How To Keep Your Specimen Carrier Happy And HealthyApril 17, 2009 What is required by the law and your carrier is probably far from what is being done daily in many practices. The best way to comply is to contact your diagnostic lab and check on its requirements. The following recommendations were provided by Vicky Bell at our lab, Animal Pathology Group in Dallas. The way diagnostic specimens should be packaged and transported was defined in a final rule by the U.S. Department of …
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Oquendo Center Debuts at Western Veterinary ConferenceApril 17, 2009Following four years of development, the Western Veterinary Conference celebrated the grand opening of the Oquendo Center for Clinical Education during its annual conference held Feb. 15-19 in Las Vegas. The facility is dedicated to year-round hands-on training and has been constructed to meet ongoing educational needs. The mission of the center is “to provide the highest quality, clinically relevant, state-of-the-art, hands-on continuing education for veterinary medicine and other professions for the …
25 Ways Staff Members Can Prevent HypothermiaApril 17, 2009Hypothermia, a body temperature below 99 degrees Fahrenheit, can lead to many harmful consequences for your warm-blooded patient under sedation or anesthesia. The condition slows metabolism. It reduces transformation of anesthetic drugs and in turn, delays recovery of the patient. "Cold" patients are more prone to infections and delayed healing.1 Ask yourself these questions next time you see an anesthetized patient in your hospital: Is the patient covered by a towel or a blanket? …
How Class IV Lasers EvolvedApril 17, 2009Class IV therapeutic lasers are about 50 times more powerful than Class IIIa or IIIb lasers, which were first to enter the market, says John Godbold, DVM, of Stonehaven Park Veterinary Hospital in Jackson, Tenn., a 30-year practitioner. "The Class III can be used on the same procedures, but takes more time to perform treatments and may not reach the same tissue depth as the Class IV laser," Godbold says. The important parameters for successful …
Light Therapy On ShiloApril 17, 2009 Shilo suffers from osteoarthritis in several joints--in particular the left stifle and the right tarsus (hock). As a result, her gait is not normal, and this has caused compensatory pain her back. In this photo, Shilo is having the painful areas of her back treated with low-level laser therapy. We are delivering 4J/cm2 of energy using a Respond (TM) Class IIIb laser. The laser probe output is 500 mW with a 904 nm wavelength and …
How To Stay Busy During Your Clinic’s RecessApril 17, 2009Children take recess from school; consumers are taking recess from spending. What will you do during your hospital’s recess? Unlike our children, we do not have the options of jump-rope or kickball; instead, we must focus on hitting home runs with our clients and playing hide-and-seek with missing charges as a few ways to stay busy during our hospitals’ recess. Practitioners, take comfort! Though five recessions have occurred since 1973, spending on veterinary care has …
Elysse Orchard, DVM: Placing Animals As Top Professional PriorityApril 17, 2009 As the sole veterinarian at Chimp Haven in Keithville, La., Elysse Orchard, DVM, gave medical attention to more than 119 retired chimpanzees formerly used in biomedical research. Although Dr. Orchard recently took a position at Louisiana State University, she still works part-time at Chimp Haven and her accomplishments at the facility are monumental. She helped develop non-invasive techniques to assess chimpanzee health concerns while minimizing human risk, including a three-lead …
Grappling With Quality Of Life And Over-treatment IssuesApril 17, 2009 I was asked to speak on some tough topics at the Human-Animal Bond Track and at the Personal/Professional Development Track Ethics Sessions during the 144th AVMA Meeting in DC. The assigned topics for me were: Maintaining Quality of Life at The End of Life during the Human-Animal Bond (HAB) Sessions and Preventing Over-treatment at a Veterinary Cancer Referral Clinic during the Ethics Sessions. Dr. Richard Timmins, President of the American Association of Human-Animal …
Groomed For SuccessApril 17, 2009 Ideal for surgery out of the office, the Andis Vet Pak Super AGR+ clipper kit puts together a top-performing rechargeable clipper, two batteries, a charger stand and a car charger adapter. The metallic green Super AGR+ clipper, which Andis calls “the industry's most powerful cordless rotary motor clipper,” runs continuously for one hour with a high speed of 3,800 strokes per minute. Its #40 surgical stainless steel CeramicEdge blade even cuts through wet …
Veterinarians Can Play Role In Discussions On Breed-Specific LegislationJune 24, 2008Veterinarians and other animal experts consistently agree that there is no scientific evidence to demonstrate that a specific breed of dog is more dangerous than another. Still, the American Kennel Club reports that more than 100 U.S. municipalities have enacted breed-specific legislation in the past three years. Veterinarians and veterinary associations who make their stance known in breed debates can meet staunch resistance from politicians and residents determined to take legal action after a dog …
