Course Introduction

Student Shelter Opportunities is a distributed learning modeled course that includes an extensive online curriculum/course to cover high-quality, high-volume surgical and anesthetic principles to properly prepare students for not only these experiences, but give them a better foundation for learning life-long skills and enhancing their surgical experience at Penn via authentic learning experiences.

Student Surgical Opportunities I

This course is an introduction to High Quality High Volume (HQHV) surgery in the shelter environment and is based on the Association of Shelter Veterinarians veterinary medical care guidelines for spay-neuter programs. Lecture topics and examinations are delivered online and include an overview of HQHV surgery, patient handling, anesthesia and pain management in the shelter environment, partner protocols, patient monitoring, patient pre-surgical preparation, basic surgical principles and...

Student Surgical Opportunities II

This course is designed to be a continuation of Student Surgical Opportunities I and consists of six hours of online lectures/exam that cover inhalant anesthesia, more advanced knots and suture patterns, sterilization of the female cat, special sterilization cases, emergency procedures in the shelter environment and surgical instruments and pack preparation. Eighteen hours of on-site work at a partner shelter will be devoted to learning to spay and participation in peri-operative activities....

Student Surgical Opportunities III

This course is designed to be a continuation of Student Surgical Opportunities II and is an advanced elective offered to students who wish to achieve spay certification (if not previously spay certified) and pursue additional surgical opportunities. Four hours of didactic instruction will be offered online covering sterilization surgeries of adult and pediatric dogs as well as specialty surgeries such as enucleation, amputation, wound repair and mass removal. At least six hours of the 20...