VIRMP^™ Info

Definitions

Internship
An internship should prepare a veterinarian for high-quality service in practice or for advanced specialty training. It is primarily an educational program for the intern rather than a service benefit to the hospital.

Direct Support and Direct Supervision
The supervising veterinarian is in the building and available to the intern.

Patient Rounds
An in-depth discussion about the mechanisms of disease and a thorough review of case management plans for each patient being managed by the intern and by the service. Typically occur on a daily or twice daily basis.

Teaching Rounds
Journal clubs, seminars, lectures, morbidity/mortality rounds, clinicopathologic conference, etc. Typically occur on a weekly basis.

Internship Orientation Manual
An orientation manual might include a summary of hospital policies, protocols and procedures, performance expectations and minimum post-program competencies as determined by the program director.

First Opinion (Primary Care)
First opinion (primary care) refers to patients that are presented to the veterinarian without referral. These patients have not been seen by another veterinarian for the presenting problem or service. A referral-only specialty hospital typically does not see first opinion (primary care) patients. Patients seen by an emergency service for the first time for the presenting problem are considered first opinion (primary care) patients. By way of example, if an internship program in a referral-only specialty hospital with an associated primary emergency service includes the equivalent of 50% time on service with specialists in the specialty hospital and 50% time on service in the emergency service, the percentage of time the intern is assigned to first opinion (primary care) clinics is 50%. In this context, the term "primary care" should not be confused with the situation in which an intern is allowed to be the primary doctor on a referred case with direct supervision by a specialist.

Program Caseload Reporting

Rotating Internship Caseload Reporting

Annual Hospital Caseload: Number of patients presented to the hospital annually. Only the patients presented to the hospital (small animal, large animal, equine, all) to which the intern will be assigned should be included.
Average Daily Number of Outpatients: Total outpatient caseload for the hospital(s) to which the intern will be assigned divided by the number of work days per year (260). ECC services would divide by 365 if that applies to the program.
Average Daily Number of Inpatients: Total number of inpatients seen by the hospital(s) to which intern will be assigned divided by the number of days the service is responsible for care. Most services have inpatients 24/7 and would divide the inpatient caseload by 365 days.
Average Daily Number of Surgical Procedures Performed: Total surgical procedures performed in the hospital(s) to which the intern will be assigned divided by the number of work days per year (260).
Average Daily Number of Patients Presented to the Emergency Service: Total number of emergencies seen by emergency services to which the intern will be assigned divided by the number of days the service receives emergency patients. Most services working Monday-Friday would divide by 260. Services such as ECC (which receive cases 24/7) would divide by 365 days.

Specialty Internship Caseload Reporting

Annual Hospital Caseload: Number of patients presented annually to the hospital(s) to which the intern will be assigned.
Average Daily Number of Outpatients: Total outpatient caseload for the specialty service to which the intern will be assigned divided by the number of work days per year (260). ECC services would divide by 365 if that applies to the program.
Average Daily Number of Inpatients: Total number of inpatients seen by the specialty service to which intern will be assigned divided by the number of days the service is responsible for care. Most services have inpatients 24/7 and would divide the inpatient caseload by 365 days.
Average Daily Number of Surgical Procedures Performed: Total surgical procedures performed by the specialty service to which the intern will be assigned divided by the number of work days per year (260).
Average Daily Number of Patients Presented to the Emergency Service: Total number of emergencies seen by emergency service(s) to which the intern will be assigned divided by the number of days the service receives emergency patients. Most services working Monday-Friday would divide by 260. Services such as ECC (which receive cases 24/7) would divide by 365 days.

Residency Caseload Reporting

Annual Hospital Caseload: Number of patients presented to the hospital annually. If the program is small animal, include the caseload for the small animal hospital, if it is large animal, include the caseload for the large animal hospital and if the program is large and small animal, include the caseload for both.
Average Daily Number of Emergency Accessions: Total number of emergencies presented to the hospital each workday divided by the number of days the hospital receives emergency patients. Hospitals working Monday-Friday would divide by 260. If a hospital receives cases 24/7, divide by 365 days.
Annual Service Caseload: Number of patients presented to the service to which the resident will be assigned. Include the number of transfers to that service, if applicable.
Average Daily Number of Outpatients: Total outpatient caseload for the service to which the resident will be assigned divided by the number of work days per year (260). ECC services divide by 365 if that applies to the program.
Average Daily Number of Inpatients: Total number of inpatients hospitalized by the service to which the resident will be assigned divided by the number of days the service is responsible for care. Most services have inpatients 24/7 and would divide the inpatient caseload by 365 days.
Average Daily Number of Surgical Procedures Performed: Total surgical procedures performed by the service to which the resident will be assigned divided by the number of work days per year (260).
Average Daily Number of Special Procedures Performed: Total special procedures performed by the service(s) to which the resident will be assigned divided by the number of work days per year.

Caseload Example

The program is a medical oncology residency. The numbers are for the medical oncology service. In this example, the small animal hospital sees 25,000 patients per year and the specialty service (oncology) sees patients 5 days/week = 260 days/year.