Small Animal Rotating Internship

Dove Lewis is the region’s only non-profit, 24-hour multi-specialty referral facility. Our 22,000 sq. foot facility is currently seeing over 27,000 cases per year and is a VECCS certified Level I 24-hour emergency and critical care facility. Dove Lewis is also AAHA certified as a multi-specialty referral facility and has one of the highest ER caseloads in the country. There is a dedicated ICU for hospitalized patients and a robust ER service open for patients of all kinds, including dogs, cats, wildlife, and avian/exotics.The primary goals for this program are to help interns become competent and skilled at patient assessment and care, build diagnostic and treatment plans, learn how to navigate through complex in-hospital cases, and communicate effectively with clients and colleagues. We emphasize teamwork, compassion, and fair treatment of staff at all levels. Equity and inclusion are core to our operations. We view an internship as a critical step to becoming a successful veterinarian capable of adapting to many roles in their future. Former Dove Lewis interns have moved on to advanced residency training in multiple specialties, and careers in specialty, emergency, and general medicine practice.The program is designed to meet the academic needs of newly graduated clinicians seeking a mixed emergency, critical care, and rotating specialty-based internship training. A structured two-week orientation introduces our new doctors to the hospital. During this period, they see cases under the direct supervision of senior doctors in the ER and ICU. Following orientation, interns have primary case responsibility while working alongside other doctors with support and mentorship on all levels. Interns work directly with critical care specialists and seasoned ER staff doctors in the ER and ICU with monthly rotation through the ER, ICU, as well as our range of specialty services (set at two to four-week rotation blocks). Our goal is to foster independence of practice in an atmosphere of support. Interns gain a wide range of knowledge and practice experience from a vast pool of emergent and critical cases.Interns typically work a 4-day week and are on call one day a week with two dedicated days off. Employee pets can come to work and remain housed in the employee pet ward during shifts. The interns spend four weeks each in surgery, internal medicine, and neurology, and two weeks in cardiology, radiology, urgent, and exotics, and are provided an additional 6 weeks of elective rotations at the interns choice, either in the hospital or as an out rotation. Primary surgical experience is gained through procedures performed in the ER including laceration repairs, feline/canine unblocking, enucleation, tail/toe amputations, wound management, and more. Additional surgical experience is gained throughout the year during on-call shifts by assisting the boarded surgeons in emergency soft tissue and orthopedic procedures.During their time on ER and ICU, interns will never be alone and overlap with multiple staff doctors. Interns are not scheduled any overnight ER shift time and instead work primarily on the swing shift to allow exposure to a variety of ER cases (walk ins, referrals) throughout the day.The didactic portion of the internship consists of two hours per week of focused teaching off the clinical floor. These teaching rounds consist of a combination of journal club, morbidity and mortality rounds, grand rounds, and specialty topic and case rounds. Interns are expected to contribute to these rounds by giving 4-6 presentations throughout the year (distributed between journal club, M&M, and grand rounds).In addition to the academic aspect of this program, we also recognize that interns are developing work habits that will stay with them throughout their careers. In order to encourage a healthy relationship with what can be a very rewarding, but demanding career, new interns are matched with an experienced ER clinician for one-on-one mentorship. Interns also have one rounds session per month dedicated to an intern support group that focuses on emotional well-being with our full time on staff well-being program director. The well-being program director is also available for one-on-one meetings to connect regarding stress, stress management, and self-care, which is important to integrate early in a veterinary career to create long lasting habits for success. Interns receive quarterly check ins and biannual reviews to establish goals for personal and clinical growth.Dove Lewis provides a collaborative environment, with 4 critical care specialists to support our ER and ICU, 3 surgeons with 24/7 emergency surgery availability, 1 radiologist, 2 internists, 2 neurologists, and a cardiologist as well as full time, highly experienced emergency veterinarians to support the bustling ER service with a robust ER relief team.Equipment and service capabilities include telemetry, endoscopy, bronchoscopy, cystoscopy, arthroscopy, laparoscopy, oxygen therapy, soft tissue and orthopedic surgery, oxygen therapy, mechanical ventilation, enteral and parenteral nutritional therapy, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), critical patient transport, and blood banking. Imaging capabilities include digital radiography, ultrasonography, fluoroscopy, echocardiography, computed tomography with a new 64-slice CT machine, and MRI. Radiographs are reviewed and ultrasounds are performed 5 days a week on-site by a veterinary radiologist. Diagnostic ultrasound is available on an emergency basis on the weekends. In-house laboratory capabilities include CBC, chemistry profile, urinalysis, blood typing, blood gas analysis, coagulation testing including viscoelastic monitoring, and more.Dove Lewis is actively involved in providing continuing education to the veterinary community, including monthly topic-based lecture series, and a yearly CE event. Additionally, our web based educational initiative, atdove.org, provides video lectures, short discussions, and written content for veterinarians, technicians, and support staff which is made available to interns during their year at the hospital.Portland is a lively, growing city with thriving industries in tech, wine, beer, and the outdoors. Portland’s metropolitan area has close to 3 million residents with an average age of 35. Located 70 miles east of the Oregon Coast, Portland is situated where the Willamette River and the mighty Columbia River converge. Close to the great hiking and skiing of Mount Hood and the historic Mount Saint Helens, opportunities for outdoor activities abound in and around the city. Portland is known for being a pet friendly, bikeable town that is at the forefront of green living and the center of foodie culture.Dove Lewis is an equal opportunity employer. For further information on the program, please contact Katy Collins-Ruebling, our medical administrative assistant at [email protected]. We will contact applicants directly to arrange an interview. To learn more about what we do at DoveLewis, you may request limited time free access to atdove.org by contacting the atDove Team at [email protected].

CRRT/TPE available on-site