Welcome to “Eddie” Our New Surgery Intern

We’d like to welcome Odyssefs ‘Eddie’ Patouchas, who has just joined us at Eastcott having completing a rotating internship at our sister hospital North Downs Specialist Referrals (NDSR) in Bletchingley, Surrey.   

Eddie said he learned a huge amount while advancing his skills at NDSR and is already enjoying life at Eastcott, as he continues to add to his veterinary expertise.  

Eddie, who graduated from the University of Bari, Italy, said: “Following my rotating internship at NDSR, I now have the opportunity to focus exclusively on surgery, which is my main interest.  

“I know this is a wonderful opportunity for me as surgical internships such as this are very competitive and very demanding.  

“The idea is to acquire as much knowledge as possible in order to be able to offer the very best care to pets.  

“I will continue to work hard and help in any way I can, so the service can run as smoothly as possible and offer the very best care.  

“My immediate aim is to become a great surgical intern and, in the process, become a great candidate for a residency programme next.  

 “That’s not being short-sighted. A lot of people often forget how important it is to set goals and stay focused on ‘one step at the time’.  

“Ultimately, my aim is to become the best vet I can be, so I can reliably and consistently offer the best possible care to my patients.”  

He added: “I joined the rotating internship of NDSR in January 2023 after I found out about the opportunity on their website while filling in a referral form for one of my patients.  

“My main role at NDSR was to assist the clinicians with the cases seen, occasionally perform sedations and general anaesthetics to help with the imaging service and assisting the surgeons in theatre.  

“Even though I am mainly interested in surgery, I truly enjoyed all my rotations. It was great to spend time with all the specialists, especially to see how they work up the different cases to try and reach a definitive diagnosis and discuss the various steps or anything that might be unclear with them.  

“During the rotating internship there was always a lot of support about the next steps forward which could either involve going back to general practice or continuing with a discipline-specific internship.  

“Being an intern has been a very positive experience with plenty of opportunities to learn and grow as a vet.”