Mentee shares tale of mentoring excellence

By Amanda M. Whitman, DVM

I am a planner. Before I went to vet school, I had a career plan. I envisioned moving back to my home to be with my family and pursuing low-cost spay/neuter for cats. I was the "cat" person throughout vet school; when people thought of cats, they thought about me. I even won the "Feline Excellence Award" for my class. One of my professors told me anyone pursuing feline practice was "unrealistic" and needed to adjust their expectations because no feline-only hospitals are practicing high-quality, progressive medicine. That did not deter me because I wanted to work with cats using my plan. I had no intention of deviating from that plan.

Knowing this, I embarked on a senior-year externship at Alamo Feline Health Center (AFHC), a feline-only practice in San Antonio, Tex., more than 1,000 miles from my home. The externship lasted three weeks, and I stayed in an apartment on the clinic's second floor. A professor who taught the feline medicine course recommended this externship to me.

Upon acceptance to the externship, I started getting emails from Gary D. Norsworthy, DVM, DABVP (Feline), owner of AFHC and South Texas' only boarded feline specialist. He sent me several scientific papers he had written, which he wanted me to read weeks before the start of the externship. Dr. Norsworthy told me we would find time to discuss them when I arrived in San Antonio. I did not know what to expect, but I hoped to see many cat cases.

Meeting your mentor

My assignment was to shadow Norsworthy. By the end of week one, we had seen more than 100 cats, which was amazing to me. He invited me to his house for Saturday breakfast with his wife and him and offered me a job as an associate following graduation. He said I was the "pick of the litter," and he knew a winner when he saw one. Norsworthy asked me if the idea of mentorship was essential to me, and I told him it was everything to me, as I felt I would leave vet school ill-prepared for real-life feline practice.

Norsworthy told me he liked to hire new graduates who were seriously focused on cats but not overconfident in their knowledge of feline diseases. He recalled that he had been mentored very meaningfully as a new graduate. He believes his mentorship program can get a new graduate on the right foot. It is his way of paying it forward. I was intrigued by the possibility of having a real mentor guide me in my first year of practice.

Getting on track

Dr. Norsworthy told me to focus on passing the NAVLE, which I did. After passing the exam, Norsworthy sent me a copy of his book, The Feline Patient, as a congratulatory gift. It contained a note with a list of "priority chapters" I was to study.

In January of my senior year, he began emailing me PowerPoint presentations he had made especially for me. These presentations covered several topics, including infectious diseases, neoplasia, behavior issues, and cardiology. They averaged 150 slides each and included hundreds of still images and videos. Each had an accompanying Word document.

He sent me several audio recordings he made in exam rooms as he discussed critical feline diseases with actual clients. These materials taught me how to communicate with clients, including the key points that must be conveyed to them. Norsworthy has a library of nearly 200 client handouts supplementing our discussions with clients.

He also sent me a physical copy of the 75-page AFHC Protocol Manual. It had many easily accessible "algorithms" for common things cats may experience, such as vomiting, diarrhea, sneezing, etc. It ranked diagnostic and therapeutic procedures based on importance. It also included some interesting information about the 11 types of cat owners, allowing me to recognize them and understand how to interact with them.

I studied that manual extensively during my first year of practice and still used it well into my second year.

After four months of studying his PowerPoint presentations, listening to the audio files, and practically sleeping with the Protocol Manual, I graduated and moved to San Antonio, Tex. Five days later, I started my life as a feline-only practitioner.

Going above and beyond

For six weeks, I shadowed Norsworthy just like I did as an extern. His schedule was my schedule, and where he went, I went. I was with him in exam rooms and scrubbed in with him on surgical procedures.

Kitty Kollege, Norsworthy's formal associate training program, began the first week of my employment. It was held on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. when we would study one of the PowerPoint presentations he used while on the lecture circuit. It was a time for discussion and questions. The teacher-pupil ratio was 1:1. If we finished one topic, and it was only 8 p.m., we would start another.

Norsworthy wanted to make sure I was prepared to see patients. He taught me how to talk to clients, make them feel comfortable, relate to them, and motivate them to let us do a proper workup or surgery. He taught me how to efficiently speak about some of the more common diagnoses, such as hyperthyroidism, diabetes, kidney disease, etc. He encouraged me to listen to the audio recordings again. Because of Norsworthy, I can explain hyperthyroidism to a cat owner with all treatment options in less than 10 minutes. What I do not cover in person is addressed in the hyperthyroidism handout so the client fully understands the disease.

Kitty Kollege was great at supplying me with the tools I needed to master the exam room and the inevitable decision-making when a sick cat is presented. To this day, I am more comfortable in an exam room with a client and feline patient than anywhere else.

After six weeks of shadowing Norsworthy, I started seeing appointments; they were 30 minutes long (instead of AFHC's 15-minute appointments) and screened by the receptionists for cases I could handle. If I got in a situation where I needed help or a second opinion, a senior doctor was either there with me or only a phone call away. Norsworthy lives about five minutes from AFHC, and I knew he would come if needed. Norsworthy was determined to give me space to learn and become proficient. He always told me if something went wrong, he would have my back, and he did. He still does. Knowing your superior and mentor is on your side if something does not turn out perfectly is essential.

Table 1: Alamo Feline Health Center mentoring program

Regarding the "hands-on" part of being a vet (surgery, dental, more advanced procedures), Norsworthy told me to master spays and deals first. I started training with his associate Lisa Durso, DMV, DABVP (Canine/Feline), in dental work. She would teach me something, and I would perform it on a cadaver. I asked her, "How long do you think it will take me to become good at dentals like you are?" She told me a year or more. She was right, but I am there now.

Imaging is a significant part of AFHC diagnostics. Norsworthy spent many hours equipping me to utilize radiographs, dental radiographs, ultrasound, and CTs (or "real CAT scans," as he calls them).

Here I am 18 months later, doing Grade 4 dentals, placing esophagostomy tubes, and performing spays/neuters and cystotomies, among many other things. I would have never gotten to this point without the guidance of Norsworthy and Dr. Durso. This demonstrates how powerful mentorship can be.

The word "mentorship" means different things to different people, but mentorship is synonymous with friendship. I genuinely believe he is my friend and is doing for me what any person would do for a friend. My original two-year contract has turned into a three-year contract.

When you are looking for your first job, every veterinarian you interview will tell you that you will be mentored. However, there are different definitions of "mentoring." Ask specifically what "mentoring" means and how it will be structured. Norsworthy told me many times that one's first job will play a significant role in the direction of one's career. It did for him, it has done so for me, and it will do so for you if you get proper mentoring.

Amanda Whitman, DVM, is a 2023 graduate of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University. Since graduation, Dr. Whitman has been an associate veterinarian at Alamo Feline Health Center, San Antonio, Tex.