Attending both labs and lectures is essential in stepping up the orthopedic care at your practice.
Whether orthopedics is your passion or not your cup of tea, it’s pretty hard to avoid it in a veterinary clinic. The orthopedic training a veterinarian receives at veterinary school is limited, so post-graduation training is essential to providing above-average diagnosis and treatment.
Here, we'll discuss the advantages of attending both lectures and labs for a more complete ability to improve orthopedic care at your practice.
Lectures or Labs?
When deciding what veterinary orthopedic CE to attend, many will weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a didactic lecture setting and a hands-on laboratory learning experience. In reality, you need both.
On the one hand, lectures are great for learning about various types of cases and possible complications—the basic things you need to know before stepping into the exam room.
On the other hand, you learn the tips and tricks to a procedure that may have been overlooked or forgotten in a textbook. In a lab, you actually learn how to do procedures, and at places like the Oquendo Campus, you get one-on-one instruction from an orthopedics expert. There’s no substitute for that.
Upcoming Topics
Looking forward to the WVC Annual Conference, the topics and procedures you can learn hands-on are relating to patellar luxation, extracapsular CrCL and meniscus repair, and hip fracture repair.
As far as lectures go, you can come hear about hip luxation, hip dysplasia, and osteoarthritis. These are interactive ways to get the information and connect with other professionals in the field.
Are They Worth It?
Why are these learning opportunities worth it? Well, it could give more of your patients the chance for earlier, less risky treatment of their orthopedic injuries. More training leads to earlier diagnoses, and earlier diagnoses gives patients more options for treatment.
For example, if you catch a hip problem in a young dog when they’re about 4 months old, there is a great, noninvasive treatment that isn’t effective in an older dog. Called JPS (juvenile pubic symphysiodesis), this treatment involves applying heat to the bone, providing a more stable hip.
At 5, 6, or 7 months, a dog with hip dysplasia has the option of doing a procedure called DPO (double pelvic osteotomy). If the patient is any older than that, the only options are a medical or surgical treatment, meaning an FHO or total hip replacement.
With more advanced orthopedic training, your patients will directly benefit from your knowledge and ability to diagnose earlier. Worth it? We think so!
Stay in the Know!
Click the link to subscribe to our YouTube channel or check out our WVC Resource Library full of great podcasts, videos, and digital downloads!
Disclaimer
Content may contain advertising and sponsorships. Advertisers and sponsors are responsible for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion is accurate and complies with applicable laws. We are not responsible for the illegality or any error, inaccuracy, or problem in the advertiser’s or sponsor’s materials.
Advertising and sponsorship material and/or opinions are not are not a reflection on Viticus Group.
