Experienced Vets Research Articles

Combining sentiment analysis and text mining with content analysis of farm vet interviews on mental wellbeing in livestock practice.

The aim of the How Farm Vets Cope project was to co-design, with farm veterinary surgeons, a set of web-based resources to help them and others deal with the different situations that they can face. As part of the wider project, participants were recruited for one-to-one semi-structured phone interviews. These interviews focused on elements of job satisfaction and how the participants coped during periods of poor mental wellbeing or with setbacks and failure. Transcripts of these interviews were analysed using both quantitative methods of sentiment analysis and text mining, including term frequency/inverse document frequency and rapid automated keyword extraction, and qualitative content analysis. The twin aims of the analysis were identifying the important themes discussed by the participants and comparing the results of the two methods to see what differences, if any, arose. Analysis using the afinn and nrc sentiment lexicons identified emotional themes of anticipation and trust. Rapid automated keyword extraction highlighted issues around age of vets and support, whilst using term frequency/inverse document frequency allowed for individual themes, such as religion, not present across all responses, to be identified. Content analysis supported these findings, pinpointing examples of trust around relationships with farmers and more experienced vets, along with some examples of the difference good support networks can make, particularly to younger vets. This work has confirmed previous results in identifying the themes of trust, communication and support to be integral to the experience of practicing farm veterinary surgeons. Younger or less experienced vets recognised themselves as benefiting from further support and signposting, leading to a discussion around the preparation of veterinary students for entry into a farm animal vet practice. The two different approaches taken showed very good agreement in their results. The quantitative approaches can be scaled to allow a larger number of interviews to be utilised in studies whilst still allowing the important qualitative results to be identified.

Stress factors in veterinary medicine-a cross-sectional study among veterinary students and practicing vets in Austria.

Although the issue of high mental health burden among veterinarians is well-documented in previous studies, little is known about the specific occupational stress factors associated with mental health issues. Therefore, the aims of this study were twofold: (1) to assess occupational stress factors within the veterinary profession, with a particular emphasis on comparing the expectations of veterinary students with the experiences of practicing veterinarians and (2) to link the experienced stress with mental health indicators in veterinarians. All registered veterinarians and veterinary-medicine students in Austria were invited to participate in a cross-sectional online survey. The data collection took place during the winter of 2022/2023 and included standardized questionnaires on mental well-being (WHO-5), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), stress (PSS-4), and insomnia (ISI-2). Additionally, participants were asked about various estimated (students) or experienced (vets) occupational stress factors, which were to be rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "not at all" to "very strongly". An open question invited respondents to identify in free text further experienced/anticipated sources of work-related stressors in veterinary practice. A total of 430 students and 440 veterinarians participated in the study. The results of a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicate that the burden of bureaucracy is perceived as less stressful by students than experienced by veterinarians, all other areas are perceived as more stressful by students than by veterinarians. In veterinarians, bureaucracy is experienced as the most burdensome, followed by animal suffering, and communication with animal owners. Further analysis of possible associations between the extent of perceived stressors and indicators of mental health shows that while bureaucracy is the most burdensome, it has the smallest correlation with mental health indicators. On the other hand, financial concerns, which are not ranked among the main stressors, have the strongest correlation with impaired mental health. The results suggest that financial security for veterinarians is crucial to safeguard their mental health. The training of veterinary medicine students and practicing veterinarians in the areas of administration, time management, handling animal suffering, and communication with animal owners might be beneficial in reducing their job-related stressors.

Design and Validation of a Simulator for Feline Cephalic Vein Cannulation-A Pilot Study.

In recent years there has been an increased use of alternative methods for teaching veterinary clinical skills, since ethical considerations preclude the use of live animals for demonstration or practice of many procedures. Skills training on cats (i.e., feline venipuncture) is a particularly challenging area. This study aimed to develop a simulator for cephalic venipuncture in cats and to validate this simulator using questionnaires answered by undergraduate students and experienced veterinarians. The simulator was developed to provide an experience that was close to reality, including an artificial blood system that flows through the catheter when venipuncture is correctly performed, while at the same time using simple methodology and accessible materials so that it could be reproduced in other universities. The experienced vets agreed (44.4%) or strongly agreed (55.6%) that the simulator was good for venipuncture training, and the most useful feature was the experience of catheter manipulation and fixation on the cat's limb. All the students agreed that the practical class with the simulator was important for learning this skill. Both groups (students and experienced veterinarians) unanimously agreed that it is important to train using a simulator before trying the procedure on a live cat. This simulator offers undergraduate students an alternative way to learn and practice venipuncture in cats helping to reduce the use of live animals in practical classes.

