Veterinary

Veterinary medicine is the application of medical, diagnostic, and therapeutic principles to companion, domestic, exotic, wildlife, and production animals.

Veterinary medicine is informally as old as the human/animal bond but in recent years has expanded exponentially because of the availability of advanced diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for most species. Animals nowadays often receive advanced medical, dental, and surgical care including insulin injections, root canals, hip replacements, cataract extractions, and pacemakers.

Veterinarians assist in ensuring the quality, quantity, and security of food supplies by working to maintain the health of livestock and inspecting the meat itself. Veterinary scientists are very important in chemical, biological, and pharmacological research.

In many countries, equine veterinary medicine is also a specialized field. Clinical work with horses involves mainly locomotor and orthopaedic problems, digestive tract conditions (including equine colic, which is a major cause of death among domesticated horses), and respiratory tract infections and disorders.

Education in veterinary medicine

Many universities worldwide confer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in veterinary medicine. In most countries, veterinary practitioners are regulated and registered on a national or state level. While the duration and exact content of undergraduate degrees in veterinary medicine varies, they are typically from 4 to 7 years in duration. They consist of several introductory years which may include some "pre-vet" or general scientific training. These pre-clinical years provide a basis in veterinary anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology, pathology, parasitology, animal breeding, botany, animal feeding and nutrition, radiology, virology, microbiology, zoology, animal physiology, physics, chemistry and other important subject areas. The final years of most veterinary medicine degrees consist of a greater proportion of practical clinical work (e.g. internal medicine, dentistry, surgery, obstetrics), in which students are guided to apply the theory they have learned in a supervised environment. When students complete their education, they are normally granted a diploma as Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) or a Veterinary Medical Doctor (VMD).

Admission into veterinary medical school is competitive. According to the US Department of Labor, 1 in 3 applicants was accepted into a veterinary program in 2002. (Compare this with human medical school statistics of 1 in 2 applicants accepted; albeit human medical school matriculants (accepted students) tend to have higher average GPAs ~3.62 (AAMC) and hence more competitive). Prerequisites for admission include the undergraduate studies listed above and extensive veterinary experience (typically about 500 or more hours) in private practice or other veterinary environment. The average veterinary medical student has an undergraduate GPA of 3.53 [1] and a GRE score of approximately 1800.

While veterinary medicine is conventionally practiced distinctly from human medicine, the emerging interdisciplinary field of conservation medicine involves both, employing multidisciplinary teams that include medical doctors, veterinarians, environmental scientists, and other researchers and clinicians. In 2004, Australia's Murdoch University School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences started courses for a Master degree as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Veterinary Conservation Medicine.

See also

Look up Veterinary medicine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

• American Veterinary Medical Association
• Avian veterinarian
• Equine veterinarian
• Exotic Animal veterinarian
• List of veterinarians
• Schools of veterinary medicine
• Veterinary technician
• Veterinarian
• Veterinarian's Oath
• Veterinary informatics

External links

• Veterinarian Software Information Clearinghouse - Presents a list of veterinary software packages and reviews of major systems
• Ask A Librarian - Website for locating Human Medical and Health and Veterinary Information