Communication in production animal medicine: modelling a complex interaction with the example of dairy herd health medicine

Background

The importance of communication skills in veterinary medicine is increasingly recognised. Appropriate communication skills towards the client are of utmost importance in both companion animal practice and production animal field and consultancy work. The need for building a relationship with the client, alongside developing a structure for the consultation is widely recognised and applies to both types of veterinary practice.

Results

Veterinary advisory practice in production animal medicine is, however, characterised by a more complex communication on different levels. While the person-orientated communication is a permanent process between veterinarian and client with a rather personal perspective and defines the roles of interaction, the problem-orientated communication deals with emerging difficulties; the objective is to solve an acute health problem. The solution - orientated communication is a form of communication in which both veterinarian and client address longstanding situations or problems with the objective to improve herd health and subsequently productivity performance. All three forms of communication overlap.

Conclusions

Based on this model, it appears useful for a veterinary practice to offer both a curative and an advisory service, but to keep these two separated when deemed appropriate. In veterinary education, the strategies and techniques necessary for solution orientated communication should be included in the teaching of communication skills.     

Animal health in organic agriculture: new guidelines and perspectives for food animal practitioners

In the last decade, the organic agriculture in Switzerland has been substantially increased due to the interest of consumer and financial incentives of the federation. Ruminants take directly or indirectly the largest part from grassland used within the organic managed surfaces. As the contacts between veterinary practice and organic agriculture has increased, the potential for veterinary activity in this area has developed considerably. The organic agriculture guidelines stipulate that all the preventive measures should be taken in feeding, keeping and breeding to insure animal health safety. This requires veterinary services for herd management. The organic status of a farm affects veterinary practice also in the form of alternative therapy/drugs administration and measures like dehorning and tail-docking. An important point in organic managed herds requests that treatment of animals should depend on alternative medical preparations or procedures based on veterinarian's experience and also on the therapeutic effect on the animal species concerned as well as on the disease. However, there are no restrictions on the veterinarian to use registered drugs as long as no alternative therapy, according to experience and possible success, is available to treat the animals. The prophylactic administration of allopathic veterinary drugs is not permissible. Further features in organic farms regarding the use of drugs are the keeping of withholding/withdrawal time, the documentation and the treatment frequency tolerated by organic marketing. Despite the above measures, the animal health has a priority regardless of its organic status. Although management of organic farms represent a unique responsibility, there are still obvious deficits in the education of veterinary practitioners for this new situation. However, in the future the extension of veterinary activity to include the alternative medical therapy should be regarded for the practitioner as a challenge and an opportunity at the same time.     

Veterinarians teaching at schools of agriculture in Germany (up to 1950)--their contribution to animal nutrition

During the 19th century in Germany mainly veterinarians working at agricultural schools or appointed to veterinary schools from there (for example HAUBNER, ROLOFF, DAMMANN, ALBRECHT, KRONACHER) made considerable contributions to the development of animal nutrition. They disseminated knowledge of feedstuffs and feeding techniques to the interested public at large by books concerning animal husbandry and especially "Gesundheitspflege" (health regimen; Tab. 1). Their experimental work (Tab. 2) extended from digestibility of feedstuffs, Ca-, P- and rumen metabolism (NPN), respectively, to feed intoxications. The interest in preventive measures being stronger at school of agriculture than at veterinary schools probably stimulated this development.     

Veterinary drug legal situation for oral medication in animal facilities in Germany

Oral medication of animal stocks can be administered via oral ready-to-use veterinary medicinal products or by using medicated feedingstuffs. The regulations contained in the German Drug Act (Arzneimittelgesetz - AMG) and the ordinances derived from the AMG are applicable to both types of medicinal product. The legal requirements relating to the manufacture, authorisation, marketing, dispensing and proper use of these medicinal products in respect of oral medication are dealt with in detail. Pursuant to Section 13 AMG, companies that manufacture medicated feedingstuffs require a manufacturing licence. To take into account the special features of these medicinal products, specific stipulations have been laid down regarding the manufacture and dispensing of medicated feedingstuffs by these companies. The use of medicated feedingstuffs is for various reasons in steep decline, while oral ready-to-use medicinal products are, according to reports on practice in the relevant sector, increasingly being used to treat animal stocks as well. When dispensing veterinary medicinal products, the veterinarian must comply with the state of the art and make sure that the animal keeper is able to use the drugs properly. In order to react to doubts regarding compliance with these legal requirements, recommendations for use of oral medication should be developed which provide veterinarians with an aid to assist them in deciding which type of drugs are most suited for the respective case, and what is to be complied with in their use. The recommendations for use are intended to facilitate the correct application of oral medication in respect of both types of veterinary medicinal product.     

