Welcome to 2013!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

UC Denver Anschultz Medical Campus

DVM 2015 and 2016 have started their first PBL cases for the year.  DVM 2013 have arrived at their 3rd year course sites.  We have two new sites beginning:  Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for Zoo & Wildlife Medicine and UC Denver for Lab Animal Medicine & Research.  DVM 2013 on campus are enjoying a 9:00 am start.  DVM 2014 are still on the road, but many have successfully hurdled the National Boards (NAVLE).  Congrats to the DVM 2013 who have this milestone behind them!

  ~Veterinary Nomad journal 1-8-13

DVM 2014 Block 1 of 16 ...

    The first course of the third year for DVM 2014 is winding down.  CVM faculty are reporting back from our many locations: Dr. Dawes from Nebraska, Dr. Kidd from Costa Rica,  Dr. Gordon-Ross from a plane on the tarmack of an airport preparing for take off and myself from Seattle.  Dr. Cole is at home base in Pomona.  We are having challenges with remote reporting software, getting ground transportation arranged, getting hotels accommodations worked out.  We are becoming well seasoned Veterinary Nomads.   

     We start a new course every two weeks all year with quarter (exam) breaks and holidays.  My lab animal medicine and research course students will spend 2 weeks in zoo medicine (eg Los Angeles Zoo), 2 weeks in surgery (Upland Animal Shelter)  and 2 weeks in pathology (Antech Diagnostics).  This is the Misc. block or Quarter and all students return to the Pomona campus for exams at the end of the quarter. Other quarters are Large Animal (Nebraska, etc.), small animal and Population/Public Health/Food Safety.

       This distributive model requires travel and technology.  I am working with the new Microsoft Web Access and SkyDrive for my course.  Being in Seattle, I can get assistance from the Microsoft Store at University Village with support staff who really understand what we need and are EXCITED about what we are doing.  WesternU CVM is truly leading from the edge.

      DVM 2014 is hanging in and doing amazing work.  The local feedback about our student's performance on their debut in the bigger veterinaryprofessional world makes it all worthwhile.  We are off to a great start to the year!   First course down and only 15 to go.

DMcClureDVM
Veterinary Nomad Journal 8-24-12

The Veterinary Nomad and Road Scholarship

WesternU has the newest College of Veterinary Medicine in the United States. Five classes have successfully graduated as of May 2011. The WesternU curriculum is innovative, integrative and complex.  The basic sciences in the first two years of the curriculum are taught through problem based learning.  No lectures.  Inquiry based investigation of cases with associated activities, labs and discussions.  In years 3 and 4, the medical education and clinical instruction is taught in situ through a "distributive" model.  Students begin the life of a Veterinary Nomad when they are sent out into the real world in the third year.   In two week blocks a third year WesternU vet student is assigned to a new veterinary enterprise or disciplines.  The third year will include zoo medicine at the Los Angeles or other  Zoo, beef cattle medicine at the Hastings Center in Nebraska and pathology at Antech Diagnostics in Irvine, CA.  This continues for 32 weeks or 16 courses with four interruptions (exam weeks).  Understand, this is not "shadowing" veterinarians in the field.  Students work to achieve educational objectives through group study, preceptor and faculty guided work in place.  They have continuous assessments and examinations throughout the year.  In the 4th year, the College assigns two CORE rotations, Internal Medicine and Surgery and the veterinary student selects six rotations.  The 4th year could be spent entirely in Southern California or around the world.  I know it sounds complicated.  It is. The logistics are crazy.

I am Associate Professor Diane McClure, a course leader for the third year in Laboratory Animal Medicine and Research.  As students begin this nomadic life of a new place every 2 weeks, my role as Professor is to follow along via cyberspace (black board, e-mail, mobile phone calls, texts and Facebook). I also visit each location at least once during the two week rotation when students are present. Face to face meetings are where the subtle issues come to light so they can be addressed before they become catastrophes. Thus, I am a Veterinary Nomad too.

Beyond learning veterinary medicine in all it's diverse roles, veterinary nomads are learning another set of skills. How to fit into a new work environment every two weeks, how to communicate with a tremendous variety of people in vet med and on public transportation, how to live out of a suit case and still have the resources you need to write papers, create PowerPoint presentations and maintain personal health and hygiene. This is a powerful skill set that is difficult to name, but I call it Road Scholarship.

This blog will share joys and travails of a Veterinary Nomad.

Disclaimer:  This blog is of my own doing and does not represent any official position or opinion by WesternU.  ~ Diane McClure, DVM, PhD