GENERAL SURGERY:

The Cutting Edge of

Teaching
 General Surgery

 Required rotation TEACHING

for 4 -year students
th

and interns
 Perform surgical
procedures
commonly seen in
private practice SERVICE RESEARCH
 Integrated approach
General Surgery -- Objectives
 Utilize client-
owned animals
and service
learning projects:
 Surgically
competent
graduates
 Ability to
effectively
communicate
surgical benefits
and risks with
clients
 General Surgery -- Objectives
 Understanding of:
 benefits of
spay/neuter
 pet overpopulation,
early-age
spay/neuter,
shelter and
trap/neuter/release
programs
 Develop
community service “This rotation is essential to
spirit the surgical skills of any
veterinarian”
--former student
 General Surgery
 STUDENTS do
everything with
oversight from
professional and
technical staff
 Admissions
 Exams
 Communications
 Anesthesia “Very important to our learning
 Surgery and increased our surgical
skills and confidence.”
 Recovery/discharge --former student
 General Surgery
 12-15 surgeries per student
 Anesthesia/surgery routine
 Patients are generally healthy
 4 days of client – owned pets
 4 days of shelter animals
 1 - 2 days of rounds
 +/- 1 day of AFCAT
 Procedures
 OHE  Dewclaw removal
 Castration  Tail dock
 Declaw  Lumpectomies
 Laceration repair  Abscess treatment
 Aural hematoma  Venipuncture
 Microchips  Vaccinations
 Retained deciduous
teeth
 General Surgery -- Teaching
 1800-1900 surgeries per year
 Technical aspects
 Surgical skills
 Patient evaluation
 Anesthetic protocols
 IV catheterization
 IM, SQ injections
 Anesthetic monitoring
 Post-Op monitoring and assessment
 Analgesia
 General Surgery -- Teaching
 Professional aspects
 Client Communications
 History
 Procedure and risks
 Post-op discussion
 Discharge
 3 – day follow-up
 Preventative medicine
 Peer Interactions
 Faculty/staff interactions
 Medical record keeping
“Now what do I do???”
--current student
 General Surgery -- Service
 Graduate veterinarians:
 Surgically competent
 Understand and play
active role in pet
overpopulation
solutions
 Sense of altruism for
community and animal
welfare
 General Surgery -- Service
 Provide competitively-priced routine
services ~ 400 animals/year
 Assist animal shelters and AFCAT with
pet overpopulation and compliance
with law ~ 1450 animals/year
 Open House – Live Surgery
Demonstration
 High school summer camps
 General Surgery -- Research
 Provide patients,  Projects include:
tissues and  Early-age spay/neuter
students  Feral cat epidemiology
 Intern/resident  Analgesia
projects  Misc.
 Collaborative
studies
 Educational grants
and projects
 General Surgery -- Research
 7 grants
 14 projects
 15 publications
 17 + proceedings/monographs
 5 abstracts presented at national
meetings
 2 poster presentations
 22 + national/international invited
lectures
General Surgery – The Future
 Include exotic
animal surgery
 Partnerships with
Community Practice
and Oncology
 Educational grant to
expand on homeless
and feral issues
 Laser surgery??
“Even though I do not plan to work on small animals at
all, this is one of the best rotations I’ve had.”
-- former student