Balanced anesthetic techniques in dogs and cats

The term "balanced anesthesia" refers to the use of a mixture of drugs, such that the advantages of small amounts of drugs are used without having to contend with the disadvantages of large doses of any one drug. In veterinary practice, inhalant drugs are usually administered alone to maintain anesthesia, and balanced anesthetic techniques are rare. Unfortunately, cardiopulmonary function is reduced in dose-dependent fashion by inhalant drugs and deepening the level of anesthesia in order to modify autonomic responses to noxious stimuli may increase morbidity and mortality. This article justifies the use of balanced anesthetic techniques in veterinary practice and describes the advantages gained by the use of nitrous oxide, continuous opioid infusion, epidural/spinal opioid administration, and transdermal opioid administration. These techniques, described in detail in the article, are easy to learn, relatively inexpensive, may decrease patient morbidity and mortality, and will provide the veterinarian with smoother operating conditions.     

Pre-purchase testing for drugs in horses: A review

The use of medications to mask defects of wind, limb or temperament in horses offered for sale can be a problem for purchasers, and for veterinarians performing pre-purchase examinations. Drugs which may be used in this way include the phenylbutazone-like drugs, cotricosteroids, local anaesthetics, and tranquilizers. If skillfully used, no signssuggestive of medication by these agents will be detectable by the examining veterinarian. In the absence of information on the medications status of an animal, the usefulness of a pre-purchase examination may be limited.These limitations can be circumvented by the analysis of blood or more expecially blood and urine samples from such horses. Current analytical methodology allows the detection of many medications in blood, and of virtually all significant medications if blood and urine samples are available. Such analysis, therefore, allows the veterinary practitioner to offer a significantly better pre-purchase test, and protects both the veterinarian and the purchaser.     

液相色谱-串联质谱法在兽药残留检测中的应用

 随着兽药和药物添加剂在畜禽饲养过程中长期不合理的使用,残留在动物体内的兽药及其添加剂随着食物链进入人体,对人类的健康构成潜在威胁。加强对兽药残留的检测,对保护生态环境和人类的身体健康有着极其重要的现实意义。近年来,液相色谱—串联质谱技术以其良好的适用性、定性定量功能及高灵敏度等优点,在兽药残留的检测方面已得到了广泛应用。论文概述了液相色谱—串联质谱技术在饲料、畜产品和尿液中兽药残留以及违禁药物和有害添加剂检测的应用现状。     

Veterinarians as experts in court

General veterinarians such as veterinary officers act as experts at court. They are in so far part of the evidence. Due to his experience the veterinary expert shall give systematical uniform principles concerning even domains adjacent to the field of animal protection such as protection of animal epidemics and food cases, verifiable by science and university research. Examples for expert's topics as well as the requirements of expert reports are shown. According to paragraph 15 II Tierschutzgesetz (Animal Protection Act), as well as according to paragraph paragraph 63, 76 Ordnungswidrigkeitengesetz the experts participation in the proceeding is necessary. In consideration of paragraph paragraph 74, 22 Strafprozessordnung (Code of Criminal Proceedure) conflicts may arise because the veterinarian officer is self-contained investigator, witness as well as expert in the same proceeding. In general the veterinarian officer, who has been involved in the investigations must be excluded from expert activity in the same case. The veterinarian officers have to solve this problem by seperating tasks and functions within one legal case.     

Guidelines for zoo and aquarium veterinary medical programs and veterinary hospitals

These guidelines for veterinary medical care and veterinary hospitals are written to conform with the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act, which states that programs of disease prevention and parasite control, euthanasia, and adequate veterinary care shall be established and maintained under the supervision of a veterinarian. Ideally the zoo and aquarium should be providing the best possible veterinary medical care for the animals in their collections. Many of these animals are rare and endangered and the institutions should endeavor both to provide for the long term health and well being of these animals and to advance the field of non-domestic animal medicine. It is hoped that this publication will aid in this process.     

Limitations to veterinary applications of new technologies in treatment and diagnostics.

Technology promises to improve the lifestyle and life quality of humankind. As a rule, wherever human medicine goes, veterinary medicine is sure to follow. Nevertheless, the promise of technologic advances does not shine as bright for veterinarians as for human physicians. This trend is echoed in the business of animal health as pharmaceutic company after pharmaceutic company spins off or otherwise eliminates their animal health division. Instead, a small group of strictly animal health-oriented companies compete for the animal health dollar, promising that fewer and fewer expensive technologies are likely to be incorporated into the standard of veterinary practice. All is not lost, however, because as progress is made in the field of human biotechnology, the cost of the technology should eventually come down, permitting at least some of the advances in human medicine to become available to the veterinarian.     

