TN Equine Hospital – Internship to Associate Program 2023

Our primary objective for the Tennessee Equine Hospital internship program is to recruit and support exceptional veterinarians in their transition from veterinary students to equine veterinarians, while supporting the needs of the organization. This program is designed to prepare graduates to become confident, competent, and successful Veterinarians as they take the next step in their career.

As a hospital staffed with technicians 24 hours a day, we are able to utilize a strategy and schedule that allows for our interns and organization to mutually benefit from the experience. Interns will be positioned in a high case load high pace environment and mentored by all the doctors within the organization.  We are committed as an organization to develop a group of young doctors into productive equine veterinarians and are recruiting applicants who have a strong desire to learn and develop a skill set to better the equine veterinary industry.   The intern’s role is a difficult one; one that wears many hats and works long hours.  Four interns that have the same drive to learn and work hard will make this internship enjoyable and a great growth experience.  

The program is a rotating internship lasting 6-12 months.  There will be four rotations lasting one week each: surgery, medicine, ambulatory, and outpatient/reproduction.  Regardless of the number of interns selected, the rotation format is guaranteed. The rotations are defined below:

1. Surgery rotation: intern assists with surgery cases from start to finish.  They are the point person for management of post-surgery cases and are an integral component of creating, maintaining, and potentially changing the treatment plan.  Interns will share responsibility of imaging procedures with the medicine intern.   Primary Mentors for this rotation are Dr. Liberty Getman and Dr. Allison Stewart.
2. Medicine rotation: intern assists with medicine cases from start to finish.  They are the point person for management of medicine cases, and like the surgery rotation, help create and maintain the treatment plan. Assist with imaging procedures.   Primary Mentor for this rotation is Dr. Christine Cocquyt.
3. Ambulatory rotation: for the first 3 months, interns will ride with and assist one of the field service doctors during the week. After the 3rd month, the ambulatory intern will have an ambulatory vehicle and start going on primary calls.  While not on primary calls, they will assist one of the other ambulatory doctors with their calls.  The ambulatory intern will have one night a week as the primary emergency doctor on call starting after the fourth month.  The ambulatory intern will have the weekend off.  Primary Mentor for this rotation is Dr. Nathaniel Wright.
4. Outpatient/Reproduction rotation:  This rotation will be assisting with outpatient appointments and reproduction procedures.  For the first 3 months of this rotation, the intern will ride along with the on-call emergency doctor on the weekends.  After the third month, the intern may be the primary doctor on outpatient appointments at the hospital.   On weekends, they will be the backup for the primary emergency doctor and may have primary emergency responsibility at the main hospital or at one of the satellite facilities.  Primary Mentors Dr. Colton McInturff and Dr. Matthew DeLisle

After 6 months of the rotating internship, we will enter the focused interest phase of the program.  Each intern will be assessed by all mentors.  If the mentors from each of the rotations feel that an adequate skill level is achieved, then the intern will begin to focus on more of what they are interested in.  For example, if the intern has a strong interest in surgery, more time will be given to the surgery department.  If sports medicine is an interest, then more time will be given to that department.  If the intern has developed a strong skill set over the previous six months and they desire to fill an associate role within one of our hospitals, then they may be positioned from the mentorship role into more of an associate position. 

Again, our goal is for us to mutually benefit from the program.  We want to mentor and develop equine doctors and position them to be the best at what they choose to do  whether that is a residency, high volume sports medicine practice, general ambulatory position back home, or to become an associate within our organization. 

We look forward to sharing more about this wonderful program, our team, and how you can join us!

About TN Equine Hospital

Tennessee Equine Hospital is a full service equine hospital that provides hospital, outpatient, and ambulatory services to clients across much of Tennessee and North Alabama. We have specialists on staff able to provide support, second opinions, and more advanced care for patients from referral veterinarians. Our facility is equipped with 35 stalls, outpatient exam areas, covered lameness arena, diagnostic imaging suite including Nuclear Scintingraphy and MRI, surgical suite, and isolation barn. Tennessee Equine Hospital's mission is to provide an exceptional facility, staffed with talented doctors and technicians focused on patient care. We seek to bring value to the customer and deliver a premium service while continually advancing and adopting the most innovative medical techniques.

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