Congratulations to the Rimbey Veterinary Clinic, the 2016 recipient of the Merial Canada Distribution Veterinary Teaching Hospital (DVTH) award. The award is based on evaluations from the students who completed rotations at the clinic and the practices overall contribution to our education programs.
“Our staff is quite proud of this accomplishment,” said Dr. Ian Giebelhaus, who runs the practice, along with this partner Dr. Grady Barton. “Our whole staff deserves credit for this award.”
Giebelhaus and Barton accepted the award at the University of Calgary Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) graduations banquet held June 6. Giebelhaus believes the recognition is a result of the approach he and his fellow veterinarians take to mentoring students.
“We want our students to really think about every decision they make, whether it’s taking a temperature on a dog, blood tests, x-rays or which medication they pick,” said Giebelhaus. “We’re trying to get them to think about the pluses and minuses of every decision they face in veterinary medicine.”
“Ian is always challenging us to do a better job of teaching the students,” said Dr. Alastair Cribb, dean of UCVM. “He’s a great example of what we want to see in the practices that host our students.”
Giebelhaus likens teaching veterinary medicine to Grade seven math in the sense that students have to show how they arrived at an answer to get full marks.
“We don’t want the students to guess and be right,” said Giebelhaus. “We’re okay with students giving us the wrong answer, but we want to see the thought process behind each and every decision. That’s what we hope they get out of the month.”
Being a rural practice, Giebelhaus says at times his students can be less busy than at urban practices. He views that time as an opportunity to each other aspects of veterinary medicine.
“In those time we try to talk about business, we try to talk about ethics and a lot of the theoretical stuff students might not get exposed to in a city practice.”