IVEC International Veterinary Experience Discussion Forum

The IVEC International Veterinary Experience Discussion Forum is now available to join for this year! The forum is a resource for SAVMA students to share information regarding internships, externships, jobs, events, experiences, and any other opportunities pertaining to veterinary medicine abroad. The link to the forum can be found here. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to IVEC at ivecscholarships@gmail.com. 

Clinicians' Panel on Mental Health

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Join SAVMA this Saturday, September 19th as we collaborate with several professional student organizations to focus on mental health and suicide prevention awareness with a panel of clinicians. Despite the differences of our respective professions, we are all impacted by mental health. Please register through the Google form located on the following Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/742740193243207/.

Weighing in on antibiotic resistance

This editions forum topic:

'Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in both industrialized and developing nations alike. The Centers for Disease Control states, "Since the 1940s, these drugs have greatly reduced illness and death from infectious diseases. Antibiotic use has been beneficial and, when prescribed and taken correctly, their value in patient care is enormous. However, these drugs have been used so widely and for so long that the infectious organisms the antibiotics are designed to kill have adapted to them, making the drugs less effective." 

Do you think the veterinary profession is adding to or preventing the growing problem of antibiotic resistance?'

 
Winner, Forum
Lauren Welker, University of Illinois

Laughter is not always the best medicine, sometimes antibiotics are. Antibiotics were a giant step for veterinary medicine. Antibiotic resistance is thought to be due to the increased use of antibiotics. If bacteria are exposed to the same type of antibiotic for too long, some may become resistant and the antibiotic will become ineffective in killing them.  If antibiotics are used with caution, the veterinary profession is not adding to the problem of antibiotic resistance. As a veterinarian, we take an oath to treat sick animals, relieve suffering, and do no harm.  Because of this oath, it is up to veterinarians to use judgment and determine if an animal can get well without antibiotics or if the antibiotics are essential to the health of the animal. While it is true that treating said animal could cause some resistant bacteria the risk for humans contracting these bacteria is minute if the meat from the infected animal is properly cooked before it is consumed. The true risk for humans lies within human medicine. If human physicians over-prescribe antibiotics and resistant bacteria are present in the human population, then the risk for other humans becomes greater. Bacteria will always adapt to the drugs used to treat them, the key is to be able to create new drugs to treat the adaptive bacteria fast enough to control and contain them. The adaptive process of bacteria can be slowed through only prescribing antibiotics when absolutely necessary, especially within human medicine. 

Veterinary Shortage?

Honorable Mention, Forum
Arielle Breite, Cornell

Having recently had the opportunity to talk with some veterinarians who are “out in the trenches”, I feel as though I have some insight into the supposed veterinarian shortage. According to a large majority of these individuals there is indeed NO shortage of veterinarians at all. Not only are they not worried about a shortage, but instead are worried about the job outlook for our upcoming graduates. From what I gather, most veterinarians feel as though a shortage exists only in places where there is not enough business to support a practice. In the existing practices on the other hand, there are simply no openings for qualified applicants. In light of this, I am strongly against the opening of these new veterinary colleges in such places as Utah, Arizona and, our very own, New York.

Although, with my own graduation looming, I myself am worried about competing with the ever growing number of graduates for the few available jobs, I am also concerned about the quality of education these new institutions will provide and the cost at which they will provide it. With their seeming disregard of the current veterinary climate I worry that their only concern will be their own financial gain and not the education and wellbeing of the students they educate or profession they contribute to. My suggestion is that the AVMA take a stance on this issue and inform these new institutions that they will not accredit them. After all, if the AVMA will not look out for the future of our profession, who will?

Veterinary School Proposal

Honorable Mention, Forum
Randy Bond, Ohio State University

In the past 3 years, class size in veterinary schools has exploded.  The Ohio State University increased from 142 to 162 (a 13% increase and the title for largest veterinary class), Auburn increased from 95 to 120 (a 21% increase), North Carolina increased from 80 to 100 (a 20% increase), Cornell from 102 to 120 (a 15% increase), Purdue from 70 to 84 (a 20% increase), and the list goes on. Literally, almost every veterinary school in the United States has taken on the stance, "expand or die." One can assume that there are only two main reasons for these expansions and proposals:  an abundant demand in the current market (or soon will be), or a desire to make the university more profitable. I will explain why new veterinary school proposals are emerging due to the latter rather than the former.

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