ANIMAL INTERNAL MEDICINE AND SPECIALTY SERVICES

Summer Externship Program 2014

First of all, Thank you and Welcome to AIMSS!!!

This is our second year for this program, so we sincerely hope you’ll help us make it a success. This orientation handout is your resource for information about your Externship including dress code, shift times, pay schedule, etc. Please read it carefully.

History

AIMSS was founded by Dr. Jill Williamson (DACVECC). Dr. Williamson has worked in private practice as a specialist in Emergency and Critical Care for 17 years. She longed for an environment other than the standard production driven medicine model which is used in the majority of specialty and emergency centers in the country. She began by renting space during the daytime from a local emergency group (All Animals Emergency Hospital) and eventually took over the practice. Shortly thereafter she started the specialty group.

We practice on a co-op model. Many of the specialist are owners in the practice, and rather than earning individual production we all share in the profits of the hospital. This allows us to foster a community of extreme cooperation and collaboration. We hope you enjoy our model and see the benefits it brings to the quality of care.

Our Specialists:

-Dr. Kathy Andres, Oncology

-Dr. Dorrie Black, Emergency and Critical Care

-Dr. Sophie Dennison, Radiology

-Dr. Carrie Jurney, Neurology

-Dr. Cass Rogers, Emergency and Critical Care

-Dr. Sarah Stewart, Internal Medicine

-Dr. Sharon Gottfried, Surgery

-Dr. Jill Williamson, Emergency and Critical Care

Our Emergency Doctors:

-Dr. Jon Enyart

-Dr. Solene Moreton

-Dr. Karen Truong

Your Externship Schedule

We have tried to accommodate everyone with an equal amount of specialty and emergency shifts. Unfortunately due to an inequality between the number of emergency shifts and specialty shifts available each week, some people do have slightly more emergency shifts in their schedule. Not to worry though, due to the collaborative nature of our hospital there is very frequently a specialist in hospital during emergency hours and plenty of emergency experience available during speciality hours. You will see plenty of cases while you are here.

If you cannot make your assigned shift please let us know as soon as possible.

Please try to show up 5 minutes early for your shift so you can get settled and get clocked in. Shift times:

- Day Shift : 7:30am - 5:00pm

- Swing Shift: 2:00pm - 12:30am

- Night Shift: 5pm - 3:30am

A typical day day at AIMSS:

-7:30am: Morning nurse rounds

-8am: Doctors start to filter in to do patient exams. This is a great time for you to look up things on cases and assist doctors with their morning exams.

-8:30am: ER doctors round Day doctors

-9am-6pm: Specialty Appointments and Procedures.

-5pm: Evening nurse rounds

-6pm: Evening doctor rounds

-6pm-8:30am: ER receiving.

Being Part of the Team:

Pitching in is part of the AIMSS philosophy. No one is “above” any task. The owners of the hospital can frequently be found cleaning up and mopping the floor. There is ALWAYS something that needs to be done, so if you aren’t doing something- please ask. The shift lead is listed on a white board in the treatment area and is a great person to go to if you don’t know what to do.

Get the Most Out of Your Experience:

As much as is practical we will try to put you in situations to maximize your learning potential- be that helping doctors in rooms with patients or assisting in surgery. If you really want to focus on something, be that learning neurolocalization or putting in IV catheters, please be sure to let the shift lead and doctors know at the beginning of each shift.

We’ve found that the students who get the most out of this experience are those that advocate for their learning and self direct their experience. We don’t believe in spoon feeding you information. To be success in clinical practice you need to learn how to learn from cases, look things up and ask the right questions.

Be proactive. Watch, listen and ask questions.

Paperwork:

We have emailed you basic employment paperwork. We ask that this paperwork be filled out and sent in to the clinic no later than May 12th. Please bring proof of your eligibility to work (SSN card, passport, etc) with you to your first day.

Dress Code:

We recommend that you wear scrubs and comfortable shoes (i.e. running shoes, clogs with good traction, etc). Please try not to wear scrubs that advertise other hospitals. You will receive your AIMSS sweatshirt on your first day and are welcome to wear that. San Francisco is always surprisingly cold in the summertime and we are in a foggy neighborhood. Please plan accordingly.

We also recommend you wear your school ID as it helps the staff identify you and learn your name. It’s a smart idea to bring a change of scrubs in case you get messy.

Pay Schedule:

All paid shifts are compensated at $15/hr. We work 10 hour days at AIMSS. A 30 minute lunch is included in your schedule. Because of budget limitations of the program we ask that you watch your time carefully and clock out at 10 hours.

It is also a legal requirement that you take your lunch. Please remind the shift lead if you have not had your lunch.

Food:

There are a lot of really great restaurants in the neighborhood, but if you wish to bring your lunch, please label your food and leave it in the refrigerator upstairs. Absolutely no food is allowed in the refrigerators downstairs.

Parking:

Please do not park in the parking lot. It is for clients. There is metered and unmetered street parking around the hospital and the hospital is very easily reachable by public transportation (we are on the N-Muni line). The only exception is that people on the night shift (those starting at 5pm) may park in the lot for safety reasons.

Evaluations and Recommendations:

If you are doing this externship as part of coursework, please get your course paperwork to Dr. Jurney before the end of your rotation and she will make sure it gets filled out.

If you would like to ask a doctor for a recommendation from this program, we strongly recommend that you do so at the end of your rotation. Recommendations are best when they are personal. We are having a lot of students come through and we want to make sure your recommendation reflects how hard you worked here at AIMSS.

We are excited to get to meet all of you. Please let me know if you have any questions not covered in this handout. My email is drjurney@aimss-sf.com

Thanks!

Carrie Jurney DVM

DACVIM (Neurology)