Drug residues in food animals

A total of 292 field investigative reports of drug residues in food animals for 1983 to 1988 were analyzed. The investigations had been conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Virginia State Veterinarian's Office, in cooperation with the Center for Veterinary Medicine of the FDA, to trace residues reported by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service to the source of the animal and the administration of the drug. The analysis disclosed the following. (1) Antibiotic residues were most often associated with streptomycin, penicillin, oxytetracycline, and neomycin. Sulfamethazine was, by far, the most frequently cited sulfonamide. (2) Residues are being found predominantly in cows, veal calves, and market hogs (barrows and gilts). (3) The cause of drug residue most frequently cited by the field investigators was failure to observe the withholding time for the drug. Almost half of these investigations revealed that the individual responsible for the sale of the animal did not know the proper withholding time for the drug. Failure to maintain adequate records was also a contributing factor. (4) The producer was considered to be the responsible party in over 80% of the cases for which responsibility was determined. (5) Residues associated with injectable drugs were investigated most frequently. Long-acting and sustained-release products were most often associated with penicillin and oxytetracycline residues. (6) The 2 most common sources of purchase for the drugs involved in the investigations were the feed/farm supply store and the veterinarian. (7) Unapproved drug use was not a major cause of residues.     

Description and evaluation of the influence of veterinary presence on the use of antibiotics and sulfonamides in dairy herds.

A longitudinal study was conducted over 2 years to identify types of antibiotics and sulfonamides used in Michigan dairy herds for disease prevention and treatment, to determine patterns of use of antibiotics and sulfonamides by herd size and animal age group, and to determine the influence of veterinary presence during diagnosis on the types of antimicrobials used for disease treatments. In order of frequency, the most commonly used preventive antibiotic and sulfonamides were penicillins, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides, and cephalosporins, making up over 86% of all antimicrobials used for disease prevention. The most commonly used therapeutic antibiotics and sulfonamides were penicillins, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides, and sulfonamides, making up over 81% of all antimicrobial drugs used for disease treatment. Cows received the greatest number of drugs, followed by calves (cattle from birth to weaning). Young stock (cattle from weaning to first calving) received the lowest number of drugs. All herds had similar patterns of drug use for the 3 age groups, regardless of herd size. With the exception of polymyxin and chloramphenicol, producers used antibiotics on their own more than with a veterinarian present or on the advice of a veterinarian. Overall, veterinary presence was significantly associated with increased use of tetracyclines, sulfonamides, and nitrofurans, and decreased use of penicillins and aminoglycosides. Implications for drug residue prevention strategies are discussed, with emphasis on the role of the practicing veterinarian.     

Where are the food animal veterinarian shortage areas anyway?

In 2010 the United States implemented the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) to address perceived regional shortages in certain veterinary occupations, including food animal practice. With county as the unit of analysis, this paper describes a pair of models to evaluate factors associated with being designated a private practice shortage area in 2010. One model is used to explain food animal veterinarian location choices so as to provide an objective evaluation of comparative shortage. The other model seeks to explain the counties chosen as shortage areas. Model results are then used to evaluate the program. On the whole the program appears to perform quite well. For several states, however, VMLRP shortage designations are inconsistent with the food animal veterinarian location model. Comparative shortage is generally more severe in states that have no VMLRP designated private practice shortage counties than in states that do.     

Armourer and mad cow disease: images of veterinarians in music

This contribution is not about animals in music; it rather attempts to describe how veterinary medicine as a discipline and veterinarians as representatives of the profession are perceived of and portrayed in music. Aside from Gioacchino Rossini's "Barber of Seville", in which Count Almaviva impersonates a veterinarian of the day, the most sympathetic veterinarian character ever created by a lyricist or composer in surely Hans Stadinger, the "armourer" and vet in Albert Lortzings opera. In other musical genres such as artsongs and folksongs, the only such figure worthy of musical interpretation seems to have been those masters of the fiery forge who were also wise in the veterinary healing arts. In the past 20 years vets and veterinary medicine have been included in new musical trends: There are musicals and radio plays in which even the youngest members of the audience are exposed to the veterinarian profession. A number of pop groups are also to be mentioned here. For example, animal welfare has been thematized by punk rockers, and a pop group for Hamburg has put a medieval horse blessing to music. Last but not least, a number of vets in Berlin turn their everyday troubles and worries into musical parodies.     

