Clinical Partner Spotlight
We asked Dr. Christine Staten of Adobe Veterinary Center to share her favorite parts of the clinical year experience with our CVM students.
What is your favorite part of being a clinical affiliate?
I think veterinary medicine is the greatest career field in the world. The Adobe team is passionate about helping the next generation of veterinarians learn and grow and realize all the wonderful opportunities they have in this profession. In addition to medicine and surgery, I enjoy sharing the perspective of private practice and the entrepreneurial benefits of this career.
What were some of the highlights you experienced while working with our students?
I love the “Aha” moments when classroom learning and practical application come together in a student’s mind. Most cases can be diagnosed with a thorough history and physical exam. Watching students utilize those two skills to arrive at the correct diagnosis has been rewarding. When they realize that they have the information in their brain and put it all together, it gives them confidence, propelling
them into additional growth. It's rewarding to watch.
What were some of the most valuable skills our students brought to your clinic?
Knowing their OSCEs (objective structured clinical examination). The students proficient in the examination techniques can see more and do more. If we must spend time explaining how to put a halter on a horse, know suture patterns, and use a microscope or gown and glove, that takes away from our time spent teaching more valuable things. I cannot encourage students enough to become proficient in all their OSCE before clinical rotations.
What advice would you give future students working in your clinic?
I think that it is important that students learn a little bit about the clinical affiliate before they arrive. It will help their learning experience if they know what the clinic does and does not do. Each clinical affiliate will be able to offer them something different and unique. Try to find what you will learn best at each one. There may be a doctor that likes endocrine disease at a clinic. Learn as much as you can from that individual. There may be another clinic that sees a lot of ophthalmology cases. Learn about eyes there. Also, look ahead on the schedule and study overnight about the situations you will see the next day. You will learn a whole lot more if you are prepared to learn.