Challenges in Veterinary Medicine

Technology.-

Today, people have so many tools in order to make good works, and to improve their lives too, but sometimes, this tools aren't very easy to use. For example, we, as future veterinaries, have to know how to make an excel sheet, in order to make calculations, or just to have a list of things, or that kind of stuff. We have to know how to search for scientifical papers in the internet, thus, we have to know how to use searchers, and so on.

We also may have to know how to use some technological instruments, as X-Ray machines, or gaseous anesthesia, or vital-signs monitors.

Social matters.-

The veterinary medician has to know how to deal with reluctant owners, whom believe that they know everything about their pets, and in the end, they end up (sorry for the redundance) messing up the things... all because they thought that their kitty would feel better if they give it a paracetamol, without knowing that it is toxic for them! So, the veterinary medician has some kind of "teacher" role, because they have to teach the owners how to take care better of their pets, and making them know that we are not trying to compete with them in knowledge, but trying to make their pets to feel better.

Also, there is a complicated point when we talk about the euthanasia. Some pets don't have a cure for their diseases, and by lengthening their lives we are only lengthening their pain. So, it comes to the veterinarian to put an end to the suffering. Talking to the owners, explaining them CLEARLY ENOUGH the things in order to make them understand the situation, and telling them what would become of their pet if they decide to make it stay alive, becomes the main task of us.

Education.-

Taking only one look to the streets of Santa Rosa it's enough to be acknowledged with the 'stray dogs' problem. It becomes a task too, to teach about the responsible pet possession. This, by means of making neutering campaings, showing the people how much do the puppies suffer several kinds of diseases when noone takes care of them, like parvovirus, distemper, mange and so on, and how much has this becoming a bigger problem that we thought.

Another challenges today.-

Being a veterinary medician it's not only taking care of the animals, and making sure they're healthy enough, but it's also about being useful in another areas. The best example for this is the zootherapy. Some animals have special qualities that make them ideal to be 'hired' in therapies with humans. We have dogs (some breeds only), dolphins, pigs, ewes, horses, and even marine turtles! Specifically, in our faculty, we have an zootherapy program with horses, and it helps with 'down syndrome' children. In other cases the zootherapy can be used to help autist people, blind people, people with alzheimer, and so on.

Also, investigation becomes another territory to explore, and out faculty does indeed have a good reputation at this point, becoming an incentive for the doubtful ones who don't know what kind of area would they like to go in depth.