Establishing an Exotic Animal Teaching Unit for Veterinary Students
N.B. The information below is authored by the mini-project applicants, not by staff of the subject centre. This text represents the views and opinions of the mini-project team only, not those of the subject centre or its affiliates.
Principal investigator
Gidona Goodman DVM MSc MRCVS , Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
Full list of project partners
Anna Meredith MA VetMB CertLAS DZooMed MRCVS
Topic
Education in practice/wblBackground
The scope of species that a veterinary surgeon has to deal with in practice has changed over the last decade with a reduction in farm animals and an increase in pets such as small mammals (the rabbit now being the third most popular pet), birds and reptiles.
In a Zoological medicine themed addition of the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education (JVME 2006 33, 3 382- 385) Karen Rosenthal states that in a recent JAVMA classified section almost 30% of small animal practices in suburban/urban areas were hiring veterinarians with knowledge of exotic pets.
In another issue of the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education (JVME 2007 34, 5) dedicated to the theme of ‘Animal handling as A critical component of Veterinary Education’, Paul McGreevy states that outstanding animal handling skill always impresses clients and is also fundamental in explaining the principles of animal behaviour and welfare, providing unique team building opportunities and introducing the notion of duty of care.
To equip students with skills in handling and understanding these animals we are establishing a purpose built exotic animal housing and teaching facility. This will complement the exotic animal clinical facility at which final year students attend clinical rotation http://www.dickvetexotics.com/.
Currently there is no such facility available in a UK Veterinary School and there is no quality control on the limited number of facilities (e.g. pet shops, rescue centres) where students find such work experience (EMS extra-mural studies).
The exotic pet husbandry and medicine course at the R(D)SVS threads throughout the curriculum alongside dogs, cats, horse and farm animals.
The teaching facility will be predominantly used for students in the second year course (Animal health and welfare) and final year course (Clinical rotation) in addition to being available to students from other vet schools, medical schools and laboratory technicians.
1. Animal Health and Welfare
o The clinical staff will demonstrate and supervise the handling of these animals in small groups.
o Students from all Veterinary Colleges within the UK will be able to obtain animal husbandry EMS placement within the animal unit and gain additional experience in animal husbandry by assisting the animal technician in day-to day care. The number of such EMS placement with supervision by trained staff is very limited within the UK.
o Students will be able to compare and contrast housing systems for reptiles and diets for small mammals and utilise this information for the animal husbandry EMS reports.
o Teaching DVD’s will be created to reinforce taught material that can be accessed online.
2. Clinical rotation
o Final year students will have the opportunity to physically examine all species of pets to complement the animals seen in the exotic clinic as the variety of species seen in the clinic varies weekly.
o Final year students will be responsible for the veterinary care of these animals under the supervision of clinical staff.
o These animals will be used for student OSPRE to assess day one competency.
To establish the above, funding has been secured from the University of Edinburgh for the building, running costs and staffing costs for such a facility.
We hope with additional MEDEV miniproject support to create a series of DVD’s demonstrating correct handling and clinical examination techniques using the animals within the unit, which will be disseminated amongst the various vet schools.
At end of the 2009-2010 term we would produce a report published through MEDEV on recommendation for establishing such a unit for other colleges.
Proposed activities
The exotic animal husbandry curriculum has expanded and been revised and from session 2009-10 lectures will cover reptiles, ferrets, small mammals, rabbits, parrots and other bird species.
Two veterinary residents (qualified veterinarians specialising in exotic animal medicine) have joined a team of 3 lecturers. As part of their residency program they will partake in student teaching in general and in the animal husbandry course from autumn 2009 onwards under lecturer supervision.
Comparing student feedback prior to the establishing the unit to student feedback in academic year 2009/2010. Information gained will be fed back into the report.
Previous visits to exotics departments at vet schools in various European countries.
Professional video production company within the University of Edinburgh http://www.cam.ed.ac.uk/video-production/filming.html
Proposed outcomes
1) Students will be better equipped to deal with the variety of species seen in veterinary practice reflecting the changing needs of the profession and as recommended by the ‘core competency’ guidelines from the RVCS.
C.1 Obtain an accurate and relevant history of the individual animal or animal group, and its/their environment
C.2 Handle and restrain animals safely and humanely, and instruct others in performing these techniques
2) Students will be able to gain this experience within a facility demonstrating best practices while supervised by qualified staff.
3) Improving the quality of teaching experience offered should in the long-term improve the health and welfare of these ever increasing popular pets.
4) Students from other veterinary schools within the UK who do not have a designated exotic animal service or exotic animal curriculum can benefit from this facility through EMS placement and educational videos created within the unit.
4) Creation of recommendations or guide-lines on establishing an exotic animal teaching unit based on our experience over the year. This would include recommendation on number (per number of students) and range of species, frequency of handling animals and ways of increasing student involvement. This report would be published through our final report to MEDEV.
Expertise of grant holder and project team
Similar work
We are not aware of the existence of any quality resources of a similar nature
Contact details
Grant holder: gidona.goodman@ed.ac.uk,
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
Amount awarded: 1400