Weekend Rounds is a newsletter by Obi Veterinary Education. Each week, we'll round up what's new and noteworthy across veterinary medicine - both within the Obi community and veterinary industry at large - and deliver it right to your inbox.

New and Noteworthy

Animal Research Dominates Ig Nobel Field

While only one veterinarian has won a Nobel Prize, the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize field was dominated by veterinary research. The highlight is the Ig Nobel for transportation, won by researchers from the University of Cornell and the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism who evaluated the pulmonary and metabolic effects of dorsal vs lateral recumbency in rhinoceros transportation. Published in the March 2021 issue of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, Radcliffe et al concluded that suspending rhinos by their feet in transportation

did not affect pulmonary function when compared to lateral recumbency

.

While rhinos may have dominated the news coverage, the unsung hero of the Ig Nobel prize winners is Susanne Schötz who took home to top Biology honor for "analyzing variations in purring, chirping, chattering, trilling, tweedling, murmuring, meowing, moaning, squeaking, hissing, yowling, howling, growling, and other modes of cat–human communication."

To get a sense of what this groundbreaking research is all about, here is the first line of her paper,

A Comparative Acoustic Analysis of Purring in Four Cats:

"The domestic cat is one of the most popular pet animals in the world, and virtually everyone is familiar with its trademark “purring” sound."

This work is the stuff of legends. A first step to figuring out which purr or tweedle means 'I love you' and which one means "I will scratch this couch until you have to buy a new one.'

Be the Change

There's no shortage of negativity and disillusionment around the veterinary profession. It's easy to dwell on the staffing shortages, unsustainable hours and demanding clients that shape our days. The changes we need in the profession to fix this are broad, systematic and need to be driven by a diverse group of leaders to reshape where we are going.

For now, we all need to be the change we wish to see. And this week we were struck by some great examples of veterinarians being the change in pursuit of a better profession:

• Bond Vet, a NYC-area animal hospital announced that they will provide 100% healthcare coverage to their team

• The launch of Galaxy Vets - Toronto based start-up - that is creating a veterinary healthcare system co-owned by its employees. As clinics join the Galaxy Vets network, equity is provided to all employees — veterinarians, specialists, technicians, and administrative personnel — making them co-owners of the entire organization.

• Free downloadable surgery textbook from Drs. Jolle Kirpensteijn and Gert ter Haar. Available at www.globalveterinarysurgery.net, this open access textbook is a great resource for veterinarians. They launched their most recent edition online during the Veterinary Innovation Summit, a highly innovative way to point out the need for open access medical education. Point taken.

Kudos to those working to innovate and improve the profession. Keep it up.

Jump back in

At Obi, we're trying to do our part by changing the way vets complete CE with innovative lessons and free resources. We truly hope this helps improve retention and your clinical practice. Your Obi course library is already loaded with some great free resources, so why not get started with:

• One hour of RACE-approved radiology CE

• Left- and right-handed suture skills

• Text-based cardiology courses

• Case-based radiology assessments

Let us know what you'd like to see in future editions of Weekend Rounds by replying to this email.