As the equine veterinary profession continues to struggle with attracting and retaining veterinarians, the internship experience for early-career equine practitioners is more important than ever. When an internship results in a talented equine doctor deciding the industry is not right for them, this is a failure. There are many different places to belong in equine medicine, from high-end show horses to breeding stock to backyard companion horses. Additional opportunities are available in industry, regulatory medicine, and research.
Why Equine Veterinary Internships Are Important
As the numbers of veterinary students with an equine interest has diminished, opportunities for learning the basic clinical skills needed for equine practice in veterinary school have also been depleted. Students must work hard to find circumstances where they can develop essential entry-level skills. Many employers do not have the time or temperament to mentor a new graduate successfully. In addition, clients’ expectations have become increasingly sophisticated. Well-constructed internships offer the best way for new graduates to acquire the skills they need for a successful career in equine practice.
Finding the Right Equine Internship for Your Goals
Students must also make an effort to align their internship choice with their future goals. It doesn’t make sense to seek a highly stressful internship at a surgical referral center if your goal is to be a competent ambulatory practitioner, no matter how prestigious the practice is. While the wide range of experiences a rotating internship provides can be a strong foundation for an equine career, any internship that utilizes interns as low-paid technicians and provides little formal skill acquisition or mentoring in return must be avoided. After-hours responsibilities for interns should be limited to receiving emergencies alongside or with the support of hospital doctors; interns should not be expected to perform treatments after hours.
Components of a Successful Equine Veterinary Internship Program
For an internship to be the bridge to a great career in equine practice, there must be a mutually beneficial exchange in which the practice takes pride in the mentoring relationship and the intern emerges with the skill set and confidence of a more experienced practitioner. Over the course of the internship year, the intern should gain more independent responsibilities as trust in their competency increases. Use of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) with frequent feedback meetings will help the new graduate build confidence and learn what they’re doing well, where they need to improve, and what they should focus on learning.
Practices with the most effective internships offer journal clubs, radiology rounds, clinical case rounds, and procedural rounds in which interns practice specific techniques on teaching horses. The practice should give interns increasing primary client communication responsibilities as their abilities grow, along with increasingly independent case management. Interns should see ambulatory emergencies alongside staff veterinarians for a short period and then move to independently attending emergencies with available back-up. Importantly, the mentoring they receive must occur with psychological safety, where candor is accepted, mistakes are forgiven, questions are seen as a strength rather than a weakness, and questioning the status quo occurs without fear.
Final Thoughts
Every internship is an opportunity to create a new colleague and support their successful career in equine medicine. Approaching each intern with that goal can help turn the tide in our profession.
Related Reading
- Tides of Change: Equine Veterinarian Retention
- AAEP Commission on Veterinary Sustainability: New AAEP Internship Hub
- The Business of Practice: Building Confidence in Entry-Level Veterinarians
Stay in the know! Sign up for EquiManagement’s FREE weekly newsletters to get the latest equine research, disease alerts, and vet practice updates delivered straight to your inbox.
