Week 4: Acupuncture, VIN, and Ringworm!
Updated: Sep 17, 2023
And just like that week four is under our belts!
Due to the holiday weekend, I was able to start the week with another nice bike ride! I have found that doing things that are familiar have helped ease the transition process and given me a solid outlet!
Tuesday was packed full of cell bio review and our first anatomy lab! This lab included an introductory tour of the laboratory spaces as well as gave us an opportunity to practice some of our anatomical knowledge with preserved models. We were partnered up and went through a rotation of five different stations. The first station was a variation of kidneys and we were asked to identify the species. The next station was the same idea but with another organ. The following station involved identifying the different anatomical planes on a variety of models and then we worked with a canine model and identified different internal organs. The last station was a dissected cat that we were able to look through and one of the professors was facilitating a discussion about the orientation of different internal organs.
Wednesday was a review of receptors and signaling mechanisms along with embryonic development. We also had Dr. Pion, the co-founder of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN), come give a lunch talk. He discussed his journey from being on the border of failing out of school to getting into Cornell vet school and eventually specializing in internal medicine (cardiology). He also spoke about his research experience and how he found the link between taurine and heart disease in cats. Some of his main takeaways were that the road to becoming a veterinarian is never a solo journey, and the importance of thanking those people that helped you along the way. He emphasized the importance of being ok with having something be “good enough for now” instead of constantly beating yourself up because it wasn’t “perfect” by your standards. Many of us identify as “type A” or “perfectionists” so learning how to be satisfied with what you have done is an important skill to acquire because the constant push to always do more or want more can quickly lead to burnout.
Thursday morning was loaded with lectures on tissue structure and histology. This was the last set of lectures for the week, and we concluded the afternoon with a lunch talk on acupuncture and an animal handling lab. Dr. Koh lead a talk on the benefits of acupuncture and its use in veterinary medicine. He spoke about the history of acupuncture and worked through a clinical case with a dog that had suffered an acute spinal cord injury and was unable to walk. With a multimodal approach of using acupuncture and medications, the dog was slowly able to regain the ability to walk. One interesting point I took away from his talk was the fact that to perform acupuncture on humans you do NOT have to be a MD, but to practice acupuncture on animals you HAVE to be a veterinarian. In other words, anyone interested in performing acupuncture on people could go through a certification class and at the end of their training, they could practice on people. On the other hand, if you want to practice on animals, you must first go through veterinary school and then you have the ability to go through more training to become a certified acupuncturist for animals.
Our first handling lab was Thursday afternoon, and it was focused on the proper restraint of cats and dogs. The cats were recovering from ringworm hence the super cute apparel (pictured on the right). While I had initially though that this lab was going to be a waste of time and just basic information that I already knew, I was pleasantly surprised when the behaviorists were the ones teaching this lab and placed an emphasis on doing things following the “Fear Free” philosophy. Before each section started, we had a group discussion on the importance of implementing techniques to eliminate fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) in our patients. The biggest takeaway was finding what motivates your patient and sticking with it. The most popular motivator is food so having a stash of yummy treats is a fantastic way to help encourage compliance with our patients. The instructors also emphasized the important difference between the “nice to haves” and the “needs to have”. Getting a temperature on each patient is a huge benefit but is not necessarily a necessity in every situation and may tick away at the animal’s finite tolerance that could be better spent elsewhere such as with the veterinarian or getting diagnostics. It was also emphasized that if a patient comes in panting on a hot day and their temperature is slightly elevated, that is usually taken with a grain of salt considering the context of the situation. Since this measurement will not factor into anything that the veterinarian is going to do, taking that temperature, and stressing the animal was not worth it at all. All of the techniques learned during this handling lab focused on giving the animal a choice, or at least the illusion of having a choice. While these methods may not work in every situation, it is good to keep in mind that things are changing from the traditional “brutacaine” methods. As a side note, the value of Fear Free techniques have been seen to provide significant value so all UC Davis vet students have access to the Fear Free certification materials and can become Fear Free Certified for free!
Friday started off with another case-based learning session (CBL). This session focused on an equine patient that had a history of mucopurulent nasal discharge that had resolved with a course of antibiotics. The new complaint was the formation of a mass on the right thoracic limb at the point of the shoulder. We were given a full CBC and chemistry panel that was fairly unremarkable with the exception of leukocytopenia. An aspirate of the mass was sent out and had come back positive for gram + coccobacilli and the culture was still pending. As a team, we were asked to come up with a series of differential diagnoses and what further testing / information we would want before making any decisions on treatment options.
We then transitioned into our histology lab where we looked at some slides containing a canine kidney, lung, and a bovine lip. In conjunction to the hands-on microscope lab, we had access to a virtual slide set that was accompanied with videos that walked through each slide. If you are interested in looking at some cool tissue samples, click here.
The day wrapped up with an ethics lecture and a discussion dissecting the different ethical stances on horse racing. We had to look at this topic with multiple lenses and find arguments for each one and then discuss how our own personal ethics factored in. The different theories that we had to discuss included contractarian, utilitarian, deontological, and animal rights theory. Here is a brief description of each theory.
Contractarian Theory: Animals cannot enter in contracts because they do not speak and cannot reason therefore, they are not worthy of moral consideration. Contractarians believe that we can use animals as we need to for our benefits, our duties to animals are indirect via human interests, and the only thing that matters is what is important to humans. This theory basically states that we can use animals for whatever we please and we are only considering their benefit to us, not their welfare.
Utilitarian Theory: This theory emphasizes the consequences of actions and seeks to maximize good outcomes. The ideas surrounding this theory include doing the greatest good for the greatest number and giving all interests equal consideration. Some problems that typically arise from this theory is that breaking rules is ok for good consequences and that individual rights can be violated if it achieves a positive outcome. Utilizing this theory is often difficult and time consuming while assuming things about outcomes that are unknown.
Deontological Theory: This theory is based on good intentions and motives. It can be influenced based on cultural relativism and is based on a system of rules. Some principles that align with this theory include the idea “honesty is the best policy” and “thou shalt not kill”.
Animal Rights Theory: This theory stems from the belief that animals have intrinsic value. They have rights that flow from inherent value and this means they have the right to have their worth respected. Animal rights followers typically believe that animals should not be used for human purposes regardless of potential benefits.
Relational/Contextual Theory: This theory is based on the belief that the human-animal bond serves to define our duties to animals. There is an emphasis on the ethic of care and that the greater duty to care for animals is dependent on humans.
Holism/Respect of Nature: This theory states that an animals’ value lies in their membership of a species. The individual is subordinated and the preservation of a species an ecosystem is most important.
If you are interested in finding out more about these different theories or figuring out which one most aligns with your values, you can click here.
This weekend involved another long bike ride and a good amount of studying. Churro got some good playtime on the field along with some nice long walks between the study sessions. The first exam is Monday morning so stay tuned to see how it goes! Check out the notes section of this website if you want a peak at what we are currently studying.
Quote of the week: "There is a storm of osmolarity blowing" -Dr. Cortopassi as he blows into his microphone getting ready to start his lecture on cell membrane physiology.
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