AVMA guide for veterinary medical waste management

Lawmakers have enacted a variety of laws and regulations to ensure proper disposal of certain potentially infectious or otherwise objectionable waste. The veterinary medical profession supports scientifically based regulations that benefit public health. In 1988, Congress passed the Medical Waste Tracking Act, a federal program that mandates tracking certain regulated waste. Several types of waste generated in the typical clinical veterinary medical practice are considered regulated veterinary medical waste. Discarded needles, syringes, and other sharps; vaccines and vials that contained certain live or attenuated vaccines; cultures and stocks of infectious agents and culture plates; research animals that were exposed to agents that are infectious to human beings and their associated waste; and other animal waste that is known to be potentially harmful to human beings should be handled as regulated veterinary medical waste. Regulated veterinary medical waste should be handled with care. It should be decontaminated prior to disposal. The most popular, effective methods of decontamination are steam sterilization (autoclaving) and incineration. Chemical decontamination is appropriate for certain liquid waste. Waste should be packaged so that it does not spill. Sharps require rigid puncture- and leak-resistant containers that can be permanently sealed. Regulated veterinary medical waste that has not been decontaminated should be labeled with the universal biohazard symbol. Generators retain liability for waste throughout the entire disposal process. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that waste transporters and disposal facilities comply with state and federal requirements. Veterinary practices should maintain a written waste management program and accurate records of regulated veterinary medical waste disposal. Contingency planning and staff training are other important elements of a veterinary medical waste management program. The guide includes a model veterinary medical waste management program; however, it does not address all the variations in state and local regulations. Veterinarians should obtain copies of state and local laws and regulations and modify AVMA's model plan to create an individualized practice plan that complies with federal, state, and local laws and regulations. State and local veterinary medical organizations should monitor state and local regulation to influence decisions that affect veterinarians and to keep their members informed of changing requirements. Veterinarians and veterinary medical organizations must stay involved so that regulations do not unfairly burden the veterinary medical profession.     

Meat inspection education in Finnish veterinary curriculum

This article describes the Finnish meat-inspection curriculum and presents an expert-panel evaluation of meat-inspection education. The work tasks of the meat-inspection veterinarian are challenging and include classical meat inspection, meat hygiene, hygiene control, and animal disease and welfare. The meat-inspection veterinarian is not only an inspector, which by itself is very demanding, but also an expert or "consultant" on food safety. The significant role of the meat-inspection veterinarian in society puts high demands on meat-inspection education, which should provide veterinary students with sufficient tools to perform meat inspection and hygiene control in slaughterhouses, cutting premises, and further processing plants. To be of high quality, such education must be evaluated from time to time. An expert panel evaluated Finnish undergraduate meat-inspection education and found that it provides veterinary students with good knowledge of meat inspection. The structure of the curriculum, with theoretical studies followed by four weeks of practice in a slaughterhouse, was considered vital for learning and for creating interest in meat inspection. The evaluation also revealed that certain subjects should receive greater emphasis and some new subjects should be introduced. Hygiene-control tasks, in particular, have increased and should receive more emphasis in education. Personnel management and interaction skills should be introduced into the curriculum as these skills influence all the duties of the meat-inspection veterinarian. This article outlines the subjects to be included in the modern, high-quality meat-inspection curriculum recommended by the expert panel.     

Survey of western Canadian veterinary practices: A demographic profile

A mixed-mode survey was used to describe the demographics of the veterinary profession in western Canada and to assess the demand for veterinary practitioners. Data were received from 655 practices (response rate = 52%), providing demographic data on 1636 individual practitioners. Most (60%) respondents self-classified their practices as exclusively small animal, while 25% and 4% were mixed animal or exclusively food animal practices, respectively. Across all practices, 77% of practitioners’ time was devoted to small animals and the average mixed animal practice devoted 60% of practitioners’ time to small animals. After accounting for practices that did not respond, there were ~300 full-time equivalent (FTE) vacant positions for veterinary associates; however, only 12% of practices were in urgent need of hiring an associate veterinarian. This report informs both prospective employees and employers on the state of the marketplace for veterinary associates, and provides an overview of the demographics of the veterinary profession in western Canada.     

我国兽药产品网络销售现状及管理对策

随着电商营销的发展,兽药销售的网络平台陆续涌现,如何建立兽药网络销售准入标准、审批程序及监管措施已成为监管部门和相关企业亟需解决的课题.本文梳理了我国兽药产品网络销售现状,借鉴人用药品网络销售管理经验,建议在国家出台《中华人民共和国电子商务法》的基础上,结合《兽药管理条例》修订,完善我国兽药网络销售相关配套法规,明确第...     

Drug and chemical residues in livestock

The problem of drug and chemical residues in foods of animal origin has become increasingly important to the entire livestock industry as growing consumer health concerns continue to erode the demand for these products. Although nearly 90 per cent of all drugs approved for use in livestock are available for over-the-counter sales, in the public's view, it is only the veterinarian who administers drugs to animals and who, therefore, is responsible for all drug residues in food. Congress has responded to these consumer concerns by applying increased pressure on the FDA to restrict the extra-label use of drugs by veterinarians. The veterinary profession now finds itself in a position in which it must reexamine its current drug-use policies and strive to develop policies that are more responsible to the consumer, both in appearance and substance.