Just rolling off the end of our first Diagnostic Challenge. This is an exercise in which classes are cancelled Mon-Thurs, and our class is broken up into groups, given 'clients', and we simulate working through real cases. It was a lot of fun, although sometimes knowledge is scary. Our case involved a couple dogs who both contracted multi-drug resistant
staphylococcus intermedius infections at 'our' hospital; these bugs were only susceptible to one antibiotic tested, which is the same drug used in humans as a last resort to combat really strong versions of MRSA and the like. Bringing up the ethical question: should we even be using this drug in a veterinary capacity? If by using it, we select for a strain of bacteria that doesn't even respond to the strong stuff and that is transmitted to a human, then what? Obviously if my dog was suffering a potentially fatal infection I would want to treat it. But I would also be pretty pissed if I or my friends then got a resistant strain and you know, died. If it's all the same to y'all I would like to crawl back under my cozy rock of ignorance now.
In other news, last weekend I went on a field trip to the largest dairy farm in Washington state--they milk 21,000 cows a day, basically around the clock. The management system in place on that farm is insane. We also got to see a calf born, two calves pulled from a cow who was having a bit of trouble, and do jugular blood draws on calves (I feel about calves the same way I feel about cats: it is a crying shame that they have to grow into cows because they're so cute and harmless as babies).
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Attempting to locate the jugular under all that fuzz. Yes it's the size of a
garden hose. No I'm not a gifted phlebotomist. |
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Please note the sweet stethoscope. Thanks Mom and Dad!
Also, it was raining. So much for "Sunnyside". |
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We got to do necropsies (autopsies) on a few calves that had died.
I decided that this was as graphic as I would get for you guys.
You probably think my life is way weird already. |
I have to run to class at the moment but I'll be back for more later. It's 5:10 pm. That's dedication, people.
