Discussion

Internships are post graduate clinical training positions aimed at providing an intensive 12 month practice experience (either academic or private). The goal of an internship program is to prepare a new graduate for high quality practice or advanced specialty training. The majority of residency training programs require applicants to have completed an internship year or equivalent experience in private practice. Many internships are rotating in design, with responsibilities of the intern divided between disciplines or areas of the practice.

Typical rotations in equine practice include surgery, medicine, reproduction, hospital, ambulatory, lameness/diagnostics, anesthesia, or some combination of these. There are becoming a limited number of non-rotating internships available, where a 12 month position is dedicated to a specific specialty discipline to better prepare the intern for residency training within that discipline. There are currently 3 mechanisms whereby graduates can obtain information about equine internships in the United States or Canada: 1) Veterinary Internship and Residency Matching Program (VIRMP); 2) American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Avenues Program; and 3) informal word of mouth/networking. Each of these 3 mechanisms is available to UK/EU graduates.