Student Shadowing Contract

Welcome to Natural Pet!We want this shadowing experience to be educational and valuable for both you and for the clients and pets involved in our interactions. If you have any questions about the following guidelines, please ask Dr. Duffner.

1. Confidentiality: In the course of our day, we will be welcomed into the homes and barns of the Natural Pet clients. All aspects of these visits are considered confidential. The names of clients and pets, the homes in which they live, their personal situations, and all conversations had with clients are confidential and not to be shared with friends, family, or social media. Photographs of pets may be taken with client permission, but these photos are not to be shared online, with friends/family, or on social media. Any violation of confidentiality is grounds for immediate termination of the shadowing agreement.
2. Professional Appearance and Conduct:
   1. Dress requirements: Scrubs are welcome, but not required. Business casual is a good alternative if scrubs are not an option; for barn days, jeans and t-shirts (with clean content) are fine. Shorts and open-toed shoes are prohibited due to OSHA standards. Wear comfortable, closed-toed shoes. If you have work or riding boots, those are fine for barn days.
   2. Perfumes/EOs/Smoking: Please refrain from use of heavy perfumes, use of essential oils, and from cigarette smoking or vaping while shadowing. The smell can be particularly noxious to cats and horses, and can make pet cooperation difficult.
   3. Conduct: Please refrain from sharing personal stories/experiences in the presence of clients as this can derail the medical conversations regarding the pet. Due to the nature of acupuncture and pet cooperation, it is important for students to maintain modulated tones and quiet, calm movements and mannerisms while in the home with clients or in the horse barns. Pets that are anxious or agitated due to loud conversation or movement will not tolerate acupuncture well.
   4. Cell phone/Smart watch usage: Please refrain from texting, phone calls, or use of social media apps while in a client’s home or in the barns. If you need to take a call or send a message, please excuse yourself to go outside. Once a pet has acupuncture needles in place, please do not enter or exit the room. Cell phones should be kept tucked away in a pocket and placed on silent while in a client’s home. While interacting with a client, please refrain from checking your smart watch or cell phone.
   5. Client comfort: There may be some clients that request not having a student in the home during their appointment. Please do not take this personally. If this happens, Dr. Duffner will assign educational reading to discuss after the appointment.
3. Learning Experience
   1. Please do bring a notebook to take notes during visits. After each visit, we can discuss the appointment and answer any questions that you may have regarding the visit. Please refrain from asking questions during the visit (unless invited to do so) as it may impede the conversation and impact the owner’s ability to ask their own questions. There will be frequent times where Dr. Duffner needs to return phone calls in between visits; if this happens, we will make time at the end of the shift to discuss the cases and answer your questions. Duffner will take time during each case to teach anatomy and physiology of the species being treated and to teach basics of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine and any other modalities being used (chiropractic, homeopathy, etc.) as she works through the case.
   2. Please plan to complete three case reports during your shadowing experience. In these case reports, list the patient’s signalment (you will learn what this means!), the history, the diagnosis, and the treatment plan. Write your assessment of what interested you about each case and what you learned in the course of your observations.
   3. Please do not feel pressured to “work” during your shadowing experience. As a shadowing student, you are expected to observe, consider, question, and learn. You are not expected to help with cleaning, restraint of animals, processing of lab specimens, or any of the other day to day duties during your experience. IF you are interested in learning these skills (pet restraint in particular), please let Dr. Duffner know and we can discuss this in more detail. IF you want to help in small ways (opening needles for the next patient, setting timers for patients, etc.), you are welcome to do so, but do not feel obligated to.