The other side of veterinary medicine
New program helps UF veterinary students enhance business skills
By Sarah Carey
(From left) Mark Belyeu, Jenessa Graham, Matt Lastinger, Toffy Blaber, Dani Marks, Deborah Eib and Allison
Vansickle stand outside Brick City Cat Hospital in Ocala. All but Lastinger are UF students from the University
of Florida. Lastinger is from the University of Georgia and served as an assistant course instructor.
Fourteen UF veterinary students spent part of last summer analyzing financial reports, observing staff-client interactions in private veterinary hospitals and learning about practice management as part of a new externship aimed at sharpening students’ business skills. The externship, which unfolded in separate two-week rotations this summer, is the capstone of a new business certificate program now being offered at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. To receive the certificate, students must demonstrate an overall awareness and knowledge of practice management. The certificate program and externship were created by Dana Zimmel, D.V.M., chief of staff of the UF Veterinary Hospitals and adviser to the Veterinary Business Management Association student club. Zimmel said she believed it would be a useful tool, not only for educating students, but also for building relationships with practitioners. “This training will give students an advantage when searching for their first position, because they have an understanding of the challenges that practice owners face when operating a hospital,” Zimmel said. “Students will graduate with confidence and knowledge that within a few years they can be successful practice owners.” Students are paired with area practitioners in a “real-world” experience that allows them to enhance their business skills as they prepare to enter the workplace. They concentrate on one practice each week and begin by meeting with the practice owner to discuss key areas the owners want to receive feedback, such as financial/revenue analysis, fee review or observations of staff-client interaction. The students then observe the practice for two days, return to the classroom to process what they’ve seen and prepare an evaluation to present to the practitioner on the final day. Veterinary student Amanda Ditson had not taken many classes up until now that explored business. “This rotation allowed me to learn better with a hands-on experience,” Ditson said. “I loved that we were able to go into real practices and evaluate them. It’s easier to understand numbers and statistics when you have an applicable situation.” Jeff Sanford, M.B.A., director of entrepreneurship studies at the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center and founder of the original program at UGA upon which UF’s program is modeled, visited UF for two weeks in June to teach the first externship enrollees. He also trained Martha Mallicote, who coordinates the externship course and has a degree in economics, and John Haven, the college’s director of medical/ health administration and a certified public accountant, so they can continue to teach the course in the future. UF and UGA are the only veterinary colleges in the country offer such a cohesive, comprehensive business externship to students, Sanford said. “Despite the fact that most veterinarians also become small business owners at some point in their career, we as a profession are doing very little to train students for that responsibility,” Mallicote said. “The certificate program and business courses that have been added to the UF curriculum over the last few years go far toward correcting that deficiency.”