Brain dead

It's been over a week of doing straight pharm and I feel like my brain is going to fall out of my skull! Definitely time to switch it up, but just plugging along doing work now, since exams are in a little over a month! Also we went to see Fall Out Boy in concert on Sat, so that was fun, and I met with my team on Sun for the Trusty Paws and spent the early part of that day at a lovely cafe in Hyndland doing work on a sunny day here, it was lovely! I just selected my 5th year choice, so shit just got real! And we're going to Sloans tomorrow night to see the Big Lebowski tomorrow night, the dude abides.

Feeling Greatful!

Today we all got together in a massive way and posted to try to raise money for the Trusty Paws Clinic that we are starting here in Glasgow. In a matter of hours the FB page was being commented on, re-posted, and posted again with people excited to get involved and donate money to this great cause. Its times like these tha I am reminded of all the great people around me, both here and abroad, and how many truly wonderful people I know! Friends and family, both old and new, are staring a chain to help get this thing off the ground and its very exciting to watch it grow! I can't wait to see what it will become! Also the link to the FB page is below for anyone who actually reads this silly blog if they are interested in donating or just finding out more!

https://www.facebook.com/trustypaws?fref=ts

Exploding Udders!

Today clinical club had an open session in the PM room and it was super fun! After freaking out over pharm all day it was nice to get our hands dirty, so to speak, doing a PM on a ewe. Good to know that my dissecting skill are still good (apparently its now my claim to fame here? maybe that makes me sound like a serial killer, though useful in vet school!) and it was nice getting to see everything in situ for once, since normally we just get a liver on a slab. This ewe had a pretty jacked liver, probably fluke, but otherwise she was pretty healthy! When we were cutting we saw these weird lumps in her udder so when there was a lull while another person was removing the rib cage, my flat-mate and I decided to investigate. Cutting into them seemed like the most logical solution, so I firmly grasped to solid lump (there was a more cystic feeling one there as well) and I cut into it. At first nothing happened, then bam explosion all over my flatmates gown! WE both screamed and thought that it was pus, but it was just a mammary gland, so she (a vegan) got doused in milk. It was pretty funny, and a good time for all of us. The weather has also been nice, so we walked to school for it to enjoy the good day, since we are more or less couped up all day from now on. Yay exams!

5th Year Selectives

I suppose I should clarify what the choices are for 5th year. Its a little weird in that we get 2 set of choices, so you can either do 2 tier 1's, which are more broad, or a tier 1 and a tier 2 that gets into a little more depth. These are what I'm deciding between:

Tier 1 Production animal

This selective focuses on farm animal medicine, with a particular emphasis on herd health and population medicine theory and application, and provides opportunities for students to develop skills in herd health and quantitative methods in population medicine.  Students will be based primarily at the SCPAHFS in a single group of up to seven, and will work with the farm animal team, researchers in population medicine and biology, and external contributors to the course.
There are a number of tutorials and practicals associated with this module, as well as a substantial amount of self directed work and scheduled time to make the most of this material and to explore some of your own interests in more depth. You will also have first priority for farm investigations and visits - these may come from any member of the farm animal clinical staff, and may be at short notice.
The rotation will mostly be based in SCPAHFS seminar room 3, on the same corridor as the farm animal prep room/pharmacy.  There are student computers in this room, and the room is booked for the entirety of your rotation to be used as your ‘base of operations’ 
 By the end of this selective students should be able to:
 Plan, implement and report back on a herd health investigation

• Work independently and effectively as part of a team
• Be able to work with and analyse electronic data records to produce relevant reports
• Have a basic understanding of important peripheral concepts for production animal health
• To recall the epidemiology, pathogenesis and treatment of important diseases of major production animal species
• To describe and quantify the risk factors for development and prevention of important diseases of major production animal species
• To be able to describe and measure key performance indicators with respect to major production animal species
• To develop practical skills realting to basic surgical procedures in cattle

Tier 2 Production animal

This Tier 2 Selecitve includes several opportunities designed to enable students with an interest in Produciton animal practice to expand their skills.  Tier 2 PA options can only be selected by students who have completed Tier 1.
The options are:
1. Tier 2 PA: Dairy
These are external placements in practice or academic environments specialising in Dairy pracitce.  Specific opportunities may vary year to year, but for 2014/15 students will completed Dairy selecitves at UC Davis, Purdue and Torch Farm in Devon

OR

Tier 1 Tropical Veterinary Medicine

This Selecitve is based at Garscube.  The format will be a mixture of presentations and study guides with group discussion.
Topics covered are likely to inlcude:
1. Ecosystems and ecological analysis (Dan Haydon)
2. Tropical and arid livestock production (Nick Jonsson)
3. Common livestock health problems in tropical and arid environments (Nick
Jonsson)
4. Conservation genetics (Barbara Mable)
5. Concepts of wildlife management (Nick Jonsson)
6. Transboundary diseases (Sarah Cleaveland)
7. Conservation biology concepts (Livia Benato)
Specific intended learning outcomes for the Tier 1 Selective are as follows:
By the end of this module students should be able to

