A pilot study of Australian pet owners who engage in social media and their use, experience and views of online pet health information.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of Australian pet owners' use of the internet for pet health; how trustworthy they rate various pet health information sources and the use of online information in subsequent veterinary consultations. METHOD: An anonymous questionnaire was developed, consisting of 30 questions, and distributed between March 2018 and May 2018 using convenience sampling through social media venues including Facebook and Twitter. All respondents were over the age of 18, lived in Australia and owned a pet animal. RESULTS: A total of 228 responses were received. The most common sources of pet health information were veterinarians (88.2%) and internet websites (81.1%). Most respondents reported using the internet 'many times per day' at either home or work. The majority of respondents used the internet to seek pet health information either 'not weekly but at least once a month' or 'less than once a month'. Nearly half of the respondents stated that they only 'sometimes' discuss their online findings with their veterinarian. Approximately one half of respondents agreed with the statement that online pet health information had affected their decision about whether to take their pet to the veterinarian. CONCLUSION: This study assesses how pet owners use the internet for pet health information and the role veterinarians can play in helping to facilitate these searches with tools such as information prescriptions. Further large-scale research is needed to help further understand this increasingly important aspect of pet health.

Pilot study of Australian veterinarians and their perceptions and experiences related to online pet health information.

OBJECTIVE: Investigate Australian veterinarians' perceptions of clients' use of the internet to find pet health information. METHODS: An anonymous online survey was distributed using social media, e-newsletters and veterinary magazines. RESULTS: A total of 85 complete responses were obtained from Australian veterinarians. Most (80%) reported believing that > 80% of their clients have access to the internet at home or work, but 68% thought that the majority of their clients do not understand what they read online. Attitudes regarding the impact of online pet health information on the veterinarian-client relationship were mixed (56% reported negative impact and 33% a positive impact), as well as for clients' use of the internet for information on companion animal health (47% reported negative impact and 38% a positive impact). When asked how often they suggest specific websites to their clients ('information prescriptions'), the majority of veterinarians reported that this is done infrequently. CONCLUSION: This pilot study highlighted the perception of Australian veterinarians of their clients' use of the internet to find pet health information. It also highlighted the need for a large-scale, detailed survey of Australian veterinarians and their views in relation to pet owners and their use of online information. This should include evaluation of information prescriptions and their potential benefits for clients and patients.

Perceptions of veterinary admissions committee members of undergraduate credits earned from community colleges or online compared to traditional 4-year institutions.

Veterinary admission committees are asked to create and implement a fair, reliable, and valid system to select the candidates most likely to succeed in veterinary school from a large pool of applicants. Although numerous studies have explored grade point average (GPA) as a predictive value of later academic success, there has been little attention paid to how and where an applicant acquires his/her undergraduate coursework. Quality of academic program is an important component of applicant files, and it is suggested that the source of a candidate's coursework might influence admissions committee decisions, perhaps even outside of the committee's immediate awareness. Options for undergraduate education include taking classes at a traditional four-year institution, a community college, or online. This study provides an overview of the current state of online courses and community colleges in the US as a foundation to explore the views of veterinary admissions committee members pertaining to coursework completed at traditional residential 4-year schools or at community colleges and whether they are delivered on campus or online (at either type of institution). Survey participants reported a pattern of preference for traditional four-year residential coursework compared to online or community college courses. These results are interesting given the exponential growth of students taking online courses and data showing community colleges are providing a successful gateway to obtaining a four-year degree. This also points to the need for admission committees to discuss potential biases since the information about type of school and/or course may not be consistently available for all applicants. Finally, at a time when admitting a diverse class of students is a goal of many programs, it is of special concern that there are potential biases against courses taken online or from community colleges - venues that tend to draw a more diverse population than traditional 4-year universities.

Information prescriptions: A tool for veterinary practices.

The Internet has become a major source of health information and has the potential to offer many benefits for both human and animal health. In order for impact to be positive, however, it is critical that users be able to access reliable, trustworthy information. Although more pet owners are using the Internet to research animal health information than ever before, there remains limited research surrounding their online activities or the ability to influence owners' online search behaviors. The current study was designed to assess the online behaviors and perceptions of pet owners after receiving either general or topic-specific information prescriptions as part of their veterinary appointment. Results indicate that nearly 60% of clients accessed the suggested websites and nearly all of these clients reported positive feelings about this addition to their veterinary services. These results suggest that offering information prescriptions to clients can facilitate better online searches by clients and positively impact both animal health and client satisfaction.

Gaining acceptance into veterinary school: a review of medical and veterinary admissions policies.

Veterinary and medical school admissions policies and committees form the gateway for individuals to become doctors. Thus the process of admissions becomes pivotal in directing the future of these professions. This article is a review of the literature pertaining to veterinary and medical admissions.

Subjective criteria as the sole method of selecting veterinary candidates at a US veterinary medical school.

For the past four years, Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences' veterinary Admissions Committee has used a completely subjective process to select veterinary students. The basic premise of the subjective admissions process is to evaluate applicants holistically, with equal emphasis on cognitive and non-cognitive attributes. The system allows the Committee the flexibility to weigh factors deemed by the school and profession to be important without the necessity of creating complex mathematical models to fit the confines of a point system. The subjective system, endorsed by the school's faculty and legal counsel, is summarized in this article.

Reliability generalization: exploring reliability variations on MMPI/MMPI-2 validity scale scores.

The study utilized the measurement meta-analytic method called "reliability generalization" to examine (a) the typical reliability, (b) the variability of score reliability, and (c) the factors predicting variability of score reliability on the three MMPI validity scales. Across studies the reliability coefficients on the three validity scales ranged from .16 to .93, with the F scale having the most variability, as might be expected. Regression analyses suggested that the age of participant best predicted the variation of reliability coefficients.

Determination of Venus Winds by Ground-Based Radio Tracking of the VEGA Balloons.

A global array of 20 radio observatories was used to measure the three-dimensional position and velocity of the two meteorological balloons that were injected into the equatorial region of the Venus atmosphere near Venus midnight by the VEGA spacecraft on 11 and 15 June 1985. Initial analysis of only radial velocities indicates that each balloon was blown westward about 11,500 kilometers (8,000 kilometers on the night side) by zonal winds with a mean speed of about 70 meters per second. Excursions of the data from a model of constant zonal velocity were generally less than 3 meters per second; however, a much larger variation was evident near the end of the flight of the second balloon. Consistent systematic trends in the residuals for both balloons indicate the possibility of a solar-fixed atmospheric feature. Rapid variations in balloon velocity were often detected within a single transmission (330 seconds); however, they may represent not only atmospheric motions but also self-induced aerodynamic motions of the balloon.