Continuing a debilitating mass exodus of faculty and staff that has now reached more than 70 individuals in just the past few years, the entire small animal surgical team recently quit, including the Department Head and entire nursing team. This follows a stream of departures that has included multiple Department Heads, Teaching Hospital administrators, supervisors, credentialed nurses, veterinarians and staff.
While no member of the departing team would speak on the record to CVM Independent, multiple individuals with direct knowledge of the situation say the reasons for their departure include a retaliatory and discriminatory work culture, antiquated medical practices, and lack of belief that circumstances will improve anytime soon.
The group has decided to open an independent specialty surgical service just miles from the College, and local veterinarians in the Stillwater community are thrilled.
"I had good experiences with that surgery team, I just didn't use them because that [Teaching] hospital is not very good," a local veterinarian told CVM Independent. This person said the impact on the local Stillwater veterinary community will be "huge" because "finally we have a good place to send patients that isn't an hour away," noting that most veterinarians in Stillwater hesitate to refer complicated cases to the Teaching Hospital due to issues they describe as poor medical standards and "horrible relations with" the referring veterinarians.
Word has already spread throughout the local veterinary community that a new surgical center is opening, and one local veterinarian said they hope the team will not stop at surgery: "God it would be nice to have specialists in town again. Surgery, [Internal] Medicine, a 24 hour ER. Everything we used to have at the University before they blew it up."