Understanding veterinarians’ prescribing decisions on antibiotic dry cow therapy

In the United Kingdom, blanket antibiotic dry cow therapy (BDCT) is commonly prescribed. An alternate strategy is selective dry cow therapy (SDCT) whereby a teat sealant is given instead of an antibiotic to cows with a low probability of infection. Switching from BDCT to SDCT can significantly reduce antibiotic use. The aims of this study were to explore how veterinarians (vets) rationalized their prescribing decisions for mammary treatments at drying off, and the barriers and motivators they perceived to implementing SDCT. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 20 purposively recruited vets from 6 practices in England, United Kingdom. The data were analyzed qualitatively using an inductive thematic analysis. The majority of participants stated a personal preference for SDCT because it constitutes more responsible antibiotic use. On the majority of farms, the prescribing decision was taken by a senior veterinarian and BDCT was prescribed. Less experienced vets expressed a desire to be more involved in the decision-making process. The first theme, prioritizing responsible antimicrobial prescribing, encapsulated the difficulties vets expressed engaging with farmers, conflicts of interest, and vets' determination to take action. The second theme, the effect of a vet's experience on their ability to influence farmers, focused on the specific challenges faced by less experienced vets and the importance of vets being both trusted by farmers and being knowledgeable. The third theme, vets' perceptions about the risk and complexity of implementing SDCT, revealed markedly different levels of concern and fears about adverse outcomes with teat sealants versus antibiotics. The results also showed differences in perceptions about how difficult SDCT is to implement in practice. The last theme, vets' suggestions for facilitating the introduction of SDCT, was wide ranging and provided useful insight from a veterinary perspective into ways to facilitate SDCT. Initiatives that seek to alter vets' perceptions of the risks associated with switching to using SDCT are likely to prove useful in facilitating change. Our results also suggest that it is vital for senior vets to take a leading role in facilitating farms to implement SDCT. Less experienced colleagues may benefit from more help from senior vets to gain the trust of farmers and to become involved more quickly in herd-level preventive medicine. Vets must work together and take a united approach to reduce antimicrobial use.

Retaining vets in farm animal practice: a cross-sectional study

Concerns have been raised about a potential shortage of farm animal vets in the UK. There is no apparent lack of new graduates willing to work with farm animals, but...

The use of Super Rockers as an aid to rehabilitating 6 horses with chronic laminitis

Take-home message: Forces appliedwithhoof testers vary significantly within and between operators, which is important in everyday practice, especially when comparing left and right. Introduction: The application of hoof testers is common in practice, but little is known about the consistency of their use. In this study, we determined the repeatability of hoof tester use for experienced vets, novices, and farriers. Materials and Methods: We constructed an instrumented hoof tester by fitting a single load cell to the cut-off end of a standard pair of hoof testers. We recruited 24 volunteers and grouped them based on their professional background and experience. Participants were asked to repeatedly apply hoof testers to the toe, quarter, frog, and heels of a clamped cadaver leg, up to the maximum force they would use if they had no reaction from the horse. Results: Force application differed significantly between groups for the frog and heel region, but not for the toe and quarters. Veterinarians applied higher forces to the frog compared with farriers and novices. Experienced operators applied the highest forces to the heels and the lowest to the quarters. Intra-operator reliability varied significantly between regions and operators. Novices had the best repeatability for the frog and heel, but the worst for the toe and quarters, whereas the farriers had the best repeatability overall. Discussion and Conclusions: Forces applied with hoof testers vary widely, so we suggest that an instrumented hoof tester is a relatively cheap means of making this test more reliable.

How reliable is the use of hoof testers? The intra- and inter-operator repeatability of force application to different regions of the foot

Take-home message: Forces appliedwithhoof testers vary significantly within and between operators, which is important in everyday practice, especially when comparing left and right. Introduction: The application of hoof testers is common in practice, but little is known about the consistency of their use. In this study, we determined the repeatability of hoof tester use for experienced vets, novices, and farriers. Materials and Methods: We constructed an instrumented hoof tester by fitting a single load cell to the cut-off end of a standard pair of hoof testers. We recruited 24 volunteers and grouped them based on their professional background and experience. Participants were asked to repeatedly apply hoof testers to the toe, quarter, frog, and heels of a clamped cadaver leg, up to the maximum force they would use if they had no reaction from the horse. Results: Force application differed significantly between groups for the frog and heel region, but not for the toe and quarters. Veterinarians applied higher forces to the frog compared with farriers and novices. Experienced operators applied the highest forces to the heels and the lowest to the quarters. Intra-operator reliability varied significantly between regions and operators. Novices had the best repeatability for the frog and heel, but the worst for the toe and quarters, whereas the farriers had the best repeatability overall. Discussion and Conclusions: Forces applied with hoof testers vary widely, so we suggest that an instrumented hoof tester is a relatively cheap means of making this test more reliable.