Career planning....also for veterinarians?

Tijdschr Diergeneeskd. 2003 Sep 15;128(18):570-2 Authors: Hepkema TH PMID: 14535075 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Tanzanian high school students' attitude towards five university professional courses.

East Afr Med J. 2000 Mar;77(3):143-6

Authors: Kikwilu EN, Mugonzibwa EA, Rugarabamu PG, Ntabaye MK

OBJECTIVE: To determine the attitude of high school students majoring in Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB) towards Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine and Nursing as professions at university. DESIGN: A cross sectional study of a representative sample of high school students using a pretested attitudinal questionnaire. Attitude components tested were degree of liking, degree of admiration and intentions to visit a professional at work. SETTING: High schools in Tanzania mainland majoring in PCB. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: All 352 high school students from a representative sample of five schools: two boy-schools; two girl-schools; and one mixed gender-school participated by filling in a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of demographic variables on age, sex, class, education and employment status of father and mother as background variables, and questions on the degree of liking, admiration and preference to visit a particular professional at work. All the attitudinal questions were scored on a 5-point scale. Scores for the three-attitudinal components were summed to group subjects into positive, neutral and negative attitude. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Attitude of students to five professions they could study at a higher level. RESULTS: Eighty seven percent of the high school students had a positive attitude towards medicine, 66% towards pharmacy, 40% dentistry, 12% veterinary and 9% nursing. Dentistry and veterinary had the highest percentage of students (46.5% and 37.3%) who had a neutral attitude towards the professions, and the highest percentage of students (11.7% and 9.9%) who reported to have had no sufficient information to enable them indicate whether they admired dentistry and veterinary medicine or not. Significantly more girls than boys liked, admired and preferred to study nursing (chi2 varied from 11.39 to 12.99; p-value < 0.005). CONCLUSION: Medicine was the most liked profession while nursing was the least liked. Pharmacy, dentistry and veterinary medicine fell in between. There was insufficient knowledge about dentistry and veterinary medicine among the high school students. PMID: 12858889 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Women in veterinary medicine.

J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2000 Aug 15;217(4):472-6

Authors: Slater MR, Slater M PMID: 10953706 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Applications to veterinary school--a touch of class?

Vet Rec. 2001 Feb 10;148(6):160-1 PMID: 11258720 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Australian veterinarians who work with horses: an analysis.

Aust Vet J. 2004 Jun;82(6):340-5

Authors: Heath TJ

OBJECTIVE: To define and describe the population of Australian veterinarians who work with horses. METHOD: Questionnaires were mailed to 866 veterinarians who had been identified as working with horses, and 87% were completed and returned. Data were entered onto an Excel spreadsheet, and analysed using the SAS System for Windows. RESULTS: About 12% of Australia's veterinarians were doing all the veterinary work with horses, and about 3% worked exclusively (> 90%) with horses, but did more than half (58%) of the horse work. Veterinarians working with horses included more males (80%) than the veterinary population as a whole (approximately 60%). Males had an average age of 47 years, females 35. Almost all (94%) worked in private practice, with 31% being employees, 28% partners and 41% sole owners. Females were more likely to be employees than males. Males reported working 55 hours/week; females 49. More females (44%) than males (16%) had worked less than full-time for more than a year. Males expected to work for another 12 years in full-time equivalents, and females for 16. One quarter (24%) saw only horses, but treated 58% of total horse cases. One-half had < 25% horses, and 29% had < 10% of horses in their caseloads. More of the older (54% of those aged > 60) than younger respondents (27% of those < 40) had grown up on farms with animals. One-quarter (24%) decided to become a veterinarian while in primary school, and females decided at a younger age than males. Overall, younger respondents decided at a younger age than did their older counterparts. A veterinarian contributed to the decision for 21% of these veterinarians. CONCLUSION: In this survey, Australian veterinarians who work with horses were found to be typically male, and advanced in their careers. As these older veterinarians retire, there may not be enough veterinarians who are committed to and competent with horses to take their places.

PMID: 15267092 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Occupational health risks in veterinary nursing: an exploratory study.

Aust Vet J. 2004 Jun;82(6):346-50

Authors: van Soest EM, Fritschi L

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this exploratory study were to survey the prevalence of certain exposures and health problems among a group of veterinary nurses attending the International Veterinary Nurses' Conference in Brisbane, Australia, 2003 and to identify the main concerns among those veterinary nurses with regard to occupational health hazards they may face. METHODS AND MATERIALS: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was distributed among all attendees of the International Veterinary Nurses' Conference 2003, Brisbane, Australia (N=147 respondents among 215 surveyed). RESULTS: The prevalence of exposure to X-radiation (97%), anaesthetics (96%), disinfectants (96%) and vaccines (85%) was high. More than 70% of the nurses were exposed to formaldehyde (76%) and pesticides/insecticides (71%). For all exposures except vaccines, about 50% of the nurses exposed were worried about negative health consequences. Acute injuries were common with 98% of the nurses experiencing dog/cat bites/scratches, 71% experiencing needle stick injuries and 43% experiencing lacerations. More than half of the nurses (52%) suffered from chronic back/neck pain and 39% reported having allergy or hay fever. Sixteen cases (11%) of Cat Scratch Fever were reported. Job related affective well-being was similar to a large sample of workers in comparable level jobs. CONCLUSION: Among attendees of a veterinary nurses conference, the proportion of this group of nurses exposed to hazards in their work environment was high and acute and chronic injuries were common. Considering that nurses account for more than 40% of total employment in the veterinary service industry, the results of this study show that the occupational health hazards of this professional group require further study. PMID: 15267093 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Profiles in laboratory animal science: 11 paths to the top of the field.

Lab Anim (NY). 2005 Jun;34(6):29-38 Authors: Eisenstein M PMID: 15924130 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]