RCVS Knowledge - Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine

Welcome to the third episode of a series for Suitably Qualified Persons or Registered Animal Medicines Advisors. This series is a collaboration between RCVS Knowledge and AMTRA. This podcast series will highlight how the courses on the RCVS Knowledge Learn platform can be used for your self-reflection CPD. This week’s episode covers VetTeamAMR, and the Companion Animal and Equine courses, an RCVS...

In this podcast Veterinary Evidence Editor in Chief Peter Cockcroft speaks to the first and second place winners of the Veterinary Evidence Student Awards, Amelia Cannadine and Oliver Wilkinson. Amelia and Oliver both discussed the process of writing award winning knowledge summaries for Veterinary Evidence.   Read Amelia's knowledge summary here   Read Oliver's knowledge summary here   Read the t...

In this Knowledge Award audio summary, Hannah Jones from Avenue Veterinary Centre, explains how her team approached a prospective audit using post-operative pain scoring to assess the analgesia protocols for neutering in feline patients. A change in the protocols led to a 61% reduction in the number of cats requiring rescue analgesia post-operatively.    Read the  full case example. Read the  tran...

In this Knowledge Natter, Lou Northway speaks to Lizzie McLennan-Green from CVS about their award winning project using clinical audit to look into blood pressure monitoring in cats. By creating a wide range of guidance documents and providing team training, the Clinical Leadership Team increased blood pressure monitoring, and enabled earlier identification and treatment of hypertension in cats ag...

In this Knowledge Award audio summary, Lizzie Booth from Quarry Veterinary Group, explains how her team reviewed aspects of the BSAVA Protect ME Poster to facilitate discussions on their antimicrobial stewardship activities and rational use of antibiotics in ear and skin conditions. This led to several initiatives including all team training and new guidelines, resulting in an impressive 89% reduc...

In this Knowledge Award audio overview, Megan Orr from Roundhouse Hospital, explains how her practice approached the introduction of a surgical safety checklist. This nurse-led initiative and audit to assess its use resulted in a 94% compliance with completing the checklists, benefitting patient safety and team communication. Megan was awarded Highly Commended in the 2024 RCVS Knowledge Awards. Re...

In this Knowledge Natter podcast, Lou Northway speaks to 2024 Quality Improvement champion, Paul Stanley from White Lodge Veterinary Surgery about their award winning initiative looking at post-operative pain scoring and management in their bitch spay patients. Team training and updating pain management protocols enabled them to both improve their pain scores and reduce the number of dogs requirin...

Sally Everitt speaks to Martin Whitehead about the "Down the drain" study, looking at how spot-on parasiticides applied to dogs can contaminate the environment, and how he takes a risk-based approach to the prevention and treatment of parasites. Read the transcript Read the paper Additional resources Down-the-drain pathways for fipronil and imidacloprid applied as spot-on parasiticides to dogs: Es...

In this Knowledge Natter podcast, Lou Northway speaks to 2024 Quality Improvement champion, Corinne Ackroyd from Yorkshire Vets about her nurse-led initiative to reduce the use of oxygen and volatile anaesthetic gasses. Through the initiative, the team were able to substantially reduce oxygen and isoflurane use. The carbon footprint reduction is the equivalent of driving from London to Rome, and b...

Quality Improvement (QI) techniques can be used to review and improve administrative tasks, helping to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and profitability of practices. This in turn helps to improve clinical outcomes and bring the whole team together with a shared purpose. In this episode, our QI Clinical Lead and Chair of the Quality Improvement Advisory Board (QIAB), Pam Mosedale speaks to P...

In this Research Focus podcast, small animal internal medicine specialist Scott Kilpatrick discusses his study on cobalamin supplementation in dogs with RCVS Knowledge Clinical Lead Sally Everitt. They use Scott’s study as a jumping off point to discuss all manner of topics, including the benefits and drawbacks of doing research as a practising vet, how to bring pet owners on board with research,...

