Y2S2 Week 11: Hot Yoga with my Parents, Population Health, and Healer's Art.
This week started off a little differently than most. My family was still in town from the Symposium, so I had the opportunity to show them how great hot yoga is, and brought them along for the morning class. They absolutely killed it and when I asked for feedback after the class, it was not negative. We then went out and grabbed breakfast before they made their way to the airport, and I went to class.
This week was the start of our population health block which is a speedy 3-week session that focuses on the role of veterinary professionals in the health of animals, humans, and the environment. I think that it is sometimes easy to forget the big picture and understand how important veterinarians are in keeping infectious diseases at bay. The morning lectures were focused on animal welfare, the intersection of food safety and animal health, and how to approach an outbreak. That afternoon we then transitioned into a small animal outbreak case-based learning session. This was a perfect way to immediately apply the lecture material and work through a low-stakes situation. The rest of the afternoon included a nice walk with Churro and catching up on some things from this weekend.
Tuesday morning started off with a nice run with Churro followed by a lecture on extra-label drug use, food-borne disease control, and antibiotic resistance surveillance. These lectures covered the policies and health implications that can arise when there is inadequate supervision or knowledge on a production scale. The rest of the afternoon included a small animal population health case study and an outbreak project. In the case study, we were presented with four different dogs that all had somewhat similar symptoms but had never been in contact with each other. We were given some background information and then were required to work through the cases, create a list of differential diagnoses, identify the source of the disease and make recommendations going forward. The outbreak project had a similar theme, we discussed a parvovirus outbreak in a shelter setting and then brainstormed some ideas and protocols that could be implemented to decrease the spread of disease. We then used the UC Davis parvovirus simulator to practice our skills and try to decrease the severity of disease. This simulator is the first parvovirus outbreak simulator, and it generates different shelter situations where the user had the opportunity to test the dogs and then based on their test results, they can be quarantined, adopted, rescued, or euthanized. This was a great way to think through situations without actually having any animal’s life on the line.
Tuesday night concluded with another Healer’s Art session. This week was the final small-group session and was focused on “The Care of the Soul: Service as a Way of Life”. After we did our individual group sessions, we met together as a large group and worked on writing our own veterinary oath. Before officially starting vet school, we all went through a white coat ceremony where we said the veterinary oath which encompasses a lot of critical things but is still broad. The goal of this exercise was to personalize the oath and include your “why” for becoming a veterinarian. We then had the opportunity to share our oaths and at the end we took one line from everyone’s oath to create a personalized group oath. It was interesting to hear everyone’s oath and realize that while we are all different, at the end of the day we all have similar reasons for pursuing this career.
Wednesday started off with a quick run with Churro followed by a hot yoga session! We then had another case-based learning session focused on antimicrobial resistance followed by a lecture on the food chain and farm-based contamination. The afternoon included a lecture on communication and leadership in veterinary public practice followed by a communication lab. This lab gave us the opportunity to apply the lecture material and at the end of the session, each group was required to present a 60 second public health service announcement to their choice of audience. My group decided that our target audience was going to be the national shrimp convention attendees, so we presented information on White Spot Syndrome Virus in shrimp. This is a detrimental disease that significantly impacts shrimp farmers and can completely wipe out shrimp farms but is not zoonotic. The rest of the afternoon included a walk with Churro followed by some lecture review.
Thursday started off with a nice run with Churro followed by a large animal case-based learning activity. We were given information about a few horses that had contracted an illness and were required to walk through the same outbreak procedures that we had done in the small animal case discussion. The rest of the day was spent discussing biosecurity and our role as veterinary professionals in herd management. The rest of the afternoon was spent running some errands and hanging out with Churro.
Friday began with a run with Churro followed by Steve’s Inferno Hot Pilates class. Since we had the day off from classes I was able to finalize my SAVMA Symposium Fundraising Chair report and tie up my role with the event. I then used the rest of the day to get some things done around the house and study for the upcoming exam. That afternoon I took Churro for a nice walk and then hopped on my bike for a quick ride. It had been a few months since I have been on my bike, so it was nice to go for a whirl around Davis and enjoy the sunshine!
Saturday started off with an 8 miler with Churro followed by a hot yoga class. I then stopped by the local farmer’s market for some fresh veggies before heading home to study. Sunday started off with a quick run with Churro followed by church. I then spent the rest of the day hanging out with Churro and prepping for the upcoming week! This was my first weekend in a while where I have not had anything scheduled and it was super nice to be able to catch up on things and spend quality time with Churro!
Quote of the week: “I do a physical exam on all of my patients, I just don’t have to get a TPR” -Dr. Kevin Keel (pathologist)