A day in the life of a veterinary student

Do you feel nostalgic about the good ol' days of vet school? Missing the simpler times before you had to go out into the “real world” of veterinary practice? Come along with us as we tag along for a day in the life of seniors on the Community Practice Service rotation at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

6:57 am-Time to start the day! Caffeinated beverage of choice in hand, students scurry in just in time to take in morning drop-offs, check hospitalized patients and take overnight emergency transfers.

Someone is a little TOO awake for this early in the morning.

7:06 am-Taking in an overnight emergency transfer from the emergency clinician, students are now busy developing an assessment and treatment plan for today in ICU.

7:24 am-Drop-off appointments for wellness visits or minor illnesses have started to arrive and are getting settled into their kennels before their examination.

7:53 am-Quick! Get those SOAPs for overnight patients done before morning rounds!

8:00 am-Early morning learning with topic rounds. Today's topic? Small animal theriogenology.

9:04 am-Topic rounds are done, and it's time to get going. First up: pre-med and prep for surgery. The surgical challenge of the day is a dog neuter.

10:13 am-The procedure day is in full swing. Surgery is well under way in the OR,

and students in dentistry are preparing for extractions.

Others neuter a cat.

10:30 am-For those students not in a procedure, morning outpatient appointments are progressing well.

Pedicures all around!

12:00 pm-Lunch time! Time to refuel, prepare for the afternoon and start writing the medical records about everything that happened this morning.

1:03 pm-Back at it for afternoon procedures, this time assisting with an episioplasty.

1:30 pm-Time for afternoon wellness visits, discussing vaccination protocols and wellness testing.

2:17 pm-Smurf suits! An unexpected lesson in good biosecurity occurs for a dog with a possible infectious disease.

3:28 pm-When we started vet school no one told us there would be all of these medical records to keep.

4:09 pm-Now it's time to discuss the evening and overnight treatment plan for the hospitalized patients.

4:27 pm-Getting the whiteboard ready before evening patient rounds.

4:30 pm-Time to recap the day and prepare for tomorrow at evening patient rounds.

5:07 pm-The day is done and now we can laugh about it! Time to go home so we can do it all again tomorrow.

All photos courtesy of Dr. Michael Nappier.