Ep 8: Innovation in veterinary medicine on display at VMX 2021!

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

veterinarians, veterinary medicine, animal, pets, veterinary, pet owners, world, veterinary care, happening, clinic, absolutely, dana, innovation, vmx, animal lovers, chats, medicine, human, bit, day

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Welcome to another episode of chats with the Chatfields. This is a podcast to expand your idea of what's impacting veterinarians, animal care professionals and all animal lovers in the galaxy as humans. I'm your host, Dr. Jen the vet, and it's a little empty. Where's the other voice? That's right. Dr. Jason is on a brief hiatus. also called a day off. I don't know how he gets these bankers hours. You can reach me with any questions full of love and positivity at Jen@Chatfieldshow.com And if you just want to tell Jason you miss him, you can reach him at Jason@Chatfieldshow.com This episode of chats with the Chatfields is brought to you by full bucket veterinary strength supplements.

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Okay, so today, it's a good thing. We only have one host, because we have two very special guests. I am so lucky to be here today with two incredible people in the animal industry. And I say animal industry because here at chats with the chat fields in the chat room. We don't just talk about veterinary medicine. We talk about all facets of animal care. And so I am here with Gene and Dr. Dana, also known as the CEO of navc and the CVO of navc. And there's too many acronyms, I know

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chatterboxes. So tell me, first of all, for the uninitiated, what is navc? What is NAVC, great questions Dr. Jen, let me tell you what navc is. NAVC is an organization that really reaches out to provide educational opportunities to the veterinary community around the world. Okay, that's what we do around the world. You don't discriminate. It's a global effort. We're not galactic yet, like you...

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around the world. Hey, we love guests who shout out about our galaxy of fans. Okay. And Dr. Dana, what does vMx mean? Because everyone like says these other letters in conjunction with navc. We have so many acronyms, don't we veterinary medicine is all about the initials It could be the government Oh, yeah. No, but really, so NAVC is kind of an umbrella. And VMx is the world's leading most most inclusive veterinary conference. We're veterinary meeting and Expo. So we provide education for veterinarians in every sector of the veterinary world. Okay, I like that too. Because one thing that we talk about routinely here in the chat room is the diversity in veterinary medicine ranges. I mean, I guess it's by default, because our backgrounds are zoo medicine. So we truly say We don't discriminate on what species we treat pet owners. I think pet owners should be interested in navc and BMX.

03:39

Yeah, veterinarians are here for sure. Right. And one of the key reasons that we wanted to talk with you guys and have you into the chat room is to talk about the innovation. That's, that's happening right now in veterinary medicine. Yeah, it's really remarkable. So Jen, you already know this, that animal medicine parallels human medicine. And we're actually getting things moving from the human medicine world right into the animal medicine world faster than ever. So our job at navc is to make sure veterinarians know all about those innovations, how to incorporate them in their practice, and how they can make the lives of pets better. Okay, I think that's fantastic. I do think though, 2020 would argue and say that animal issues are moving into the human side, maybe a little bit more frequently. Right? Absolutely. What do you think about that gene? Yeah, well, yes, I think that has moved in with the with with the

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COVID-19 COVID-19 impact on my brain.

04:40

Watching take a drink. Yeah, we sent

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with the adoption rate for animals and working from home. And the bonding between the animals and the human side. I mean, it's just it's just gone, you know, exponential as far as, as far as the the need for care now, for those animals.

