ABSTRACTThe aim of the study was to survey attitudes towards animals among Veterinary students, and to assess how the Swedish veterinary education affected students' perspectives on animals. Students in the first and second years of the study programme were asked to answer the question "What is an animal?" as they saw fit, and the answers were analysed using a qualitative-to-quantitave analysis method called the Elementary Model, which had been developed for the purpose. Results showed a significant decrease in "zoo-perspectives", i.e. views and descriptions of animals as beings with cognitive and motor functions, and a significant increase in "homo-perspectives", i.e.

January the 1:st 2010 Veterinary Nursing became a registred vocation in Sweden, this paper attempts to give some back-ground to this decision and tries to gauge the opinions of companies and organisations representing workers and employers in the animal health-care field on the possible effects of registration. Working Veterinary Nurses and Veterinarians have been surveyed to find out what they think the responsibilities and education of the Registred Veterinary Nurse should be..

Blood sampling is one of the most important diagnostic tools in veterinary medicine, and this is also true for avian medicine. A properly collected and handled venous sample can be used for serology, biochemistry and electrolyte analysis, as well as for blood smears, packed cell volume and cell differentiation. Caring for sick birds is a challenge for all veterinary staff. Many birds are easily stressed individuals, and to a very ill bird a big increase in stress level can even be fatal. Avian patients who are presented in a veterinary clinic are often in a poor condition, and blood sampling is an invasive procedure that can cause stress to the patient.

Clinicians in veterinary practice have responsibilities for the development of global antibiotic resistance. In some cases, antibiotics are contraindicated or even useless in wound treatments and therefore other options are needed. Antiseptics may be another option but their use are controversial and may be questioned by owners. As professionals, it may be very difficult to be able to motivate this choice of treatment. The aim of this paper is to gain knowledge about four antiseptics; iodine, silver, polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) and honey to make it easier for veterinary nurses and other clinicians in veterinary practices to decide their potential use. The assessment will be made with consideration of the available evidence concerning the properties, usability and the animal?s experience. The results showed a lack of evidence in in-vivo studies in horses, particularly studies within the field of veterinary nursing.

Stress is common in today?s society, but the word stress has numerous connotations. The aim of this study was to investigate how dogs are effected by stress and what the veterinary nurse can do to help dogs to avoid or at least mitigate stress within the veterinary hospital. The goal was also to see how dogs perceive the environment in the veterinary hospital and what behaviours dogs demonstrate when they enter the hospital and during their stay. Studies have shown that dogs have a reluctant feeling on entering a veterinary hospital. They can feel stressed by coming to a new environment, as well as by being put in a cage with no control over what is going to happen to them.

The field of veterinary nursing should be based upon research and proven experience. Few studies have been performed within the area of distal limb bandages. Therefore the aim of this study was to examine and describe how to place a distal fore limb bandage based on proven experience. Data material was collected through four interviews with professional veterinary nurses, and then analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. In the analysis data material was transcribed and then divided into meaningful units that responded to the aim. The meaningful units were then condensed.

Background. Anesthetic-related death in small animal anesthesia is about ten times more common than in human anesthesia. Recent research identifies the early postoperative period as particularly risky and highlights the need for regular and careful monitoring of the veterinary patient during this period. Objective. The aims of this study were to investigate whether there are standard procedures in terms of regulated routine patient observations and record-keeping during the early postoperative period at Swedish veterinary clinics, and if there are any guidelines for monitoring the veterinary patient during recovery. Methods. A small survey including ten Swedish veterinary clinics was carried out as well as a literature review. Results.

Background: In small animal healthcare fluid therapy is an important area. To get an adequate treatment there are several factors that may play important roles in this matter. One of these factors is the correct use of the administration technique. Aim: The aim was to investigate how correct the amount of prescribed fluid was given when different people set up a fluid administration set. Method: An experimental study was performed to compare two different infusion techniques.

Numerous dogs are stressed during a stay at a veterinary clinic. Stress has an impact physically as well as mentally, and may influence animal care. There are different ways to prevent and handle animal stress. Dog Appeasing Pheromones (DAP) is sometimes used to reduce stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential need for stressreducers, explore the use of DAP and evaluate pheromonatherapy for dogs as a potential stressreducer within veterinary health care.

During one week (9-13 May, 2005) the use of veterinary diets for the hospitalised patients att the University clinic was registered. The animal owners were interviewed by telephone six months later about the feeding after coming home. Four out of ten animal owners answered yes to the question if the veterinarian had asked what food their animal normally consumed. Out of 35 animals, 15 (43%) were prescribed to a veterinary diet. Among cats it was 8 out of 14 (57%) and among dogs it was 7 out of 21 (33%). Four animals out of ten were recommended a veterinary diet when going home, but 20% did not follow the recommendation all the way through and stopped feeding their animal the veterinary diet. Reasons that were given was that the diet didn't last the entire period, that the animal didn't need the diet anymore according to the owner and one dog that became to lean when fed the diet. The diagnosis for these three dogs was vomiting, foreign body in the digestive system and bloody diarrhoea.

After having reviewed the cases in the Veterinary Disciplinary Board of Sweden regarding certificates year 2000 to October 2007 I have found that these cases more often than in all other cases result in disciplinary action. The punishment is to a greater extent the more serious form, i.e. warning. When I examined the reasons for imposing the punishments and the material that constituted the foundations of the reports, I came to the conclusion that the statistics above do not depend on a general lack of knowledge in the Swedish veterinary profession. A possible cause is that the demands set upon the veterinarian are exceptional and that the responsibility board has a physical object to examine (the certificate) and regulations that describe how the certificates are supposed to be formulated. The fact that the knowledge about how to write veterinary certificates does not generally seem to be lacking does not exclude that lessons can be learned by examining the mistakes made by others.

When nursing human patients during hospitalization, the nurse is the one responsible. The nursing is controlled by different models of nursing and careplans, shaped by every patient?s individual needs. This is to guarantee the quality of the care. The veterinary nurse is not ultimately responsible for patient care.

The quality of health and care of our animals in the veterinary clinic is dependent on the veterinary nurse. Therefore it is important that the nurse has a good mental health and can provide this. Research shows that veterinarians are exposed to an elevated risk of suicide, moral stress, depression and anxiety. One of the factors contributing is believed to be exposure to euthanasia. The impact of euthanasia to veterinary nurses is yet unclear, as research focuses on veterinarians.

It is popular to keep reptiles as pets in Swedish households. The number of households reporting reptile ownership is more than 15 000 (SCB, 2006). This means that a veterinary practice should consider how to take care of reptiles as patients. The aim of this study was to examine literature and studies concerning safe handling and restraint of reptiles as well as the effects of acute and long term stress response and to suggest a simplified plan for handling reptiles in a veterinary practice. The result of literary studies is that common recommendations for safe handling and restraint of reptiles is based on old techniques and experiences from safe handling of wild animals. The main concern is safety for the veterinary nurse and for the reptile. Stress studies indicate that acute stress response is not harmful for the animal i long term. On the other hand studies of the effect of prolonged stress are not conclusive.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to observe and describe the work environment of veterinary nurses, focused on fysical ergonomics, in a Small Animal hospital. Method: An observational study was made in the stationary ward in an animal hospital. The observation was based on a checklist from the Swedish Work Environment Authority. Six veterinary nurses was observed over three hours when they nursed the patients. The checklist contained paragraphs concerning work postures, manuell work, knowledge, competence and the design of the workplace. Result: The results was divided into three categories; red, yellow and green.