Equine Surgery

Contents

• Goals
• Duration of Study
• Faculty in Support of the Program
• Clinical Training
• Clinical Responsibilities
• Schedule
• Graduate Program
• Benefits

Overview of the Program

The equine surgery residency program is designed to prepare residents to practice equine surgery in either an academic or practice setting. Residents completing the program have been very successful at completing the certification examinations of the American College of Veterinary Surgery and continue to serve the profession in private practice and academic faculty positions across the nation. Potential applicants are encouraged to call or write for additional information.

Goals

The goals of the Equine Surgical residency program at Iowa State University are:

• To provide training and experience in both soft tissue and orthopedic surgery.
• To prepare the resident for board certification by the American College of Veterinary Surgery in the specialty of Equine
• To introduce the resident to educational principles, provide experience and training in teaching of clinical material, classroom lectures/discussion techniques, and the presentation of material for continuing education of graduate veterinarians, and
• To introduce the resident to clinical veterinary research.

Duration of Study

The program is a three-year residency program. A concurrent MS degree program is also available.

Faculty in Support of the Program

• Equine Surgery
  • Scott McClure, DVM, PhD; Diplomate ACVS; Associate professor
  • Eric Reinertson, DVM, MS; Associate Professor
  • Kevin Kersh, DVM, Diplomate ACVS; Assistant Professor
  • Stephanie Caston, DVM, ACVS; Assistant Professor

Clinical Training

Residents receive their training in the clinical aspects of equine surgery through the following mechanisms:

1. Clinical service supervised by board-certified specialists in surgery and other subspecialties (e.g., cardiology, radiology, pathology, anesthesia, etc.)
2. Literature review sessions supervised by a diplomate
3. Textbook review sessions supervised by a faculty member
4. Participation in seminars provided by faculty and other residents/graduate students

Residents are assigned a Resident Advisor, who will serve as a mentor and liaison between the resident and other faculty of the Veterinary Medical Center when requested.

Clinical Responsibilities

Residents are assigned to various clinical services in the Veterinary Medical Center. Residents work with senior faculty and students as a team to provide patient care. Hospitalized cases are discussed daily in clinical rounds with the students, interns, residents, and senior clinicians.

The schedule allows some time for elective clinical rotations designed to enhance the residency and provide additional training in areas of interest for each resident. Required rotations include pathology, radiology, anesthesiology/critical care, or other areas of interest to the resident.

Residents are responsible for emergency cases presented to the VTH after routine office hours in conjunction with the emergency clinician.

Schedule

Surgery residents rotate through various hospital rotations in a cyclic manner, generally with 2 blocks (2 weeks each) on service followed by one block off service. Residents are supervised in the rotations by specialists. Surgery rotations constitute the majority of the clinical rotations (approximately 2/3 of the internal medicine resident time over the three year program). The other 52 weeks is reserved for elective rotations, research time, self-study, continuing education, and vacation. Residents have ample time and opportunity to rotate through other clinical hospital rotations during the three year residency program. (The exact time and proportion allotted to each segment of the training program is subject to change.)

Possible elective rotations include:

• Clinical pathology
• Ophthalmology
• Special studies rotations
• Theriogenology

This schedule meets or exceeds all requirements of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons for residency programs.

Graduate Program

Residents may enroll in a Master-of-Science degree program in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences.

A minor in another area (e.g., pathology, immunology) is available.

Benefits

• Iowa State University has an extensive health care plan that includes dental health care.
• At the present time, two days of vacation are accumulated for each working month. Vacation times are subject to scheduling demands.
• Retirement benefits are provided through the TIAA-CREF retirement program, which is fully transferable. This is an outstanding retirement package into which the university matches funds enrolled by the faculty member.

The residency program is subject to change.

More Information?

Please call or contact Dr. Scott McClure for more information: Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011. PH= 515-294-1500, FAX= 515-294-9281.