T1.1. Analyse environments and ecosystems
a. Describe the major components that define an animal’s environment
b. Define an ecosystem
c. Describe an ecosystem in quantitative terms
d. Define and measure the health of ecosystems
e. Describe and analyse human attempts to manage ecosystem health
including conservation genetics
f. Describe the role of grazing livestock in ecosystem management
g. Analyse the ecological interactions between livestock and wildlife
T1.2. Analyse livestock production systems common in southern Africa
a. Describe the diverse livestock production systems that exist in African
environments
b. Analyse and discuss the effects of climatic, topographic, social, political
and economic characteristics on the systems used for livestock
production in Africa.
c. List and discuss the main drivers for ownership of livestock in Africa
d. Analyse the impact of the reasons for keeping livestock on their health
and on the delivery of animal health programmes
e. Discuss the effects of land tenure systems on livestock health
f. Compare temperate with tropical and subtropical livestock production
systems
T1.3. Analyse the effects of tropical and subtropical environments on animal health
a. Identify environmental factors that can affect animal health
b. Identify factors specific to tropical systems that affect animal health
c. Evaluate the impact of environmental and production system-driven
factors on animal health
d. Analyse existing strategies and construct alternatives for ameliorating the
effects of tropical and subtropical environments on animal health
e. Analyse and discuss the effects of tropical and arid environments on
livestock health and production
f. Construct strategies to deal with a range of animal health problems
peculiar to tropical and subtropical production systems
T1.4. Discuss the challenges of veterinary service delivery in Africa
a. Recognise and critique the roles of government in veterinary service
delivery
b. Describe the variety of regulatory frameworks for veterinary service
delivery
c. Identify and analyse the impact of different regulatory frameworks,
socioeconomic effects and environments on the role of the veterinarian.
d. Describe and analyse veterinary public health systems

Tier 2 International Veterinary Medicine

This Tier 2 Option is only available to students who have completed Tier 1 Tropical Veterinary medicine.  The selective takes place in Botswana,  There is usually a block of Extra mural studies available at the end of the placement to enable students to extend the time they spend in Botswana.
Placements will be arranged in conjunction with University of Botswana Study
Abroad Programme.
Week 1 and 2 – placements in Botswana
1. Wildlife field officers
2. Botswana Meat Commission
3. National Veterinary Laboratories
4. Department of Veterinary Services field services
5. Botswana Vaccine Institute
6. Private practice
7. Others as identified
Weeks 3 and 4 as per programme below – topics covered include
1. Transboundary diseases
2. Wildlife conservation law – International and Botswana-specific
3. Wildlife management and conservation
4. Wildlife capture/restraint/treatment
5. Botswana specific issues
6. Regulation
7. Veterinary profession in Botswana and Africa
8. Careers development
Week 4 – Maun – Okavango Research Institute
1. Wildlife management
2. Transboundary diseases
3. Wildlife management and conservation
4. Wildlife capture/restraint/treatment
Further detail on the arrnagements for this option in 2013/14 is available here.

 

So its a tough one!

Mocks

Fri was the mock OSCE and it went pretty well, only failed 1 station, but it was urinalysis so no surprise there. Other than that not much really to report. Still deciding on 5th year stuff, though I'm fairly certain now what I'm going to pick. Gearing up for the end of term, we're more or less done with classes now so it's really time to buckle down and study and try to learn all this! Crazy that in 2 months it'll be summer holiday and I'll be back in CA for a bit then get to do some EMS! I'm also working on some ideas for fundraising for our booth at the vet school Rodeo, so trying to come up with ways to get us some money to get this off the ground now that I have actual responsibilities! Eek!

Officially Fundraiser Chair!

Me and my old flat mate are officially the fundraiser chair for the charity organisation that one of my classmates is starting for us to treat homeless dogs. So now we can finally get started organising stuff to raise some money! So thats pretty exciting! This week we're just doing a bunch of clinical skills stuff, which is fun but stressful since mock OSCEs are friday adn we haven't had any open labs yet, so they are going to be a bit of a cluster, but they are mock, so they're sort of just practice. other than that not much really going on, schools winding down, after this week only 2 days of class left!

long time no blog

I know I've been terrible about keeping this up, though not much has been happening. We just got our 5th year selective email the other day, so I'm in the midst of trying to figure out what I'm going to do with that yikes! My old flatmate and I are running for fundraising chair for a clinic that out year is starting that does exams on homeless peoples dogs, so hopefully we get elected to that! I got side fringe today, so thats pretty exciting, and we just booked a holiday for a weekend in Iceland in Sept! Other than that the year is winding down and the panic of exams is starting to set in!