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and just just the bond that it really creates. Yeah, I think that's been incredible. Right? What we saw in 2020 was not only were people working from home, but I feel like in practice, I was seeing pets more often and earlier, right? Pet owners are noticing their pets need care, right. And I think you're sitting at home for eight hours a day working from a computer, it's a lot easier to notice the dog is itching. And he's still itching. And He's itching. Right, like you can't ignore that when he's sitting right there by your desk. And so we did see it. I think that was one of the benefits of all this remote working. But I think another thing and that's what what I love about DMX is that you guys have this kind of incubator type situation for innovation in vet med. And it culminates on Sunday. Right? When? Right? I'm going to enunciate this. Well, a pitch off. See how I noticed you guys? You did a good job. Great job. Yeah, pitch off. So it's kind of like a shark tank situation for startups. Yes. Yes. So can you tell me more about that? Sure. So this is something that we started about four years ago, to allow those newcomers into the industry, with their innovations that help veterinarians or the veterinary staff. And it really is just like a, like a shark tank. So there's a panel of judges that evaluate the the products based on certain criteria, and a winner is declared. And this year, we have four or five really great innovative, either systems, products, techniques, that at the end of the day, what it really is, is it the most valuable thing in the veterinary office is the veterinarians time. So what you'll see is a lot of innovation, that frees up the veterinarians time to really focus on the things that are that they should be focusing on, and that the administrative work, and that the daily routines that the that the nurses or technicians can take care of. So some of these new innovations are really, really for the pet owner, they should be really glad that these are coming through because they they know that their vet now will be focused on the important this is

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for good reason. Right. He gets it he gets it. I know. So yeah. A little bit of nitty gritty about medicine. Right. Yeah. Because Dr. Dana, what are you kind of seeing in trends with those innovative efforts? There's so many cool things coming out. I mean, the two things that come to mind one, diagnostics are getting faster and faster, right? We used to have to wait three days for cultures and send in slides in the mail or send them off. Well, now we can do things like scan slides and digitally and they haven't sent to the clinic, the clinical pathologist that day, right? They can get back to us with an answer later that day, right through the interwebs. Yeah, the cool thing like email tags, no electronic medical records, but it's great, because that means an owner that used to have to wait three or five or even seven days to hear, you know, what's that lump? I'm stressed about it. I'm already worried. They're gonna hear back maybe the next day, sometimes even that day, sometimes even during that appointment. Can you talk to like this? This human doc?

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Human? I know. Still waiting?

08:08

Yeah, all right. And I think the kind of the advent of artificial intelligence, right of computer learning, machine learning. These are things we say now, machine learning into veterinary medicine, I think is incredible. And that's one thing I think pet owners and animal lovers may not be aware of. And like you say that the veterinarians time is at a premium, right? Absolutely. The only thing I can't make more of and neither can either view is time. And so if I can elevate that standard of care and provide it in a more timely fashion, I mean, this is like Winner winner chicken dinner. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, think about things getting populated right into your medical record without you having to type them from from the digital service. Like literally, so am I. Exactly.

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My medical record? Exactly. Because just think about how much time that would free up in your day, right now, instead of sitting there and typing in going through this remembering what happened earlier in the day, you're going to open up your medical record and your notes are already there. You might just have to make you know, do a little cleanup, add a quick little note that you you added thought of later, when you're done. Well, and actually I'm not done. What I'm doing is I'm seeing the dog that threw up this afternoon. You know, he was fine this morning. And he threw up this afternoon. And now I get to see him because he weighs two and a half pounds. And as we know little dogs there's not a lot of extra dog so that one puke followed by a little bit like these. Were dehydrated already. Yeah. Yeah. Already behind on the fluids. Well, just think about how much more time you could spend with that client. Yeah, you know how much more time you could like spend connecting with them, talking them through difficult decisions talking you through tough diagnoses if you didn't have to worry about what you're writing down each time. I worry. Yeah. And we were here. Yeah, we're yours. We are collective warriors. Yeah, yeah.

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So I think that the the advent of technology and there is great, I do worry a little bit, you know, it's like, you guys know, I'm not a Luddite. I don't think that like robots are going to take over the world. But I do worry a little bit about our continued and increased reliance on machines. Do you guys see that as an issue moving forward? Or do you see kind of an integration? What do you see? So the introduction of robotics or machines will happen in every industry, but I don't think you can really replace the really hands on the tactile touch of a DVM or nurse or technician. So that, you know, that part of it, I think, is really hard to replicate. But I think there are learning modalities that you will have with virtual reality, or augmented reality that I think will help the veterinarians and veterinary team learn more quicker, short snippets of education that helps them get it back to the lab or to the clinic right away and utilize. So I think that use of robotics or equipment or machines is really to the advantage of the pet owner. Because because of the veterinarian and the veterinary team is not waiting to complete a course they can go online and get the latest technique on dentistry or, you know, any type of surgery and just learn it and apply it immediately. So I think that is a good thing. So it's that learning curve is kind of it's a little bit steeper, it's a faster, faster to application clinic. Exactly. Well, I think about you know, how we are done. We're always worried like, oh, do I really know enough to do that? Am I confident enough? Think about how would it be great it would be you go you learn a new technique. But then when it comes time to apply it, you kind of have this moment of

