VOLUNTEER INFORMATION:
VETERINARIANS
Volunteer veterinarians are essential to the success of the RAVS program. We depend on the many knowledgeable, compassionate professionals who generously contribute their time and expertise. We literally could not do it without your support.
CLINIC ORGANIZATION AND ROLES
Depending on your areas of interest and comfort, veterinarians on RAVS trips
may be asked to assist throughout the clinic from receiving to recovery.
Veterinarians are most frequently asked to assist in surgery, but may work
in other areas as well and volunteers with interests in medicine, intensive
care and anesthesia are also needed.
Your primary role will be to supervise and train veterinary and veterinary
technician students in everything from physical examination to surgical
technique. Student volunteers come to the program with a wide range of experience
and skills and will require varying levels of guidance and support. While
student teaching is a very important part of our mission, the welfare of
the individual patient is always our top priority. Volunteer veterinarians
will work with RAVS staff to assist our student volunteers to provide quality
care to all of our animal patients and their families.
THE RAVS EXPERIENCE
The reasons for veterinarians to participate in RAVS are many and varied.
They include an opportunity to practice medicine for the sole purpose of
alleviating pain and suffering in animals who would otherwise go untreated.
RAVS clinics also allow practitioners to share their skills and knowledge
with students and many volunteer veterinarians find the teaching aspect
of our clinics to be their favorite part. Certainly the chance to travel
and interact with people and animals in “out of the way” places
is an attraction. Many of the places in which we work are very scenic and
interesting in their own right. If you haven’t experienced life on
a reservation, seen the wide prairies of the Dakotas, or high desert of
northern Arizona, RAVS is a great way to go there with a purpose.
It should be said that working on a RAVS trip is unlikely to be a restful vacation. The hours are long and the accommodations consist of whatever is available in the community. All volunteers must be prepared to accept such inconveniences as camping out on the floor of a high school gym without the benefit of hot water. The days start very early and often end late. There are usually long travel times and meals can be sporadic. In many ways this adds to the shared challenge of the trip and a sense of camaraderie. Adventure and humor are two very important “senses” in a RAVS experience.
RAVS TRAINING CURRICULUM
Because of our case load, the limited time for each clinic and our policy
of providing the best and most consistent care possible it is important
that all volunteers, from veterinarians to students are familiar with RAVS
protocols before the start of a trip.
In the case of veterinarians, who will be supervisors and teachers, it is
also critical that a standardized ‘curriculum’ is presented.
It is not that our techniques and protocols are the only way to do things,
but students have difficulty learning when authority figures do not seem
to agree on how to complete a certain technique.
Years of experience and volunteer comments have demonstrated that students
have trouble differentiating a matter of personal preference from critical
principles of medicine and surgery. For this reason we ask that veterinarians
take the time to read the website and volunteer training materials and complete
a brief self-evaluation exam before coming on a RAVS clinic. I think you
will find this process valuable in optimizing your RAVS experience.
The RAVS website contains a fairly detailed discussion of what is expected of all volunteers and the protocols that RAVS uses. I think you will find that our medical, surgical, and anesthesia protocols are pretty “main stream”, but if there is something you do not understand or disagree with you are strongly encouraged to contact us ahead of your scheduled trip.
After a decade in private practice and nearly two decades in veterinary academia I have found that the opportunities to work with dogs, cats, horses, and other animals afforded by RAVS are some of the most fulfilling that I have ever encountered. Further, the chance to help develop the next generation of veterinarians, while helping people in need is a combination that is hard to beat. I hope you will consider volunteering with RAVS, and sharing your skill and knowledge.
Eric Davis, DVM
RAVS Director
(edavis@ravsmail.org)
