Veterinarian interns advance skills at Fort Carson

By Scott Prater (Fort Carson)November 19, 2015

Veterinarian interns advance skills at Fort Carson
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Maj. Nic Cabano, clinical medicine instructor, right, instructs interns, Capts. Jake Tidwell and Caitlin Sullivan on techniques and procedures during a spay and gastropexy operation at the Fort Carson Veterinary Center Nov. 10, ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Veterinarian interns advance skills at Fort Carson
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- As Capts. Jake Tidwell and Caitlin Sullivan used an electro scalpel to make precise incisions on a patient's abdomen Nov. 10, 2015, Maj. Nic Cabano watched with a discerning eye.

Inside an operating room at the Fort Carson Veterinary Center, Tidwell and Sullivan, surgical interns, performed two surgical procedures on a 5-month-old German Shepherd named Sassy.

"I've performed a spay before, but this is the first time I'll remove ovaries but leave the uterus intact," said Tidwell, who is in his first month of duty at Fort Carson. "It's an invaluable experience."

Cabano, clinical instructor in charge of the First-Year Graduate Veterinary Education program (FYGVE) at Fort Carson, began offering instruction as soon as the interns scrubbed in.

"The interns are recent veterinary school graduates," Cabano said.

"Each graduate comes from a different school that teaches a different curriculum, so the goal of the FYGVE program is to make sure everyone has the same baseline when starting their military careers."

With Sassy under anesthesia, Tidwell and Sullivan performed a spay procedure and what's known as a gastropexy.

"A gastropexy involves tacking the animal's stomach to the body wall in order to prevent a life threatening disease process called bloat, or gastric dilatation volvulus, which occurs in this breed in middle age or later in life," Cabano said. "This can be a lifesaving preventive surgical procedure that first-year graduate interns are receiving instruction on."

The surgical training is part of a yearlong internship that both Tidwell and Sullivan will complete at Fort Carson.

"The real advantage to the FYGVE program is twofold," Cabano said. "The interns benefit from a year with two specialists to improve their skills, both on the public health side and the clinical side, but the garrison and the community benefits a great deal because we are able to expand our services. Most installations are staffed with one doctor and one to two technicians, whereas the Fort Carson Veterinary Treatment Facility, with the FYGVE program, has an additional six doctors, an additional two technicians and an additional senior NCO."

Following their internships, veterinarians are assigned to a duty station. Some will stay at Fort Carson, while others can be sent to a deployed location or one of the many military stations in the continental U.S. or overseas, depending on the Army's needs.

Cabano explained that the Army veterinary corps is the DOD executive agent for clinical veterinary care to all services, so FYGVE graduates could also be assigned to Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps bases.

Tidwell said the opportunity to travel and see new parts of the world was a big draw for him when he considered veterinary career options.

Meanwhile, Cabano pointed to another advantage of the Army's FYGVE program.

"Most teaching hospitals don't allow students to use advanced equipment, but today, we are using advanced electro-surgical equipment," he said. "It is not only better for the patient, it requires a higher level of skill, so our students are advancing their clinical skill as they go through the program, starting with their first week."