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Career Speaker Series: Dr. Christine Shumka '02, Veterinarian

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I realized I am the slow and I'm going to be school counselor here at Mater Dei we're so excited to have your speaker today this is doctor and she said she is a modern-day alarm so she was right 7 years ago and she will be sharing her experience Journey Unbecoming of that which I am very jealous of fantastic any questions we are in our webinar mode in love to read that an answer by the end of a Race So without further ado morning everyone I'm very excited to be speaking with you today I'm asthma slow and Christine Shelton I'll be speaking about the veterinary career path little bit about me I graduate from Modern Day in 2002 I loved my time there I was active in choir and I'll study asp Erie campus ministry of love I'm also National Honor Society California scholarship Federation after that I attended I majored in Biology I need to know is that you don't have to major in a science but you have to make sure you make all I'm you meet all the requirements for about school a lot of those are science courses so if you want to major in Humanities you can ask make sure you fulfill all the prerequisites for med school after that I attended North Carolina State College of veterinary medicine in North Carolina for a few years and a new bicycle I just some points to consider when thinking about careers and some reasons to choose veterinary medicine I love it because it allows you to make a positive impact in lives of pets and their families it's a really good first field so what I do is smile animal general practice pacifically with dogs and cats they're also specialty Fields so if you want to do first training you can specialize in areas like Cardiology thermology if you like eyes surgery which includes Orthopedic as well as soft tissue surgery if you love working with horses you can specialize in equine medicine turn office do medicine which is really cool I'm oncology so if you want to be a Cancer Specialists there is that option as well a lot of other other specialty fields and physiology example also research is something that. Can you can definitely go to the pharmaceutical industry employs veterinarians as well drug companies and nutrition companies House of Public Health is a really great as well to work in I have a friend that went on to do a masters in public health after that school and its really nice stop to travel to lots of different country and work on both Animal Health and Human Health and disease contagious between humans and and and that medicine you can also work part-time or do you leave work to substitute work on this love to hear me okay I think it is Lauren Ms Florian what time is game difference example you can shadow you can work on it farmer volunteer at animal shelters get a sense that this is the kind of feel that you wanted for stew especially when you're you're gaining hours he shouldn't try to get us some experience under a direct Direct does an assistant at small practices and student if you want to be hospitals will be a great to get get experience get to see Urgent Care hit by cars animals so you get to experience alone Jesus getting research experience will help a lot help make you a competitive applicant is that something that's you and what is animal abuse research when you're thinking about applying to that school. You need to knead make sure you check each individual that school's website because schools might have different you'll need that in your experience hours at a minimum of about 204 most best schools on average some schools have about 1,500 hours after applicants aren't I happy so difficult I'm working with bats and private practice on farms ranches animal shelters do aquarium need to have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited University GPA is is a factor they definitely look at it so can I get good grades and focus on your academics when your prerequisite courses science chemistry biology mathematics will play a big role in that medicine you do a lot of dose calculations calculating fluid rates so go back to your little dimensional analysis and just packaging has become a routine types of F Formula patience will really help you statistics is often required by a lot about schools animal nutrition is one that might be specifically required by certain school so now there's a course that's not offered at your college you can take it potentially online or a junior college just be in touch with the best school to make sure you're satisfying that requirement depressed I sign up for writing a humanities crisis communication courses are often required and if they're there is some variation among schools so their website so just like you took the ACT to prep for college on your knees to take the graduate record exam GRE for a lot of that school I do encourage you if you can did you have to take the test so that you can definitely maximize time that you're given and be as well prepared as possible three letters of recommendation are needed at least one but I am vets nsa's will play a big role and interviews some schools require them some don't I need to do in person or or virtual and then extracurricular activities look favorably upon but also well-rounded and explore different interests that you have leadership roles and clubs at the college or at the hobby athletic Smithers intramural or club and participating in community organizations service oriented organization is a really great idea and you meet wonderful people and David become involved and explore things that interest you do in terms of the application service that will you still hear the word of them Castro than acronym is a Medical College you