July 2024

How to Stay Current and UTD in Veterinary Medicine

By Dr. Garret Pachtinger, VMD, DACVECC, Director of Operations / Co-Founder, VETgirl

In this VETgirl online veterinary continuing education blog, Dr. Garret Pachtinger, VMD, DACVECC talks about how to stay current and “UTD” in veterinary medicine (And no, not on your vaccines here, but your clinical advancement!).

20 years ago, when I graduated from veterinary school at PennVet, it was a bit simplier. Don’t get me wrong – the field of veterinary medicine was advancing rapidly, but there weren’t as many specialty clinics around, and everyone didn’t have an ultrasound, Doppler/blood pressure monitoring, pulse ox, and advanced diagnostics in their clinic. Thankfully, vet med has progressively improved and pets are living longer and longer as treatment and diagnostic modalities improve!

As the field of veterinary medicine continues to advance, staying up-to-date with the latest developments and techniques has become essential for professionals in the industry. Of course, I’m biased (in full disclosure), since I’m the co-founder of VETgirl, but I’m a firm believer that continuing education (CE) offers veterinary professionals an opportunity to broaden their knowledge, refine their skills, and provide the best care possible for their patients. In this blog, I’ll explore the huge benefits of continuing education and it’s impact on your veterinary career, animal health, and your overall well-being.

Staying Current with Advances in Veterinary Medicine
The veterinary field is constantly evolving, with new treatments, medications, and technologies emerging regularly. Continuing education provides veterinarians with access to the latest research and developments, ensuring they are equipped to offer the best care to their patients. Staying current allows for the incorporation of the most effective and cutting-edge treatments into their practice. With new updates from oral treatment for diabetes mellitus in cats to new medications to treat parvovirus and pancreatitis, you’ll want to stay up to date!

Improving Your Clinical Mojo (e.g., Diagnostic Abilities)
One of the primary responsibilities of a veterinarian is diagnosing and treating a wide range of illnesses and conditions. CE opportunities enable professionals to improve their diagnostic skills, helping them to accurately identify diseases and ailments earlier, which can significantly impact treatment outcomes. Advanced diagnostic techniques such as imaging and genetic testing are continually evolving, and CE helps practitioners keep pace.

Watching our Videos So You Improve your Clinical Mojo: Part 2 (e.g., Treatment Options)
Continuing education can expose veterinarians to innovative treatment options and therapies, such as minimally invasive surgical procedures, advanced rehabilitation techniques, and novel medications. These new approaches can enhance patient care, reduce recovery times, and improve the overall quality of life for animals. Maybe you’re a newer veterinary graduate or veterinary technician graduate, and need help figuring out things like how to calculate constant rate infusions to help treat your patients to how to perform a bone marrow to how to spay a big dog to how to set up a blood transfusion to treat your critically ill patient. Our VETgirl videos are there to help!

How to perform a bone marrow VETgirl

Building Your Leadership/Practice Management Mojo
Veterinary professionals are not only responsible for treating patients but also for leading their veterinary team to helping their veterinary clinic financial succeed. There’s a wealth of CE programs out there that provide leadership and practice management training, from communication skills to building your veterinary team to helping you learn how to do job reviews to building the young leader in your veterinary clinic. Since 2019, VETgirl has offered several tracks (a minimum of 1 webinar a month!) in leadership and practice management (that also qualify for CVPM!) so you can build your professional mojo.

Building Your Veterinary Community (e.g., Networking on Our VETgirl Forum!)
Continuing education events and conferences (such as VETgirl U) provide opportunities for veterinarians, veterinary students (Thank you, amazing VETgirl U volunteers and VETgirl student reps!) and veterinary professionals to connect with their peers, exchange ideas, and build professional relationships. Collaboration with other veterinary peeps in the field can lead to job opportunities and connections (e.g., like if you’re thinking of going into veterinary industry!), and life-long friendships. After all, it’s a really small (veterinary) world!)

VETgirl message board

Our VETgirl ELITE (members only) message board, where you could post your medical questions or job postings

Career Advancement
CE can open doors to various career opportunities within the veterinary field. Veterinarians, veterinary technicians and veterinary professoinals who actively engage in ongoing veterinary CE may find themselves better positioned for promotions, specialized roles, or even leadership positions within their organizations. This can lead to personal and financial growth in their careers. More importantly, if you’re thinking of changing your veterinary career and going into industry, you’ll want to build your emotional intelligence, practice management and leadership skills! We’ve had a lot of veterinarians stop by our VETgirl booth at veterinary conferences telling them how much they appreciated the CE to help them switch from an equine or large animal vet to small animal (or vice versa with our large animal/equine CE track!).

Maintaining Your Veterinary License
Last but not least, you need to maintain your veterinary license with CE! Many regulatory bodies and licensing authorities require veterinarians and veterinary technicians to complete a certain number of CE hours (typically 20 hours in most states) to maintain their licenses. By staying up-to-date with CE requirements, professionals can ensure their legal compliance and continue to practice without interruptions. In fact, that’s why Justine & I created VETgirl over a decade ago – to help busy veterinary professionals learn from the comforts of home! (And that was PRE-COVID!).

In the dynamic and evolving field of veterinary medicine, continuing education is not just an option; it’s a necessity. The benefits of staying current with advances in veterinary medicine, building your clinical mojo, staying connected, and maintaining your veterinary license (from the comforts of home!) are just a few of the reasons why veterinarians, veterinary technicians, new grads, veterinary students, and our amazing veterinary staff should embrace CE. We personally built VETgirl because we love our amazing veterinary community and want to provide support as specialists through your screen or device!


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