What veterinary school does, and doesn't, teach about emergency medicine
Bottom line
A new dvm360 profile highlights how veterinary school prepared Tripp Oliphant, DVM, for emergency medicine, while also underscoring what school alone can't fully teach. In the July 1 article and companion video, Oliphant, a 2023 graduate of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine who now works primarily in urgent care and also practices emergency medicine in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area, said veterinary school gave him a strong foundation in diagnostics and differential building. But he said the transition to emergency practice required learning how to slow down enough to think clearly, rely on technicians and colleagues, and ask for help when cases turn critical. (dvm360.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the piece lands in a larger workforce conversation about how new graduates are supported in high-pressure settings. Oliphant's emphasis on clinical reasoning, team reliance, and mentorship aligns with broader industry guidance that structured mentoring improves recruitment, retention, and job satisfaction, and that lack of mentorship is a common reason new graduates leave their first practice. That makes emergency onboarding more than a training issue; it's a staffing and sustainability issue for hospitals trying to keep early-career veterinarians in practice. (dvm360.com)
What to watch: Expect continued attention on formal mentorship, emergency training pathways, and retention strategies for early-career veterinarians as hospitals compete for talent and try to make emergency practice more sustainable. (aaha.org)
A new dvm360 article puts a personal lens on a familiar profession-wide challenge: how well veterinary school prepares graduates for the realities of emergency medicine. In the July 1 piece, emergency and urgent care veterinarian Tripp Oliphant, DVM, said his training taught him to build broad differentials and think diagnostically, but that the emergency floor demands a different kind of confidence, one rooted in prioritization, teamwork, and knowing when to pause before acting. (dvm360.com)
Oliphant's perspective reflects a transition many new graduates describe. He said veterinary school encourages students to work through the full range of differentials, which fits scheduled appointments well, but can be harder to apply in the middle of an unstable emergency case. His advice was not to confuse speed with reflexive action: delegate immediate tasks to the team, take a step back when possible, and focus on what the patient needs most right now. He also said new graduates shouldn't expect to know everything at once, and that reaching out to mentors is part of good emergency practice, not a sign of weakness. (dvm360.com)
That message is consistent with how Oliphant has been framed elsewhere by dvm360. His author profile describes him as an emergency-focused small animal veterinarian with a strong interest in team development, mentorship, retention, and sustainable hospital culture. In a related July 1 dvm360 item, he similarly advised early-career veterinarians entering emergency practice to stay calm, lean on the veterinary team, and keep asking questions as confidence develops. (dvm360.com)
The broader backdrop is a workforce environment where mentorship has become a strategic concern, not just a professional courtesy. AAHA's 2023 Mentoring Guidelines say effective mentoring can improve recruitment, retention, and job satisfaction, and position mentorship as part of practice culture rather than an informal add-on. Separate AAHA coverage has pointed to survey data showing that 30% or more of veterinary professionals in clinical practice are considering leaving their current job, adding urgency to conversations about how hospitals support new hires. (aaha.org)
Published commentary in the field has made the connection even more directly for new graduates. A 2022 Today's Veterinary Practice mentorship feature said one of the top reasons a new graduate veterinarian leaves their first practice is a lack of mentorship. A 2024 follow-up article described retention of new graduates as a profession-wide concern, especially in busy practices where there may be too little time to discuss difficult cases or learning needs. While those pieces aren't specific to emergency medicine, the implications are especially sharp in ER settings, where case acuity, pace, and independent decision-making can magnify early-career stress. (todaysveterinarypractice.com)
Expert literature also supports that framing. A qualitative study on early postgraduate veterinary career experiences identified self-doubt, adaptation challenges, and the difference between good and bad mentorship as central themes in the transition to practice. That helps explain why Oliphant's comments may resonate beyond students considering ER: he's describing a clinical skill set, but also a survivability skill set for the first years after graduation. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this story is useful because it shifts the question from whether veterinary school is "enough" to what practices must do next. Veterinary school can provide the diagnostic framework and medical foundation, but emergency competence is often built through supported repetition, team communication, triage judgment, and psychologically safe mentorship. Hospitals that expect new graduates to function independently without that scaffolding may increase the risk of burnout, turnover, and inconsistent patient care. Practices that formalize mentorship, by contrast, may be better positioned to retain talent and build steadier emergency teams. (dvm360.com)
What to watch: The next signal to watch is whether more emergency and urgent care employers turn mentorship into a defined workforce offering, with structured onboarding, case review, and protected learning time, rather than treating support as something new graduates should piece together on their own. As retention pressures continue across veterinary medicine, stories like this one may increasingly shape how students, new graduates, and employers evaluate readiness for emergency practice. (aaha.org)