Four veterinarians from the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine recently traveled to China to produce the inaugural International Small Animal Practice Symposium at Nanjing Agricultural University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Drs. Andrew Burton, Gina Davis, Jonathan Dear and Karl Jandrey traveled to Nanjing-located roughly 200 miles west of Shanghai-in January to complete the four-day continuing education (CE) seminar for a capacity crowd of 50 Chinese veterinarians. The UC Davis veterinarians discussed topics routinely encountered at the School's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
During each four-hour morning session, a different UC Davis veterinarian delivered a series of lectures focused on common issues and problems in small animal general practice, such as chronic renal failure, fluid therapy, respiratory distress and dermatologic disease. All four veterinarians taught alongside each other in four-hour afternoon laboratories. Small group, hands-on learning allowed for the application of techniques discussed in the morning lectures. Sample laboratory procedures included physical examination, bone marrow aspiration, endotracheal lavage, arthrocentesis and esophagostomy tube placement.
This is the first overseas CE event conducted since Jandrey became director of UC Davis'Center for Continuing Professional Education. With the success of this event and the need for more CE in underserved and developing regions of the world, Jandrey looks forward to producing more of these events.
"Our colleagues at NAU were fantastic hosts and truly placed a large amount of energy and support into this event," said Jandrey. "They are committed to continue this relationship and these training symposia."
With about 80 percent of China's approximately one million veterinarians focused on food animal medicine and working in the food industry, small animal educational opportunities are not as plentiful for Chinese veterinary students as they are at American and other Western veterinary schools. While small animal private practices in China are growing modern facilities, the government does not invest as much in that 20 percent of academic training. Therefore, CE events like this are extremely important for Chinese veterinarians to learn the latest techniques and pass that knowledge along to their colleagues who want to pursue small animal careers.
"As small animal clinical veterinary medicine becomes more refined and embraced in China, UC Davis is ready to assist with more intensive training symposia with both lectures and laboratories that enhance their level of practice," continued Jandrey.
Another contingent of UC Davis veterinarians plan to travel to Nanjing this fall with new topics for the Chinese audience. |