like spending meaningful time in an animal shelter with a mentor who cares about saving and improving animals’ lives. You can be that mentor! Host a student extern and help train the shelter vets of tomorrow.
Contact Us to Get Started
If you’re interested in hosting an extern at your organization, please contact us!
Olysha Magruder-McRae, Externship Coordinator
olysha@ufl.edu | 352.294.4511
Mentor veterinarians will help students meet the following objectives:
"The staff at HCAS were amazing, to say the least. There were 3 veterinarians on staff, many technicians, an investigation team, a rescue liaison (who works to get the animals on the euthanasia list into a foster home or rescue before their time is up), and animal control officers. During my two weeks, I got to work with every team to see what their job entailed."
Shelter Medicine Externship
- Understand the issues of animal homelessness, risk factors for relinquishment, and pet reunification
- Understand and apply the concepts of population management in shelters
- Apply concepts of quality of life and environmental enrichment in shelters
- Understand the principles of infection control, including surveillance, isolation, vaccination, cleaning and disinfection
- Develop skills in animal handling and examination
- Participate in shelter preventive health care protocols
- Perform medical and behavioral assessments
- Participate in cruelty and abuse evaluations as appropriate
"I have spent the last two weeks working with the staff and volunteers of HSGM during which time I have improved my surgical skills, learned a great deal about the workings of an adoption guarantee shelter, and helped in the daily medical treatments of the residents of the shelter."
Spay/Neuter Externship
- Increase efficiency and skill in performing spay/neuter surgery
- Understand safe and effective anesthetic and analgesic protocols
- Implement techniques to improve efficiency in a high quality, high volume setting (i.e. smaller incisions, pedicle ties, Miller’s knots, flank spays, etc.)
- Learn safe and efficient techniques for pediatric sterilization
- Learn safe and effective techniques for feral cat sterilization, if available
- Enhance technical skills such as intravenous catheter placement, tracheal intubation, and surgical preparation