RCVS Knowledge - Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine

It is widely believed that laminitis poses a threat to the health and welfare of all Equidae; however, there is a paucity of evidence-based research on fundamental aspects of the disease, including how commonly it occurs, its clinical presentation and those animals at greatest risk. Following generous funding from World Horse Welfare, we have produced a programme of work over the last eight years...

Q&A from Kristen's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 2, 2016.

To help make EBVM accessible to the veterinary profession worldwide, we assembled an extensive international team (the EBVM Learning Consortium) with a collective passion for delivering high-quality teaching of EBVM and developed an open access, online resource: ebvmlearning.org. It is hoped that the development of this resource will increase awareness of EBVM in the veterinary profession and allo...

Q&A from Dan's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 2, 2016.

When a piece of ‘evidence’ is generated in the research environment and almost nobody hears about it, then can we really still call it a piece of ‘evidence’? Does evidence only become evidence once it is used; and until then, is it just a piece of insignificant information? As we inexorably travel through the EBVM era, we must increasingly prioritise effective dissemination of evidence. This paper...

The evidence pyramid for assessing the efficacy of interventions under real world conditions has been used in various forms for many years, and to a lesser extent the pyramid has been used for assessing evidence for disease risk factors. While acknowledging minor differences, many pyramids list the following information sources for interventions in decreasing order of “validity”: systematic review...

This podcast discusses how a significant event can lead to the practice examining what happened, looking at the evidence base, revising protocols & auditing implementation of the new protocols. A significant event is an event thought by anyone in the team to be significant in the care of patients or the conduct of the practice.   Veterinary Evidence Today Edinburgh, 1-3 November 2016

Embracing EBVM as a concept is an important first step, but is of little value unless it is translated into an improvement in patient care. This session will discuss how EBVM can be incorporated into clinical guidelines at a practice level, using a team-based approach to maximise concordance.  BV - Embedding EBVM into Practice   Veterinary Evidence Today Edinburgh, 1-3 November 2016

Always wondered why research papers often present rather complicated statistical analyses? Or wondered how to properly analyse the results of a pragmatic trial from your own practice? This talk will give an overview of basic statistical principles and focus on the why of statistics, rather than on the how.     MN - Introduction to Statistics  Veterinary Evidence Today Edinburgh, 1-3 November 2016

Q&A from Sue and Andrea's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 1, 2016.

The evolution of veterinary nursing over the past fifty years combined with the introduction of the RCVS Register and Code of Conduct means that RVN's are now accountable for their actions and as a result must develop the ability to critically appraise, both their own practice and the protocols of the organisation in which they work, as part of clinical governance. It is therefore important that t...

Q&A from Louise's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 1, 2016. 

This talk will look at difficulties for RVNs working in private practice gaining access to sufficient papers and studies in order to provide the evidence we need, and also looking at the selection of appropriate topics. We will look at sources of information such as the RCVS Knowledge library in order to collect evidence, and also how to select appropriate, relevant topics for research which will...

Q&A from Richard's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 3, 2016. 

Research is essential to provide the evidence-base for veterinary science in order to improve the health and welfare of animals and to improve public health. In this session, Dr Mellanby will discuss the valuable contribution that practice-based veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses can make to the future of veterinary knowledge.    Veterinary Evidence Today Edinburgh, 1-3 November 2016  

Q&A from Ava and Ian's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 2, 2016.

Whilst there is a small body of research that investigates the development of EBVM skills in veterinary undergraduates there is a paucity of research that aims to understand the development of EBVM skills in practice-based post-graduate veterinary surgeons. This talk on a paper is a small step in remedying that shortfall. In particular, the paper provides a progress report on an RCVS Knowledge fun...

Q&A from Steve and David's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 1, 2016.

Practice-based research should be performed in all practice settings if the results are to be applied to all practice settings. While the previous statement seems intuitive, that is to have practice-based evidence strengthen evidence-based medicine. The development of such a system of data collection and dissemination has not developed very rapidly.  This lecture will describe how the VetCompass P...

To be able to practice evidence-based veterinary medicine, clinicians need high quality relevant evidence to integrate with their clinical decision making. Rachel's talk explores how relevance is possibly more important than quality as even the best evidence cannot be used if it can't be applied to veterinary practice.   RD - Irrelevant, Irrelevant, Irrelevant! Time to change our approach to resea...

Q&A from Emma's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 3, 2016.

Emma Place gives a talk on how it can be common to get zero or low numbers of hits for a veterinary PICO search in bibliographic databases, particularly if results are screened for clinical trials...  EP - Literature Searching for Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine: Coping with Zero Hits Veterinary Evidence Today Edinburgh, 1-3 November 2016

Q&A from Gillian's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 3, 2016.

This talk will illustrate the highs and lows of using evidence in the healthcare setting, drawing on experience from the National Institue for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) relevant to veterinary medicine...  GL - Using Evidence: Pitfalls, Practicalities and Positive Benefits Veterinary Evidence Today Edinburgh, 1-3 November 2016  

Q&A from Mark Turner's talk at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 2, 2016.