Page 2 - Clinical Connections Autumn 2015

NEWS
World
ranking success
The RVC has been ranked as the top veterinary school in the UK and third in the world by QS World University Rankings. The College was compared against 326 other institutions offering veterinary science courses worldwide. Institutions were judged on academic and employer reputation as well as citations per faculty. The ranking process surveys tens of thousands of academic respondents and around 27,000 employers from across the globe to measure each institution’s reputation. The exceptional clinical services at the RVC are key to the world-class education delivered to students, while also benefiting animals and supporting referring vets.
Pathology progress
Six RVC residents have passed the General Pathology examination that forms the first part of the diploma qualification of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP). The ACVP pathology exam is one of the most challenging postgraduate veterinary qualifications in the world and, until recently, it was unusual for veterinary surgeons not trained in North America to achieve the qualification. However, since 2006 the RVC Pathology Group, led by Professor Ken Smith, has been developing and applying a strategy to train veterinary graduates to achieve this prestigious goal. The pathology team works closely with the clinical teams in the RVC hospitals to support patients and also offers a comprehensive laboratory diagnostic service to the veterinary profession.
Continued from front page
We are privileged to have more than our fair share of outstanding specialist clinicians and veterinary nurses working in the RVC’s teaching hospitals, and when we are at our best, it’s always the compassion and professionalism of these caring individuals combined with a commitment to our multidisciplinary ethos that shines through: working together with referring vets and clients, we believe we can be greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Rather than relying on a single specialist to progress a case, at the RVC we work hard to bring in expertise from related disciplines right from the start with the aim of bringing about speedier and improved outcomes for the animals, and in this issue, we feature a range of clinical
cases that have bene ted directly from this team approach.
Our ambition is to ensure that by referring to one of our teaching hospitals, not only will your patients receive the best possible care, but that you become an important part of the RVC ethos: exceptional individually, collectively extraordinary...
Graham Milligan, Vice Principal (Clinical Services), Editor
A word from our Editor
2 RVC Clinical Connections Autumn 2015
the seizure, how long it lasted and how severe the owner rated it to be.
Owners can also share seizure and medication diaries directly with researchers at the RVC, where anonymised data is stored.This allows long-term studies of seizure activity for a large number of dogs.
The app’s contents were designed by the RVC Canine Epilepsy Research team members Holger Volk and Rowena Packer. Professor Volk, Clinical Director of RVC Small Animal Referrals and specialist in neurology and neurosurgery, said: “I am totally thrilled by us being able to support all the owners of pets with epilepsy out there with this app. Being able to objectively monitor your pet’s seizures and having medication reminders will give some control back to owners and improve their quality of life and, most importantly, the one of their pet.”
Co-designer of the app and clinical investigations postdoctoral researcher at RVC, Dr Rowena Packer, added: “We hope this app will be a great help to
owners, but also to all the vets managing this challenging condition in their practices, who will be able to receive full records of their patients’ seizures, medication and history at the click of a button.”
“By offering owners the opportunity to share their records directly with us at RVC, we hope they will feel a part of better understanding canine epilepsy by contributing to future research in this simple way.”
The RVC Pet Epilepsy Tracker was partly funded by an educational grant from Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health and supported by Blu’s Tale Foundation, a support group run by owners of dogs with epilepsy.To view or download the app, use one of the following URLs:
Apple iOS: goo.gl/55MCaL Google Android: goo.gl/fWLuFc
For RVC Small Animal Referrals contact details please see the back cover