Postgraduate Clinical Training Programme - Internships
Overview
The Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH) offers a rotating internship programme designed for veterinarians who wish to gain experience working in an academic referral practice. This provides first class training that helps to prepare veterinarians for specialisation. In addition, the SATH offers an Anaesthesia internship programme. Internships last 1 year.
Rotating internships
Rotating internships are designed for highly motivated veterinary professionals who wish to develop their skills, experience and knowledge by working under supervision in a multi-disciplinary referral hospital to prepare them for entry to a residency programme. Interns rotate through all clinical services in the hospital, including anaesthesia and the University’s first opinion practice. An outline of a typical day in the life of a rotating intern can be found here.
Anaesthesia internships
The anaesthesia internships are designed for veterinary surgeons who wish to pursue a career in anaesthesia or critical care. The post includes rotating through night shifts, dealing with inpatients (particularly in the intensive care unit) and out of hours emergencies (under the supervision of senior staff), although the majority of the time is spent doing anaesthesia in the clinic. The anaesthesia service supports a variety of disciplines and the interns will learn more advanced anaesthesia skills under the supervision of the senior anaesthesia staff.
Assessment and Appraisal
Each intern is continually assessed and constructive feedback is provided both informally and formally as necessary. Each intern has a formal appraisal during the year to track their progress.
Application process
Posts are advertised on the University vacancies website and in the Veterinary Record. Internships are in great demand and, regrettably, this means that many good applicants are not successful. Potential candidates should not submit CVs when there is no post available: these are not kept on file.
Interviews typically last 20-30 minutes and are designed to test the applicant’s understanding of the role and their motivation for applying. Additional selection tools are also used (e.g. written clinical tests).
Selection Criteria
Further particulars for each post are available on the University job site, including a detailed employee specification. Applicants must hold a veterinary degree and be Members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. They must be able to communicate clearly in English, both verbally and in writing. Applicants who do not meet these minimum requirements cannot be considered. Those for whom English is not their first language are encouraged to practice as a veterinary surgeon in the UK for at least 1 year prior to application to SATH programmes.
Essential personal attributes include:
- Willingness to work hard
- Highly developed organisational and time management skills
- Ability to cope under pressure
- Positive attitude at all times
- Desire to take part in advancing veterinary science
- Ability to work with a range of people including veterinary students, senior clinicians and nursing and support staff
- Patience to teach and guide veterinary undergraduate students
Visiting the SATH prior to application
If you are considering applying for an internship, you may wish to visit the hospital first.
Terms and conditions
Interns in the SATH are employed by the University of Liverpool and are staff members, not students. They are eligible for the USS pensions scheme and other staff benefits. Interns are appointed to grade 6 on the salary scale, giving a current salary of £28,660. Interns are appointed to a fixed term contract.
Interns are required to participate in out of hours duties (including working nights) as part of their training. The frequency of duty varies with operational need, but candidates should be prepared to be on duty with a frequency of 1 in 4 and to reside in the hospital when on call. Interns are expected to support all clinical and teaching activities of the SATH.