Practice
County
Country
Vet
Species
Small Animal
Hypertension in cats
Hypertension in cats is likely to be significantly underdiagnosed. On the 5th of March 2024, VetPartners organised a Big Lunch and Learn for the whole small animal team. Dr Sarah Caney joined us via a live online link to practices to discuss the impact of this condition and tips to diagnose it in practice.
We then spent some time talking within our own practice teams about what we could do to identify more hypertensive cats and hopefully improve the health of our feline population.
This project will look at routinely collected health data from practice management systems to see how the number of blood pressure measurements being performed in cats is changing over time.
We look forward to sharing these results with you as the project progresses.
You can find out more here.
Farm
Vaginal prolapse in ewes
The project came about through discussions among our Farm Animal Clinical Board (FACB). These prolapses are often managed by the shepherd themselves, but some are presented to the veterinary surgeon for treatment, and the FACB were keen to understand how we currently treat, manage and provide advice about these cases.
Collecting this information is a crucial first step in the Quality Improvement cycle, to work towards progressing care for these patients. Data were collected via a short online survey, circulated to all veterinary surgeons doing any sheep work during lambing season.
A total of 77 responses were received. Most (94%) said they administered an epidural; procaine alone was the most common choice (66%) with only 23% receiving xylazine.
Over half (55%) said they placed a stitch once the prolapse was replaced, but only 16% stated they used a prolapse harness. Calcium was administered for only 12% of prolapses.
You can read the final report here.
Equine
Equine catheter complications
This was a collaborative project involving five equine hospitals, all with a shared interest in finding out their intravenous catheter complication rate, as well as the nature and outcome of these complications.
Standardised data collection spreadsheets were developed, and a six-month prospective audit carried out to record details about each complication. A total of 2744 catheters were placed and 178 complications were recorded (a complication rate of 6%). Swelling was the most common complication, and serious complications (thrombus, phlebitis and thrombophlebitis) were rare, occurring in only 2% of catheters placed.
Most serious complications (64%) occurred in horses not previously considered ‘at risk’ of a catheter complication. Outcomes were positive, with most horses making a full recovery; while 5% of horses were euthanised or died, in all cases this was for reasons unrelated to the catheter complication.
The data collected provide a useful baseline for continued monitoring of catheter complications, and an online meeting to share the findings with others working in equine practice is being planned for early 2025.
You can find out more here
Equine
Adverse events to equine vaccination
This audit ran over two consecutive years, examining clinical records over the same three-month period in 2020 and 2021.
Data were collected via practice Quality Improvement champions on the number of vaccinations given and number of visits due to an adverse event. Additional information was also gathered on vaccine brands, injection site and type of adverse event. A total of 28 practices entered data in 2021, up from 18 in 2020.
Prevalence of adverse events was 0.1%, or 1 in 1000 horses in 2021, down from 0.2% (or 2 in 1000 horses) in 2020, however adverse event rate varied with brand and between practices. In 2021, swelling was the most common adverse event (47% of affected horses) followed by stiffness (40%) then pain (27%).
Group-wide data was shared with all practices carrying out equine work, to facilitate discussion around adverse events to vaccination among clinical teams.
Practices who contributed to the audit were also shown where their own data fits into the wider findings, and how this had changed in consecutive years where applicable.
You can find out more here
At VetPartners we are fortunate to have an engaging and approachable Clinical Board Support Team (CBST) with both clinical and extensive research experience. To learn more about the work of the CBST and how they empower our teams to undertake clinical quality improvement and research, click here.
To find out more about the work we do visit https://vetpartnershfhub.5app.com/ or email us at clinical.board@vetpartners.co.uk
