Guidelines for Implementing a Low-Cost Volunteer Desexing Skills Training Program for Veterinary and Veterinary Technology Students.

Although desexing surgeries are considered a core clinical skill for small animal veterinary practice, it can be challenging for veterinary schools to provide students with adequate training opportunities in the traditional curriculum. At the Massey University School of Veterinary Science, we recently established an innovative extracurricular volunteer program designed to have students teaching other students how to perform different elements of desexing procedures as they progress through their degree. This program includes administrative and assistant roles for first-year students (responsible for client communication, patient restraint, and medical record keeping), physical exam and recovery roles for second-year students (responsible for assessing patient fitness for surgery, drawing up anesthetic drugs, and monitoring patients in recovery), anesthesia and neuter surgeon roles for third-year students (responsible for inducing, preparing, and monitoring spay patients and performing cat neuter surgeries), and spay surgeon roles for fourth- and fifth-year students (responsible for performing cat spay surgeries, discharging patients, and following up with clients to monitor recovery). This program has been successful in improving student confidence and competence while also providing a valuable low-cost desexing service to the community. In this article, we discuss the practical considerations and processes involved in implementing this program, including mapping the existing surgical curriculum, recruiting patients, setting up the surgical facilities, purchasing equipment and supplies, establishing standard operating procedures, developing training materials, maintaining clinic records, and monitoring program outcomes. These resources can serve as guidelines for other veterinary schools looking to expand desexing surgery training opportunities for students.

Experience and confidence of final year veterinary students in performing desexing surgeries.

AIMS: To describe the level of experience and confidence of veterinary students in performing canine and feline desexing procedures at the end of their final clinical year. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with veterinary students at Massey University in November 2017 after completion of their final clinical year. The questions included career plans after graduation, number of assisted and unassisted desexing procedures performed, approximate time to complete desexing surgeries, level of confidence with different aspects of desexing surgeries, what aspects of their desexing surgery training were most helpful, and what could be done to improve training in desexing surgical skills in veterinary school. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 70/95 (74%) students in their final clinical year. Among respondents, 55/70 (70%) had performed >2 unassisted feline neuters before graduation. However 38/70 (54%) students had never performed an unassisted feline spay, 31/70 (44%) had never performed an unassisted canine neuter, and 44/70 (63%) students had never performed an unassisted canine spay. The median reported times to complete a feline neuter, feline spay, canine neuter, and canine spay were 9, 40, 30 and 60 minutes, respectively. The median level of confidence for these procedures were 9, 6, 7 and 5 (on a scale from 1=least confident to 10=most confident), respectively. The reported time to complete procedures and the confidence in performing procedures did not change markedly with increasing total number of procedures performed. Students were most concerned about their ability to perform the desexing procedures in a reasonable amount of time and to prevent post-operative bleeding from occurring. Students were least concerned with their ability to manage post-operative pain in patients and to select the appropriate suture material. Free-text comments revealed that 62/70 (89%) students wanted more hands-on surgical experience prior to graduation. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVENCE: Many students are currently completing veterinary school with limited experience and low confidence with performing routine canine and feline desexing procedures. Further research is needed to identify the most effective ways for addressing this issue within the constraints of the veterinary curriculum and teaching hospital resources.

Teaching veterinary anesthesia and surgery: the impact of instructor availability on anesthesia, operative, and recovery times in dogs undergoing ovariohysterectomy or castration.

Veterinary students learning to perform elective ovariohysterectomy (OVH) and castration procedures have traditionally been taught by a few instructors supervising many student groups simultaneously. This study, using a historical control group, explored the impacts of having a dedicated instructor with each student group for anesthetic induction and an entire surgical procedure. Our hypothesis was that preparation, surgical, and anesthesia times would be shorter and, consequently, post-operative recovery times would be shorter with a dedicated instructor compared to traditional methods. Anesthesia records of dogs undergoing elective surgery by third-year veterinary students were reviewed over 3 consecutive years. Traditional instruction was used in year 1 (Y1), and a dedicated instructor per student group was used in year 2 (Y2) and year 3 (Y3). Anesthesia time, surgical time, recovery time, and pre- and post-operative rectal temperature were analyzed, and a stepwise regression model was developed for factors influencing recovery time. Of 206 records reviewed (Y1, 33; Y2, 98; Y3, 75), there were 101 OVH procedures and 105 castration procedures. Preparation, surgery, and anesthesia times were longer in animals undergoing surgery in Y1, when the traditional instruction method was used. Recovery time was not influenced by instructor assignment. Using dedicated instructors to teach OVH and castration to third-year veterinary students decreased overall anesthesia time by 36 to 49 minutes for OVH and 29 to 32 minutes for castration. A teaching model of dedicated instructors requires excellent coordination between surgeons and anesthesiologists to ensure that a similar number of animals can undergo procedures in the time allotted for teaching.

