Y2S1 Week 14: SAVMA Planning, SVVMA Panel, and Christmas Craft Fair!
Week 14 is now in the books, and we are down to the final week of our reproduction block! Since Monday was a holiday, I used the day to catch up on things that I had neglected over the weekend while at the Covelo clinic. I also had the opportunity to see Dr. Natalie Weston, an amazing chiropractor who is helping make sure my body is ready for the next training block and upcoming races! It was great to have the day off to get things done and spend some time with Churro!
Tuesday started with a nice run with Churro followed by a few lectures on fertilization, placental anatomy, and the physiological basis for female fertility. We then began to explore equine cyclicity and early pregnancy before jumping into a vaginal cytology and histology lab. These lectures and labs were complementary and working through things as a group during the lab helped make the information more digestible. Reproduction can be a tough topic that does not always feel the most relevant since a lot of my future career will involve removing reproductive organs. However, it is important to understand and appreciate this topic because you never know what type of reproductive disaster is going to walk through the clinic doors! The rest of Tuesday afternoon was spent reviewing previous lectures and preparing for the upcoming exam.
Wednesday began with a hot yoga session followed by some lectures on equine and bovine reproductive physiology and fertility. It was interesting to learn about the major differences between these species and understand how their breeding cycles differ. Reproduction is a huge part of large animal medicine and is something that can be quite costly when things go awry. That afternoon we had a comparative anatomy lab that helped illustrate the major differences between the reproductive anatomy of the bovine, equine, and canine species. We had the opportunity to see the canine, bovine, and equine placenta and understand why each of those species has a different type of placenta (zonary, cotyledonary, diffuse). This was a great way to bring the earlier lectures to life.
After lab I got to take Churro for a quick walk before heading back to campus for a SAVMA Symposium meeting. This month, Dr. Rowe was in town for her annual school visit, so we got to have the meeting in-person. It was awesome to touch base and see where everyone was at in the planning process. We are now about four months away from the event and things are starting to come together nicely! After our meeting, I hosted a study session for some of the Cal Poly students in the Systemic Anatomy and Physiology class. I love teaching, and this was one of my favorite courses at Cal Poly, so it is always a blast to be involved and run through the material with students.
Thursday morning started off with a nice run with Churro followed by a pathology lecture. This lecture was focused on different issues that affect the female reproductive cycle. We then transitioned into a case-based discussion where we were presented with two cases, one equine and one bovine. Each of these cases had animals with reproductive issues and as a group, we were instructed to do some research and create a presentation that addressed each case. This was a nice way to tie together information from earlier in the week and understand its clinical relevance.
Thursday evening the Sacramento Valley Veterinary Association hosted a dinner panel and invited UC Davis students to attend and ask questions. The panel was fairly diverse and consisted of multiple ER doctors, one specialist, and a few business owners. It was interesting to hear their different perspectives and experiences. One point that I was not expecting to hear was from an Australian veterinarian who had moved to the US to open up his own practice after working in the UK for the first portion of his career. He blatantly told us that as a country, the general practitioners in the United States are about 10 years behind those in the UK. From his perspective, specialization and the ability to refer anything that is slightly outside of the practitioner's comfort zone has created a huge gap in veterinary medicine. While I personally cannot attest to the difference in general practitioners in the US and UK, I thought about what he had said and believe that there is some validity behind his statement.
I have been fortunate to have gotten most of my veterinary experience in a practice where referral was never the first line of defense. The practice owner understands the population that she is serving and always does everything that she can to give her patients the highest level of care without having to send them to another hospital. A few years ago she even saw a calf (reminder that this is a small animal clinic) that had been attacked by a pack of wild dogs. A ranch-hand had brought it to the clinic parking lot and although she hadn't worked on a cow since vet school she was willing to give it a shot. The calf ended up making a full recovery thanks to her ability to step out of her comfort zone and try something new. At that same clinic we also have a phenomenal (not boarded) surgeon who will do amazing surgeries that many veterinarians quickly pass off to a specialist. The clients in our area would not be able to afford these procedures if they were done in a specialty hospital and this is often their only option besides euthanasia. Before coming to UC Davis I had thought that this was the norm, veterinarians finding creative ways to make things work and provide care to as many patients as possible, even if it means stepping outside of their comfort zone and doing something new.
After being in an academic setting and being taught by brilliant humans that have dedicated their lives to one area of focus, it is apparent that veterinary medicine has shifted from the traditional James Harriet style of practice to an era of hyper-specialization. This is by no means bad, the advancements in modern medicine and the knowledge of specialists plays a massive role in patient care and the ability to improve the lives of animals. It is just important to realize that the more focused we become in one particular area, the other aspects of our veterinary knowledge tend to suffer and we become limited with what we can do and who we can help.
Many general practitioners have the ability to do procedures that specialist do but since they know that there is someone who knows more than them, or is more experienced, they feel as though they should refer the case. Instead of quickly referring a case, there should be communication between the veterinarian and owner to discuss their skill set and confidence so that they can come to a conclusion together on whether or not a referral is necessary. Many owners are unable to afford a specialist who will charge $10,000 for a foreign body surgery but would be able to afford a $5,000 surgery done by a general practitioner and likely achieve the same results. Through honest communication on skill set, general practitioners can begin to bridge the gap for those that cannot afford a specialist. This will help bring high quality medicine to the general public and save many animals that might have been euthanized due to the high cost of specialty care.
Just to be clear, I am by no means saying that specializing is bad. I think that if there is something that a veterinarians loves, they should 100% pursue it! I am also not saying that general practitioners should take on complex cases or surgeries that are above their confidence level without help. What I am saying is that as veterinarians (and vet students) we need to be accountable for our own knowledge and step outside our comfort zone so that we can learn how to be versatile and adaptable in our field. We need to learn how to comfortably read radiographs instead of automatically sending them out for AI readings as well as learn how to do a general abdominal ultrasound to see if there are any screaming abnormalities. This will allow us to bring high quality care to those who may not be able to afford "ivory tower" treatment. Fine tuning these skills and learning how to trust our education will allow us to work together as a team for the common goal of improving the lives of animals and the people that love them.
Friday started with a hot yoga session followed by a quick swim. We then had a lecture on infertility followed by one on the principles of obstetrics. These were both interesting topics that were clinically relevant. During lunch I had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about pancreatitis from Dr. Katie Wolf an Idexx representative. It was interesting to walk through some clinical cases and understand how pancreatitis may present in dogs and cats. The rest of the afternoon consisted of some quality time with Churro followed by some studying.
Saturday morning started off with a quick run with Churro followed by Steve’s inferno hot Pilates class. This class is always a great way to get the muscles burning and start the day. After a quick shower, Morgan, Katelyn and I headed to Woodland to check out the local holiday craft fair. It was fun to see all of the different booths and support some of the local small businesses! I then spent some time reviewing for the upcoming exam before spending the rest of the day with Madeline. Sunday started off with a nice 8 miler with Churro followed by some quality study time and prepping for the upcoming week!
Quote of the week: "Those of you who have pumped iron know these..." -Dr. Conley as he proceeds to talk about steroids
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