should start it it says it's a meter centralized application service so you basically submit all your documents to the service you fill out all of the forms and not get sent to all the schools that you want to apply to do. website where you can learn more about how to use them cast some schools will have supplemental application to inject there at the requirements 3M thinking about where to go to bed are several considerations location is one of them there roughly about 33 best schools in the nation so not every state has one if you want to go on the East Coast Midwest California are lots of different options I'm so you know what kind of kind of climate and my style appear that appeals to you tuition as a factor to do so I'm just going to financially looking how much you're going to pay a year and if that's feasible accreditation schools are accredited meeting they meet certain standards some orange so you have to go through extra testing after The Graduate checking up the schoolyard you're applying to is accredited is a good idea and the strength of the program you know what kind of things go with my hazards drinks in large island across-the-board you're going to get a great education no matter what I heard you to consult pre-health or pre-vet advisors that you're the person that you're taking satisfy requirements for bed here's a helpful link to check out what to know before you buy what is a list of accredited colleges that medicine both in the US and international like they're also schools and sponge in England in the Caribbean so st. Kitts in St George's are some islands that have that schools there's a list that website that's cool at Starbucks what does that involve program three years are going to be preclinical academic change what you're doing now sitting in lecture Halls on the courses and then the last year is the year of clinical training your rotating through all the different departments like small animal medicine and Cardiology dentistry in your spending time with all of those clinicians all of those residents working on cases treating patients it's a really neat year you get to see a lot into a lot you can also track your last focusing in on an area that he wants to see participate in her practice and so small on medicine Bob Marley. Large animal medicine. Cattle sheep goats poultry equine medicine working with horses after you complete that school will take an exam it's the North American Veterinary licensing examination Natalie you also need to take exams in whatever state he want to practice a lot X estate exams are more copies where is Napoli is medicine and after graduation to enter the workforce that's what I said so broken Smile Dental practice or continue on with a one-year small rotating internship and then residency can do an internship and then going to the workforce or you can go on to do a residency which is usually an additional three years on average in whatever field you want to specialize you know like for example you wanted to anesthesiology about a day in the life of a small animal vet you get to see variety of cases from puppies all the way to geriatric patients Wellness exams where you at 8:16 sure you're healthy message frame sections weight loss lethargy you'll get it arranged of cases some of them are pretty consistent some of them emergencies look at my car difficulty breathing seizures toxin exposure chocolate ingestion you do see a lot of especially around the holidays Valentine's Day so that's one thing that. You'll see he might have too many warning there is a lot of of vomit and feces does it become too with that drawing blood kind of communication is a huge part of that medicine I have I've heard needed do you know explain conditions explain treatment plan I'm also trying to comfort them and andalay any any fears they have and you know Express Embassy Communications a really big heart Advocate a day you are off to do a lot of call backs and respond to emails communicate about lab results surgeries in terms of my days usually come in the afternoon afternoon but I have space uterus mask removal on the Ping on where you work you kind of interesting variety of things eat a lot of stocks and clothes I have seen on kittens eat that a phone charger charger so you  on x-ray 50 bits of metal the intestine and so you can toys different toys one dog really love rocks he had two surgeries he kept eating rocks play some kind of surgery that's interesting sometimes you don't know what to anticipate you'll find a different things dental procedures we do a lot of that so we removed fracture to really inspected can oral Massey or melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma I got to go rescue pizzas with all of you we'll start with an S Venice is an eight week old male labradoodle puppy. He was just adopted two days ago vaccinated by the air about a week ago. it's time for his stomach virus in Paris we could do we update that every three to four is good energy tired no coughing or sneezing soft stool diarrhea the next step if you do your physical exam take your temperature send this isn't temperature for him his pulse is normal he's counting the tail running around Canary East bodies appearance exam skin looking for that yours is adequate neurological so he's blinking when he's supposed to his visual so everything is within normal limits your assessment it's like your prom and then you're different which are like puppies tell me a reason why he has soft stool he's eating something different with this new family so next pet control test that we can run so one thing I don't know if they can't type in any ideas if I can get on the Q&A no pressure to put forth an idea a test that you can run good night alert Eco taxi basically their stool are there that that is commonly see