Clinical Instruction Site Information
Why is this type of program being offered?
- We realize that it is often difficult for a clinic to find and hire Registered Animal Health Technologists or Registered Veterinary Technicians
- The work force is shrinking and there will be more competition from many sectors for workers
- We feel that in future, successful businesses will have to be an active participant in the training of their staff and not rely on hiring the finished product
- Our program is geared to the clinic that has a good employee that they would like to take on more skills ultimately leading to that employee becoming an RAHT
- Our philosophy is that you are probably already training these employees to do more but are limited by time, resources and legalities
- We provide the framework for the training and the final accreditation
What is in it for our clinic?
- Staff turn over hurts the bottom line
- Retraining is expensive
- We feel that our program enables you to get the most from a valued employee
- Increases their job satisfaction
- Once they have graduated and registered with their provincial AHT or Veterinary Technician association, they can perform a wide variety of duties.
- Allows the DVM more time to do what they are trained to do - diagnose, perform surgery and prescribe
- Keeps a valued employee in the practice for a longer period of time
- It all translates into a more profitable business situation, a more stable workforce, improved standards of care for the animals and a more comfortable workplace environment
- We have found that the interest and clinical expertise of all the clinic staff increases when they have a student in their midst
- There is no financial compensation from TRU to the clinic. The payoff is in the quality and benefit to your practice of a RAHT.
What is expected of myself and my staff if we have a student enrolled in this program?
- You do not have to "handhold" the student:
- In the Anatomy and Office Skills in the first semester, your input will be minimal. As the student progresses through the program you will be called on to supervise the student more closely:
- The Animal Nursing courses in first year (second semester), second year (second semester) and third year (first semester) do contain assignments involving live animals. Your presence will be required when a procedure with the potential to cause damage or pain to an animal is being performed (for example, venipuncture in first year, cystocentesis in second year)
- In third year, the students will be inducing anaesthesia, monitoring surgical patients, placing catheters etc. However, we feel that by the time the student reaches this point they will have had a great deal of instruction under their belts and will already be an increasing asset to the clinic and will therefore be worth the extra effort you are putting in to them.
- For most of the courses, the students will be:
- Learning vocabulary
- Identifying parasites
- Working with microbiology cultures
- Learning surgical preparation skills
- Learning common diseases
- Working on radiology skills
- And many other tasks that do not require your supervision. They do, however, require your permission if the assignment involves anything to do with your clinic
- Someone in your clinic (a DVM or RAHT with a minimum of 2 years post-grad clinical experience) is required to become the student's Clinical Instructor (CI). There can be more than one CI per clinic and they can change if necessary - we just need to be kept informed. We would prefer if the CI individual stayed fairly constant which helps with continuity but we also understand that life happens!
- The clinic, the student and TRU sign a site affiliation agreement that outlines all the obligations of the participants
- The CI is a mentor, they do not prepare and deliver lessons nor do they give exams. We will provide the course content online and the students will write all their midterms and final exams at an independent site such as a local community college. Your clinic will not be involved in this.
- The CI should be aware of the progress of the student and the courses in which they are currently enrolled. You are not expected to have read all the content but you should be aware that the student is taking Parasitology this semester, for example, and you will probably be dealing with some "bug" questions.
- The student is instructed to inform you well in advance of the assignments they are expected to do so there are no surprises
- The CI will be the person that the student comes to if they have a question or do not understand a concept. The CI will directly supervise procedures on living animals with the potential to cause physical damage or pain. They are also the person the student comes to obtain permission to do an assignment using the clinic, and clinic or client animals. If the CI is not the ultimate decision maker in the clinic, they, in turn are required to obtain permission.
- We emphasize to the student that their assignments and studies are to be done on their own time. If they are paid for 20 hours, they are expected to work for the clinic for 20 hours. They will have to arrange time to do assignments on their own time.
What do the "Assignments" entail?
- Our students are assessed in three major ways;
- On line quizzes
- Written midterm and final exams
- Assignments
- These assignments are completed in one of three ways;
- The most common method is for the student to video themselves performing the assignment (jugular venipuncture in a dog for example). They send the video to their TRU course instructor and it will be reviewed and critiqued.
- These video clips are "student produced". We do not expect high technological quality. We only require that we can clearly view the procedure. The student is given explicit instructions on what we require in a video.
- For example, we need to see the student, not just their hands
- The film is not to be edited
- We do not allow coaching or prompting
- ** Click to view sample assignment submission **
- (Please note that in this video clip, the student is removing the syringe cap improperly - this would be noted and commented on.)
- The other method is a checklist which is signed off by you, the CI, when the student has successfully completed the task. (for example, in Anatomy, the student may have to identify the major organs in the canine abdomen using a surgical case in situ, a cadaver, or radiographs. The CI would check off that this was successfully done)
- Written assignments submitted to TRU instructor(s)
- The assignments are the responsibility of the student. They have to:
- Organize any help that they may need (restrainers, camera person)
- Organize when this can be done. If it is more suitable to do this in the clinic, they need to obtain permission from their CI and negotiate a suitable time when it would create a minimum impact on the flow of the clinic
- Organize the animal subject and obtain permission to use them. This may be their own animal, a clinic animal or a client animal.
- Organizing all this is quite an exercise in logistics, human relations and time management for the student. After three years of doing assignments in this manner, the student becomes very efficient at skills that are daily requirements in a busy veterinary practice. We have received many comments from instructors and advisors connected to our program on how mature our students seem and how well they communicate.
- The ideal student organizes all this and all you have to do is say "sounds OK to me". If, on the other hand, the student comes to you and says "we have an assignment" and then looks expectantly at you to take over the arrangements, this student will not be successful in our program.
- There are special considerations for invasive procedures. If the assignment involves a living animal we require that the CI or a delegate (DVM or RAHT) of the CI supervise the student. This is also a legal requirement of the provincial associations.
- We have had instances where students were doing venipunctures and cystocentesis on their own animals after hours in the clinic unsupervised. We have made it known to all our students in the strongest possible terms that this is not acceptable.
- We provide demonstration videos for all our required assignments to the student. Please be aware that the video shows our method of performing the assigned skill. It may not be the same procedure that you use in your clinic. We do not consider our way to be the only way - an alternate but equivalent technique is also acceptable.
- For many invasive procedures we require the student to video themselves using a stuffed animal. This allows us to view the preparation, technique and understanding of the assignment before a live animal is used. This cuts down considerably on the stress on the animal, the student and the clinic staff.
Should I agree to this?
This program is not for all students or for all clinics.
- The student has to be mature, a good time manager and be able to work on their own
- Ideally the student has worked for the practice for 6 months or more
- The clinic and the student must have a good working relationship where the management and the rest of the clinic staff are supportive of the student.The most important aspect to the success of a student in our AHTDE program is the support of their clinic!
- The clinic has to believe that this program benefits them as well. If the attitude is "you can take the program but don't expect us to help" - it won't work. It may be beneficial to meet with your staff to see if they are willing to take this on. We have found that if the management of the practice is supportive of their student it has a trickle down effect to all the staff. Conversely, a non supportive management will make the learning atmosphere for the student very difficult.
- If you feel that your clinic will not be able to provide positive support for the potential student then we do not advise taking on this obligation.
- If on the other hand, you think that you would enjoy the role of a mentor, you believe in the concept of what we are attempting to accomplish and you are supportive of your employee and prospective student then you will find this to be a very rewarding endeavour.