The winding path to a PhD in veterinary education

Masters and PhD degrees specific to veterinary education are relatively novel, but the number of students in this area is growing. As two current students, Tierney Kinnison and Sylvain Dernat, explain, those undertaking these degrees have vastly different backgrounds and are researching a variety of topics. By sharing the experiences of those involved, they hope to encourage the next generation of veterinary educators to begin their research careers

Evidence-Based Healthcare: The Importance of Effective Interprofessional Working for High Quality Veterinary Services, a UK Example

<p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Objective: </strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">To highlight the importance of evidence-based research, not only for the consideration of clinical diseases and individual patient treatment, but also for investigating complex healthcare systems, as demonstrated through a focus on veterinary interprofessional working.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Background:</strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM) was developed due to concerns over inconsistent approaches to therapy being delivered by individuals. However, a focus purely on diagnosis and treatment will miss other potential causes of substandard care including the holistic system. Veterinary services are provided by interprofessional teams; research on these teams is growing.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Evidentiary value:</strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">This paper outlines results from four articles, written by the current authors, which are unique in their focus on interprofessional practice teams in the UK. Through mixed methods, the articles demonstrate an evidence base of the effects of interprofessional working on the quality of service delivery.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Results:</strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">The articles explored demonstrate facilitators and challenges of the practice system on interprofessional working and the outcomes, including errors. The results encourage consideration of interprofessional relationships and activities in veterinary organisations. Interprofessional working is an example of one area which can affect the quality of veterinary services.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Conclusion: </strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">The papers presented on veterinary interprofessional working are an example of the opportunities for future research on various topics within evidence-based healthcare.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Application:</strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">The results are pertinent to members of veterinary teams seeking to improve their service delivery, to educators looking to enhance their students’ understanding of interprofessional working, and to researchers, who will hopefully be encouraged to consider evidence-based healthcare more holistically. </p><br /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/oa-icon.jpg" alt="Open Access" /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/pr-icon.jpg" alt="Peer Reviewed" /

Errors in Veterinary Practice: Preliminary Lessons for Building Better Veterinary Teams

Case studies in two typical UK veterinary practices were undertaken to explore teamwork, including interprofessional working. Each study involved one week of whole team observation based on practice locations (reception, operating theatre), one week of shadowing six focus individuals (veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses and administrators) and a final week consisting of semistructured interviews regarding teamwork. Errors emerged as a finding of the study. The definition of errors was inclusive, pertaining to inputs or omitted actions with potential adverse outcomes for patients, clients or the practice. The 40 identified instances could be grouped into clinical errors (dosing/drugs, surgical preparation, lack of follow-up), lost item errors, and most frequently, communication errors (records, procedures, missing face-to-face communication, mistakes within face-to-face communication). The qualitative nature of the study allowed the underlying cause of the errors to be explored. In addition to some individual mistakes, system faults were identified as a major cause of errors. Observed examples and interviews demonstrated several challenges to interprofessional teamworking which may cause errors, including: lack of time, part-time staff leading to frequent handovers, branch differences and individual veterinary surgeon work preferences. Lessons are drawn for building better veterinary teams and implications for Disciplinary Proceedings considered

Continuing professional development: learning that leads to change in individual and collective clinical practice

The lack of effectiveness of traditional models of continuing professional development is increasingly recognised. While they can lead to increased knowledge of participants, research suggests that there is a general failure to produce meaningful and sustained changes in clinician behaviours. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ (RCVS) new individual outcomes-focused approach to delivery of continuing professional development (CPD) through the reflective accounts of participant experiences. Content analysis of 12 summaries of their learning, produced by early pioneers of the Professional Key Skills (PKS) Module of the RCVS Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice, revealed that the benefits of the PKS-related professional development is best understood through ‘a framework of ‘stakeholder’ dynamics’, with impact and behavioural change at the individual participant level having an effect on practice team behaviours, leading to patient, owner and business benefits. It can be concluded that, at least for these early pioneers, this new model for CPD has resulted in changes that have gone beyond knowledge accumulation to changed practitioner behaviours and recognisable patient, owner and business benefits

Adaptive Divergence Versus Gene Flow in the Wild: Evaluation in Trinidadian Guppy Populations

This research investigates the impact of gene flow (genetic exchange among populations) on the evolution of biological diversity. The investigators will first document background patterns of diversity in adaptive traits (e.g., morphology, color pattern, life history) and gene flow for wild populations of Trinidadian guppies that face different environmental conditions (high vs. low predation). The investigators will then perform an experimental manipulation of the rate of gene flow between selected populations in order to evaluate theoretical predictions about the impact of gene flow on variation in adaptive traits. Gene flow is pervasive in the wild, but the activities of humans have extensively altered natural patterns of gene flow and adaptation. A growing body of theory suggests that gene flow may have substantial implications for the persistence of adaptation and hence for the evolution and preservation of biological diversity. Unfortunately, most current theory relating gene flow to adaptive trait variation remains largely untested in natural populations (particularly for the traits most closely related to fitness). The proposed research will test this theory and thus help develop robust strategies for managing gene flow in disturbed systems. It will also build on an increasingly popular case study for teaching evolution in classrooms