stream when you want to be careful and we treat with a Medicaid Polk County Sheriff active ingredient has been done is the diarrhea goes away the 12 year old female spayed Chihuahua cuz she likes to bite history she's been coughing breathing rapidly not able to finish her walks so you do your physical exam you see her gums are pale there they're not a nice pink color there more white and you listen to her heart and lungs and you hear a murmur and murmur and almost sounds like a washing machine you care like you take bubble wrap and you start popping it crackles are also not a good sound that's a sound that something's going wrong with the lungs and then her pulse is feel weak so you decided to do chest x-rays is also known as radiographs shows her heart's really big and she has these patches patches in her lung which could be fluid in the lungs pulmonary edema diagnosis in this case is congestive heart failure basically what's happening especially in her read 1 most common causes of heart disease is mitral valve endocardiosis and isn't closing properly since like a leaky valve so the heart is not pumping blood forward to the rest of the body and and the hearts getting bigger and bigger and bigger some blood is backflow all that pressure accumulate I just pushed into the lungs do in her case you can get some medications to help like a diuretic it helps them all and any excess fluid from their excess fluid you get for Flow by oxygen if you can breathe better and he sent her home and some other heart medications and fortunately it's not stop the process but is it down so her heart condition will Progressive time get worse this time at least medication will help manage it and gave her a longer life span with more quality of life Nexus Lorenzo Lorenzo year old male neutered domestic short-haired cats this is drinking a lot of water and urinating a lot more than usual on so I'm physical exam everything is normal pretty overweight and he has more than unkempt appearance he's not really grown install his contract leaky skin you do in this case blood in urine testing is complete blood count internal organs being show elevated glucose elevated blood sugar anyone see who gives you an average of their blood sugar over the preceding 3 weeks and it's also really high you do a urine test with urine in a little side it's not super concentrated and there's a lot glucose sugar in his urine so does anyone know what the diagnosis is in this case you can also 4th of May nice to know you with this type of situation that's okay give me the answer it's diabetes so this kid has diabetes mellitus that's actually the type that is also a common and people that develop insulin resistance and especially the old which is usually present when a child has diabetes Nixon uses response to insulin really well and he actually goes into remission and doesn't need insulin we get him on a diet that slower and she responds well to be insulin he loses some weights and he doesn't need it anymore take home messages for all have fun in college but I just said was probably overwhelming but don't be alarmed it is doable explore different interest gain as much experience as you can to see if this is nothing you in what year don't give up every set your mind to you can accomplish if you keep working at some people need to take a gap year after college and just fill all the rest of the prereqs and then hours of experience work on their application that's absolutely fine and some people need to apply to that school two or three times before their ID don't give up keep working at it if this is where your passion law you can do God really great plans for you he's giving each and everyone of you unique and special I'm excited for the future that you have in-store my it pray and encourage you to explore whatever you want to do one more and have fun what questions do you have for me wow thank you so much is newer really in-depth like helping understand how to get see this journey are you and what you see they say in those cases that's so fun if you have any questions feel free to take to get us started in case we don't have any little bit and ice ball like I saw that like getting some experience at either or you know wondering about somewhere like what if I feel kind of nervous night I don't know what to ask how can I get started that's an excellent question so you know one thing to do if you do have pets that you take two and of your ear your local Family Veterinarian asking a great day and see what kind of cases they treat you and what their day is like you know I think that's a great idea, the list of schools that I shared your going on their site and talking to one of the counselors there and talk to one of their counselors Western vet school is another one imeson Pomona so I can do one of the counselors and asking them if they're starting clinics or Farms or. I work with a lot of students so that you can forge relationships be at contacting Western but school is the closest like I said just to see if they can recommend opportunities to gain more experience as well as close to where you live and see if you can Shadow and then animal shelters as well that's a great experience is contacting whatever animal shelters are near you and say you know what time I'm really interested in that medicine can I volunteer at your shelter when is it possible to even meet some of the vets that work at your shelter so I can get out of you wonderful way to start a great ideas like starting with someone you know White Lightning. You are the local schools are on this Earth Clinic or to volunteer all we drink we have a question do you like me to read or can you read that or see it a lot up here I can read it out loud so everyone. You're very welcome for this and for the information answer the