Overview:

United Veterinary Care is delighted to host veterinary students for externships!  This valuable clinical experience will let you take what you’ve learned in the classroom and put it to the test in an animal hospital of your choice.  Our hands-on externships are designed exclusively for veterinary students at AVMA-accredited veterinary schools in their clinical years, typically meaning their 3^rd or 4^th year of vet school.  Since every student has different interests, we are excited to offer these programs at a wide variety of our amazing partner hospitals.  We know that travel and lodging expenses for externships can often be cost-prohibitive on a student’s budget.  To make our externships as accessible as possible, we offer stipends to externs to help offset these costs (unless prohibited by the veterinary school you are attending). 

Eligibility requirements:

• Must be a current veterinary student at an AVMA-accredited veterinary school
• Priority scheduling is given to students in their clinical years on official externship blocks for school credit
• Must provide proof of professional liability insurance. SAVMA members qualify for no cost insurance by applying at the following link: SAVMA Member Benefit and Resources | AVMA PLIT

Hospital information:

Firehouse Animal Health Center-Westlake is situated in eclectic and vibrant Austin, Texas.  At Firehouse, we have always said, there isn’t one thing we do that’s dramatically different.  It’s the 100 little things we do every day to make the whole experience better!  We take great pride in the phenomenal team culture we’ve built here, and we are excited to welcome veterinary students in who have a shared interest in exceptional client service and unmatched patient care.  Our modern and full-service hospitals offer open sight lines, so that clients never have to feel like their pet is far away and being treated “behind closed doors”.  Our team has prioritized training in leadership, communication, diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to help facilitate working together as a unit.  Our doctors have varied professional interests from surgery, to dentistry, and ultrasound; but the common focus is on preventative medicine to ensure that our clients get to enjoy as many healthy years with their beloved pets as possible!  If you’d like to spend your externship working with a fun-loving, dynamic, and skilled team honing your skills in all things general practice and client communication, there’s no better place than Firehouse Animal Health Centers!

Species treated:

Dogs; Cats

Services offered:

Ultrasound; Soft tissue surgery; Dentistry; Wellness/Preventative care; Medical appointments

Full-time doctors:

3

Part-time doctors:

2

What to expect from your externship:

We want to hear from you about your professional goals for your externship experience!  Please indicate your top priorities in your application, so we can tailor the experience to meet your needs.

During your externship, you can expect to actively participate in cases and further your development towards becoming a veterinarian.  Throughout your time with us, you will always be supervised by an experienced veterinarian and skilled support staff.  This team will serve as your mentors for your externship experience.  Expect to be included in surgical cases, dental procedures, emergencies, sick patient workups, and routine medical appointments.  If there are certain technical skills you are looking to improve on, let us know so we can place emphasis on these areas!  We encourage active participation from externs, introduce them to our clients, and truly make them part of our team.  Listening to the patient history, conducting a preliminary exam, and formulating a plan for diagnostics and treatment are a great way to put your education to the test and help prepare you for the real-world of veterinary medicine.  You will discuss these cases with your supervising veterinarian and have them confirm your exam findings to verify whether are on the right track with your plans before moving forward with the case as a team.  This dynamic creates the ideal environment for you to grow in your confidence and skill with managing both routine and complex cases.  We encourage externs to select one case per week to further research and engage the veterinarians in further case discussion with this additional information.  These case discussions help our teams learn and grow together; further emphasizing that mentorship is a two-way street. 

We truly enjoy hosting externs and having new graduates join our teams since with new team members always comes new shared knowledge!