Small Animal Intensive Care Unit Volunteer Program

Goals of the Program

To give pre-clinical students the opportunity to:

• spend time in the small animal hospital
• get into a clinical setting working with patients admitted to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital
• obtain experience in small animal emergency and critical care medicine
• become familiar with the function, equipment and flow of the small animal ICU
• interact with the clinicians and staff of the small animal hospital
• get advice from upperclassmen

How to Volunteer

1. Sign up for a shift on the sign-up schedule
   The schedules to sign up for ICU duty will be posted on the SCVECCS shadow box. Shifts are Sunday, 2-4pm, and Monday through Thursday, from 6pm - 8:00pm. Two people will be allowed to sign up for each shift. Please plan on staying for the entire shift.
   
   
2. Read the VMRCVM SMALL ANIMAL HOSPITAL BIOSECURITY PROTOCOLS
   This protocol must be read before attending any shifts in the ICU! This is necessary for the safety of the patients as well as for the safety of students and staff in the teaching hosptital. The protocol can be found by going to the VMRCVM homepage, clicking on the intranet link, logging in with your pid, then clicking on the Biosecurity Protocols link, and then clicking on the Small Animal Hospital link. The file will open up in pdf format.

What to Bring

Please wear/bring the following items with you to the ICU when volunteering: scrubs, labcoat, nametag, pen, stethoscope, thermometer, hemostats, and your bandage scissors.

Professional Behavior

Please recognize this opportunity as a privilege that can easily be taken away. The more positive recognition this program receives, the more likely greater opportunities will open up. Please remember that you must respect our clients' confidentiality; DO NOT DISCUSS YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH ANYBODY OUTSIDE OF THE VMRCVM. You are not, under any circumstance, allowed to take photographs, video or other record of the patients or procedures on the patients as it is a breach in client confidentiality. Do not make any posts on Facebook or other public site regarding specific clients or patients, regardless of any online security setting.

General ICU information

Treatments in the ICU are performed on the hour. Fourth year students will be performing their treatments at 7pm. As a student of VMRCVM you will be allowed to participate in the care of the patients as deemed appropriate by the fourth year students, technicians, and clinicians.