How to Succeed in Clinical Mentorship Experiences

Clinical mentorships provide students the opportunity to practice their clinical skills and demonstrate proficiency in the required AVMA tasks. The tasks are observed by a clinical mentor who is a licensed doctor of veterinary medicine or a credentialed veterinary technician.

Documentation

Documentation of essential skills performed in the clinical mentorships assures that students have:

• received a quality education
• met all the standards set for graduation
• met AVMA accreditation standard

Helpful Tips

There are some concepts that the student should keep in mind to facilitate evaluation and acceptance of mentorship tasks:

• Is it helpful, but not necessary, to show the tasks in the order listed in the logbook.
• Review task demonstration videos prior to performing the task. 
• Read through criteria before completing the task. Announce verbally on video the task being performed exactly as it is named in the logbook.
• Watch your video before sending. Be sure that all criteria listed in the logbook are met, and that the viewer can evaluate each criteria. When editing the video, be sure that no criteria is omitted.
• Narrate all tasks as you perform them. Evaluators may not be able to read labels, etc. and depend on the student to tell these things verbally.
• It is acceptable to show attempts, goofs, or struggles as you perform tasks, as long as errors are corrected and the task is completed satisfactorily. It's OK to be human!
• For projects and other materials submitted, make sure each item shows the exact title of the task.

Evaluation and Completion

It is not unusual for evaluators to request resubmission of some tasks in a mentorship.

• Materials submitted must document correct performance of each task.
• Mentorships must be completed in the semester in which you enrolled.