question asks I'm actually really an interest in becoming a Marine veterinarian that's wonderful I love it you have any advice about getting into this field or any knowledge about this job very good question I'm not as knowledgeable about doctor Civic field but I had some friends that went into it the one thing that you could do is I think the Long Beach Aquarium would be a good place to start on some a local aquarium is seeing if you can talk to one of their their best and Shadow them at a local aquarium also getting experience. Maybe marine biology would be a good major in college do your college you're going to have a lot of great experiences with marine biology you probably have the opportunity to especially California along the coastline and where did the research facilities and antiquaria so I contact local like maybe Yabba Long Beach Aquarium or any crib near where you live and also your college counselor see if every LG options is that help if you can type person you're very welcome we are right on the couch I think they were separated the Marine. Because if you can contact them in the Guna that's close by and and and talk to the people that work there I just visited seeing if we had any problems give that a shot they might have to go on a new Medicine Residency focus more specifically on marine mammals the funny stories of what you find is also hilarious and a little concerning it is I think yeah it's always a surprise you never know what you're going to find just like the game Operation your stuff out I thought what you shared about like the importance of communication with the families I was really okay have another question how do you get past a death of a patient that is that is very hard especially SEC since they were puppies so it is it is an emotional job because he knew you might be seeing a happy healthy case initially and then the next appointment is quality of life exam the patients not doing well it's quality of life is poor or patients dying and then you know the topic of Humane euthanasia comes into play to so helping clients through that process can be very very difficult emotionally it actually is is is a Time extinct it's is really valuable to do your clients to have somebody that supports them through that difficult. And a lot of them are really grateful just to know that you're there you're there to offer your support to explain what's going on to explain the process to them and said to offer empathy for what they're going through so it is really challenge they say that one of the parts one of the hardest parts of the career but it's also a really critical part of the career took to be there for for your patience the question the other questions for me I feel free you're also welcome you can if you think of questions later and you want to send them to miss low and and I can you no reply if they're there or group of questions and send out a mass email be happy to do that ink yeah that's incredible I'm happy to help I got understanding the academic keys and all that's required is helpful but you don't have to study or major in a science I think as a counselor I get that question to like when I go to college lot of times there isn't like event makers in there yeah there's usually pre-health or pre-med Focus have a lot of overlap do you need for medical school you'll also need for back to school so if you don't have that option for your undergrad program your pre-health pre-med require and certain UC Davis and Western you can always have another question with them do you have any advice about becoming a veterinary assistant good question thank you for your question so yes you can definitely you can start at any time of general practice summons you might have to start off as animal animal care and then you can veterinary assistant position and then we need to move up to doing more things that more responsibilities like taking a patient history helping with treatment and diagnostic testing you don't have to have specific criteria for become like I guess applying to be a veterinary assistant so you can kind of start at ground level and work up to it to be a veterinary technician so like a registered veterinary technician RBT you do need to have training for that so if you want to go into that separates turn that position there is a program there are programs for that as well if you look up registered veterinary technician programs you can see what's offered some people go into that school right after high school if they want to take so you can get to have more responsibilities really really good question I would look into to some websites that I registered Aransas Pass what interest use the rice veterinary assistant position do you know that's awesome awesome question like you but there are different roles in the different training programs that you need for thought was in the field so that's really great to explore us do you have about that let me know so I'm at least I'm happy happy to check on my contact information I work with a lot of registered vet text so if that is the the packing timeline or I can definitely put you in touch with some technicians to let you know what their path was so be up feel free to ask just slow and I'll be happy to take do we have more questions play that song by cats playing or send me an email so that I can speak thank you so much for your time yeah I got this insight into your career like it really know it's oh that's so cool I will at the end of this presentation for students have a quick survey wait what was your Takeaway on whenever you have a minute or two if you have further questions please

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Career Speaker Series: Dr. Christine Shumka '02, Veterinarian

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