Effect of local anaesthesia and/or analgesia on pain responses induced by piglet castration.

BACKGROUND: Surgical castration in male piglets is painful and methods that reduce this pain are requested. This study evaluated the effect of local anaesthesia and analgesia on vocal, physiological and behavioural responses during and after castration. A second purpose was to evaluate if herdsmen can effectively administer anaesthesia. METHODS: Four male piglets in each of 141 litters in five herds were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: castration without local anaesthesia or analgesia (C, controls), analgesia (M, meloxicam), local anaesthesia (L, lidocaine), or both local anaesthesia and analgesia (LM). Lidocaine (L, LM) was injected at least three minutes before castration and meloxicam (M, LM) was injected after castration. During castration, vocalisation was measured and resistance movements judged. Behaviour observations were carried out on the castration day and the following day. The day after castration, castration wounds were ranked, ear and skin temperature was measured, and blood samples were collected for analysis of acute phase protein Serum Amyloid A concentration (SAA). Piglets were weighed on the castration day and at three weeks of age. Sickness treatments and mortality were recorded until three weeks of age. RESULTS: Piglets castrated with lidocaine produced calls with lower intensity (p < 0.001) and less resistance movements (p < 0.001) during castration. Piglets that were given meloxicam displayed less pain-related behaviour (huddled up, spasms, rump-scratching, stiffness and prostrated) on both the castration day (p = 0.06, n.s.) and the following day (p = 0.02). Controls had less swollen wounds compared to piglets assigned to treatments M, L and LM (p < 0.001). The proportion of piglets with high SAA concentration (over threshold values 200, 400 mg/l) was higher (p = 0.005; p = 0.05) for C + L compared to M + LM. Ear temperature was higher (p < 0.01) for controls compared to L and LM. There were no significant treatment effects for skin temperature, weight gain, sickness treatments or mortality. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes that lidocaine reduced pain during castration and that meloxicam reduced pain after castration. The study also concludes that the herdsmen were able to administer local anaesthesia effectively.

¿Cuál es su diagnóstico? / What is your diagnosis?

Varón de 25 años que consulta por presentar aumentodel tamaño del testículo izquierdo. En la palpación, senota una masa nodular, de bordes bien definidos, en lamitad inferior de la gónada. En el examen ecográfi cose confirma la presencia de esta masa. El paciente essometido a orquiectomía...

Videolaparoscopic orchiectomy and nephrectomy: training model in rats.

OBJECTIVE: Videolaparoscopic surgery conducted on small animals has proved to be of great importance for the improvement of surgical skills. This is a report utilizing an experimental model for laparoscopic orchiectomy and nephrectomy in training courses for urologists. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Of 350 American Wistar rats enrolled, 319 animals underwent laparoscopic orchiectomy and nephrectomy under intraperitoneal general anesthesia. Graspers, dissectors, and a 0-degree telescope were introduced into the peritoneal cavity by two trocars of 5 mm and one of 10 mm, respectively. RESULTS: Of 350 rats enrolled, 15 (4.2%) died due to anesthetic complications and 16 (4.5%) due to cannibalism and stress during transport. A total of 319 rats were operated on, 178 underwent bilateral orchiectomy, two per model (356 operations), and in 141 animals one nephrectomy per model (141 operations) was performed. A total of 497 operations were performed involving 140 urologists. The animals were easy to handle providing adequate practice without the occurrence of any major intraperitoneal lesion and hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: Nephrectomy and orchiectomy are feasible in rats, and this model can be utilized for training videolaparoscopic surgeries.