Today's Veterinary Practice

MAY-JUN 2013

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

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EdiTor's NoTE An Uncertain Future for Academic Teaching Hospitals? Lesley G. King, MVB, Diplomate ACVECC, ACVIM (Small Animal Internal Medicine), & ECVIM (Companion Animal) T here has been much discussion lately about concerns regarding oversupply of veterinarians and high graduate debt compared with expected starting incomes. This issue of Today's Veterinary Practice tackles the topic with a roundtable discussion that presents various perspectives from those in the veterinary profession; this dialogue is a follow-up to the article—The Future of Veterinary Medicine Makes Headlines—published in our March/April 2013 issue. Business of Veterinary Education As a dyed-in-the-wool clinical academician, I would prefer not to think about issues of business, budgets, and supply and demand. Instead, I am lucky to be able to focus on education and science. Like many veterinarians, I have no training and little interest in business. However, veterinary schools, especially academic teaching hospitals, are expensive to run. Today's reality is that every one of us, even those in "ivory towers," needs to consider finance and budgets. In the last few years of belt-tightening, most faculty members at every university have been required to think about "business" topics, such as our staffing, supplies, and efficiency. Modest increases in class size at established veterinary schools have been interpreted as an attempt to balance budgets with tuition revenue, but this revenue is only a minor part of most schools' budgets. Increased numbers of students lead to higher lab expenses and increased teaching staff. Therefore, increased class size does relatively little to address budget shortfalls. How Much Can Be Cut? The reality is that established university veterinary schools have been struggling to survive in the last few years; all have been hard hit by the same economic downturn that affected most every not-for-profit or business entity. Revenues, whether state funds, grants, philanthropy, or hospital income, are all down. Expenses, typically staff salaries but also funding for valuable programs, have been cut. With an increased emphasis on efficiency, everyone is being asked to do more with less. I worry about the possibility that large academic veterinary teaching hospitals will gradually be replaced by less costly methods of clinical teaching. How will this affect the veterinary profession? Should we allow our expensive academic clinical departments to be downsized? A Problem for Clinical Education? In our quest for improved operating efficiency, we shouldn't lose sight of the importance of cage-side, small-group, active learning by veterinary students, interns, and residents. This is 6 Today's Veterinary Practice May/June 2013 my favorite way to teach; I actually feel a "high" when I carefully select the right question and see students suddenly smile and become animated as they finally understand a concept or integrate topics that were previously only disconnected facts. My students agree that this type of teaching is their favorite—the most effective way to learn. In my opinion, cage-side "rounds" can never be completely replaced by computer simulations or observational learning in which students watch experienced clinicians manage cases but are not "put on the spot" to develop their own differential diagnosis lists and management plans. The problem? Allowing time for thought processes or using extra materials while technical skills develop is expensive and the enemy of efficiency. A Valuable Research Resource Besides producing veterinarians and training veterinary specialists, veterinary schools also advance the science of our profession. Most would agree that the bulk of research that identifies and describes animal diseases and validates treatments is done by faculty and house staff in clinical departments at university veterinary teaching hospitals. Painstaking, in-depth study of animal diseases, and publication of that information, produces little financial revenue compared with the time it requires. What would happen to research that advances our knowledge of animal diseases if we allow university clinical departments and academic teaching hospitals to gradually disappear? Your Role in School Survival There is no doubt that an academic veterinary teaching hospital is an expensive entity to operate. So why do we do it? Because ultimately the academic clinical departments and teaching hospitals are the best way to teach, and the primary drivers of innovation and discovery within our profession. Those of us who are members of faculty and staff at veterinary schools need to be creative and focus on optimizing customer service, whether that customer is a student, client, or referring veterinarian. But we need your help—those throughout the veterinary profession—to protect the future of academic teaching hospitals. Support your regional veterinary teaching hospital—refer cases, make connections with faculty clinicians, and encourage clients to understand our moments of "inefficiency." Provide feedback to help us know what we are doing right and wrong. Think back to when you were a veterinary student, and realize that you still have an important role—influencing the way the teaching environment operates. Each veterinarian can make a difference regarding the survival of his or her school's teaching hospital, which ultimately leads to positive progress and health of the profession. —Lesley King, Editor in Chief

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