Ohio State veterinary students are getting unique hands-on training through a new primary care clinic.
On Tuesday, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine opened the doors of its new Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic. The 35,000 square foot facility allows students in the college of veterinary medicine to advance their clinical training while providing affordable care for pet owners.
In a news release, the college said the goal of the program is to ensure "veterinary graduates entering private practice have the competence and confidence to provide more in-clinic treatment and to offer a variety of treatments for pets that belong to pet parents across a wide-ranging socioeconomic spectrum."
Faculty and visiting veterinarians will be actively involved in the clinic. They will watch from observation rooms next to patient exam rooms. This will allow professionals to coach graduating veterinary students as they provide care. After a student examines the pet and offers treatment recommendations, a faculty clinician will join the student and pet owner to answer questions and determine the next steps for care.
Normally, OSU veterinary students spend much of their clinical training observing complex cases. This new approach is reflective of a change to the college's educational model, largely impacted by feedback from students, faculty, practitioners, and alumni, according to the College of Veterinary Medicine.
The facility was funded by a gift from the Stanton Foundation. Broadcasting pioneer Frank Stanton was the president of CBS from 1946 until 1971 and was known as an "avid lover of dogs."
“Our college has a longstanding connection with Frank Stanton, whose first encounter with the college was in the mid-1930s when we cared for a beloved Boston terrier puppy,” explained Dr. Rustin Moore, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Ruth Stanton Chair in Veterinary Medicine, in a news release. “This latest partnership will extend our mutual goal to provide students with valuable, hands-on medical and surgical experience and corresponding professional skills refinement needed to become more competent and confident veterinary practitioners upon graduation, successful entrepreneurs, and even more highly sought after by employers.”
Steve Kidder, the spokesperson for the Stanton Foundation, added, "Frank Stanton cared deeply that quality veterinary care be available to all pet owners, no matter their socioeconomic status, and recognized that training students to provide full spectrum of care services was the best way to achieve that goal. It is particularly appropriate that this initiative will be pioneered at The Ohio State University, Frank Stanton’s alma mater, and at the College of Veterinary Medicine which provided such wonderful care to his beloved Boston Terrier years ago."
To read more about the Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic, click here.