Dr Kit Sturgess, outgoing Editor-in-Chief of Veterinary Evidence, chatted to two of the winners of our 2023 Veterinary Evidence Student Awards - Rebecca Hearne and Rachel Garrett - about their experiences of writing Knowledge Summaries for Veterinary Evidence and how it felt to be published in a peer-reviewed journal before graduating.  Read the transcript  

Rosemullion Veterinary Practice were named Quality Improvement Champions in the 2023 Knowledge Awards for conducting an audit aimed at improving infection control and cleaning methods in clinical and non-clinical areas. In this Knowledge Natter, Lou Northway speaks to Abi Redfearn from Rosemullion Veterinary Practice about the audit.  Read the transcript    

To celebrate International Women’s Day our Clinical Leads Pam Mosedale, Sally Everitt, and Fiona Lovatt speak about their careers in the veterinary professions. Read the transcript.

For this Knowledge Natter, our Farm Vet Champions Lead Fiona Lovatt spoke to Tonia Simms from the Farm Vets at Hampden Veterinary Hospital (VetPartners). Tonia won an RCVS Knowledge Award in 2023 for her work on auditing antibiotic use in surgical calf castrates, which reduced the use of antibiotics without compromising patient welfare. Read the transcript. Read Tonia's case example

The School of Veterinary Nursing at the Royal Veterinary College were named Quality Improvement Champions in the 2023 Knowledge Awards. In this Knowledge Natter, Lou Northway talks to Perdi Welsh and Niamh Clancy from the Royal Veterinary College about their winning initiative to incorporate QI within their post-registration qualifications, guiding students through a number of measures to carry ou...

In this audio summary, Alexander Wallace asks, in canine patients recovering from surgery for intervertebral disc disease, do passive range of motion exercises, compared to no intervention, lead to a shorter or faster rate of recovery? Read the full Knowledge Summary here. Audio Summaries  are a free resource that enable vets and vet nurses to more quickly and more easily access and digest relevan...

In this episode, Helen Silver-MacMahon talks to Pam Mosedale about Clinical Audit Awareness Week 2023, and how you can get involved by making a start on your own clinical audits.   Read the transcript   Learn more about Clinical Audit Awareness Week

Sally Everitt speaks with Elly Russell and Julie Gibson about the paper 'Are They Thinking Differently? The Perceptions and Differences in Medical Disputes between Veterinarians and Clients'. Read the paper Read the podcast transcript Some further resources that are referenced in the podcast are linked below: Read the paper by Russell, E. et al (2022) Read the paper by Gibson, J. et al (2022) Read...

In this VetTeamAMR podcast, Pam Mosedale speaks with Danny Chambers MP about the upcoming Antibiotic Amnesty. Danny touches on his experiences working in equine and small animal practice to discuss why the Antibiotic Amnesty is important, and how you can get involved. Get involved with the Antibiotic Amnesty campaign. Disclaimer: the views expressed in this episode are that of the interviewee and...

Pam Mosedale speaks to 2023 Knowledge Award Antimicrobial Stewardship Champions Paul Stanley and Emily Parr from White Lodge Veterinary Surgery in Exmouth. They conducted a prospective audit to review antibiotic use in cat bite abscesses and successfully treated 86% of their patients without antibiotics without compromising patient welfare.  Read the podcast transcript Read Paul and Emily's case e...

In this Audio Summary, Anne-Claude asks, in cats with psychogenic alopecia, is overgrooming reduced by the use of clomipramine compared to untreated cats? Read the full Knowledge Summary here. Audio Summaries  are a free resource that enable vets and vet nurses to more quickly and more easily access and digest relevant and up-to-date evidence! A time-saving way to make better and faster evidence-b...

In this Audio Summary, Bonnie looks at whether lokivetmab is more effective than oclacitinib in reducing the Canine Atopic Dermatitis Lesion Index score (or some other recognised scoring system), in dogs with atopic skin disease. Read the full Knowledge Summary here.   Audio Summaries  are a free resource that enable vets and vet nurses to more quickly and more easily access and digest relevant an...

Sally Everitt speaks with Alex German, Professor of Small Animal Medicine at the University of Liverpool about the implications of his research into weight gain after neutering reported in the research paper entitled 'Comparison of growth in neutered Domestic Shorthair kittens with growth in sexually-intact Cats'. Read the paper Read the podcast transcript Read our inFOCUS Spotlight summary on the...

In this Audio Summary, Anna looks at whether dogs that are brachycephalic have an increased risk for developing heat-related illness compared to dogs that are not brachycephalics. Read the full Knowledge Summary here. Audio Summaries  are a free resource that enables vets and vet nurses to access and digest relevant and up-to-date evidence quicker and easier. A time-saving way to make better and f...