Editor’s Note: In their fourth and final year of veterinary school, students are required to complete a series of two-week clinical rotations in the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center. This article is one in a series that highlights those rotations.
The ophthalmology clinical rotation in the Hixson-Lied Small Animal isn’t just confined to the typical household pet.
“On this rotation we saw cats, dogs and horses, often within the same day,” said Crystal Pratt, a fourth-year veterinary medicine student at Iowa State who recently completed the clinical rotation. “This variety gave me the opportunity to juggle species variations day to day, which is different from many other rotations in the small and large animal hospitals.”
While students see a variety of clients during the ophthalmology rotation, the daily calendar is pretty set in stone.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are set aside for small animal appointments. Surgeries are scheduled Tuesday and Thursday mornings with equine patients seen those afternoons.
“We also saw emergencies and did in-house consults throughout the week,” said fourth-year student Kylie Levan.
For this rotation, the fourth-year students will initially see the patient where they will take the patient’s history from the clients and perform basic ophthalmology tests. The clinical rotation also includes observing ocular surgeries and procedures such as a corneal debridement.
For Pratt, this was a challenging rotation.
“The eye has always felt overwhelming to me, including the anatomy and tools that are used for examinations,” she said. “This rotation helped me develop a systemic approach to eye exams.
“Throughout the rotation, I have been able to improve my skills and feel more confident with baseline ocular skills.”
The experience also proved to be challenging for Levan.
“Medical knowledge does switch back between small animals and equine, so being able to switch our brains back and forth between species and their separate predilections not only challenges us, but elevates the experience,” she said.
“Ophthalmology has its own language, something that I have struggled with,” Pratt said. “But after taking this rotation, I feel more confident with common ocular findings and the ability to describe them.
“This will be incredibly useful when consulting with ophthalmologists for disease treatment, referral and owner education of patient’s diseases.”
February 2026