www.pfizeranimalhealth.co.nz

VSG^® in conjunction with Pfizer New Zealand each year offer an internship. The Pfizer Internship is offered to new graduates of Massey University annually and is a fixed twelve-month position from December to December of the following year. The position offers concentrated, supervised, in-hospital training through services in small animal surgery, internal medicine and diagnostic imaging.

Following the completion of the twelve-month internship, it is hoped that the intern will pursue further clinical specialist training through the North American residency system.

Pfizer New Zealand has been a key contributor to the success of the programme.

The objectives of the programme are:

• To prepare the intern for postgraduate specialist training (internship, residency, research) at university teaching hospitals overseas.
• To provide the intern with an opportunity to develop an understanding of the clinical management of challenging small animal medicine and surgery cases.
• To allow the intern to learn professional publication and presentation skills.
• To provide the intern an opportunity to develop skills in client communication, medical record keeping, and literature review.

The intern has no primary case responsibility but works alongside the specialist during the admission of complex cases referred to the Veterinary Specialist Group hospital. During the year, the intern will develop the clinical skills required to assess, diagnose, and treat these patients with the opportunity to refine fundamental skills including catheter placement, blood collection, fluid therapy, anaesthesia management, analgesia, transfusion medicine, and the acquiring and interpretation of imaging studies and clinical pathology. If an animal proceeds to surgery, the intern is scrubbed in as surgical assistant, getting first-hand experience of general surgical principles and specific techniques. To see where previous interns are now, have a read of our VSG® Veterinarian Newsletter Edition 05.

The monitoring, management, and care of hospitalised patients are a major part of the intern's duties that extend to weekends and after hours.

Pfizer New Zealand are key contributors in assisting VSG^® to provide the Seminar Series (Continuing Education) to our referring veterinarians.