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am I really ready? But how easy is it to go look back at a five minute video now and be like, Oh, no, I do know that. All right. I feel really good about this. And I'm ready to go right that day. And I can can use what I've learned. I don't have to second guess myself. And I do love the YouTube.

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Yeah, I do love the I mean, like, it's like Google Now. It's better than Dr. Google.

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Like it looks so as in the chat room, Dr. Google is not always wrong. It's just not always right. Exactly. Because it is different. So then, so then becomes the hard question, right? And this is, this is starting to pop up, it probably would have popped up sooner had we been able to have more dinner parties. But anyway, now that people are socializing a bit more, the question is starting to come up? Are we pricing ourselves out of the market? Is veterinary medicine becoming so advanced, that there's going to be kind of two tiers of veterinary care available? I don't, I'm not necessarily sure that's what's happening? I'm not sure that's what's not happening, right. I think we're in the midst of a bit of transition. What is your perspective? Because you guys have a whole 360 of it? What's your yalls perspective? Well, you know, it's always really interesting to me when people say, Oh, veterinary care is very expensive, and it can be, but I also see great clinics popping up that have support either either government or local support, or our nonprofits and literally have public support, to help provide veterinary care in low cost situations to keep animals across the board quite healthy. I also think when we compare ourselves to other sectors of medicine, I won't name them. We're actually very, very affordable when it comes right down to it. It takes more planning. And it takes more planning on our part of veterinarians to prepare our owners for costs that could come in the future with certain diseases, or even just as preventative care. But I think when we look at it as a whole, actually, I think veterinary care is very affordable. Yeah. So I mean, I should spell her name right on the check, because she was she's walking all the way around it because preventive care. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Like, y'all know, that's my jam. So preventive Med, I think is become so advanced, that animal owners are not always aware how effective it is, and how cheap it is. Right? I clearly it's just been in the last couple years that this thing has started going around an ounce of prevention is a pound of cure. Oh, no, that's not

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it isn't really a pound. It's more like 10 pounds.

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Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Right. And we talked about that all time. I find myself in exam rooms talking about, I really think we ought to consider doing this. Based on your pet's risk profile. You need this vaccination, not because I'm trying to sell more vaccinations because guess what, I got two more exam rooms.

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But because of what we now know about disease, and for heaven's sakes, doesn't the whole world now know about infectious disease? Yes, we've all gotten a crash course in the last year on infectious disease.

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Right like Zoa no sees

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it

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mRNA platform, quarantine and isolation contact these are things we say Now friends, right and mixed company. Yeah. And so I think you're getting at that very effectively with prevention is what we can do. Yeah. And we're so good at prevention, too. I, you know, veterinary medicine is really set up to promote preventative medicine. Oh, sure. And I think is since we are so good at it, and we just need to embrace that and own that and make it you know, available to everyone. I mean, I think we're the original. Yeah, dentists care, because we, we were looking to prevent disease and people I mean, really, that was the end goal, right? Initially when veterinary medicine, really Yeah, prevent disease in people from their close contact with animals, etc. Right. And now here we are full circle and the 21st century, right. You know, I think I think your point is well made, well made. Okay. So here, as you may know, we live we give our guests an opportunity to tell us the one thing that they wish that everyday, our fans are chatting, and that they wish every chatterbox knew about what they do, where they're from, who they are. And so I prattle on here for another 20 seconds giving our guests

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but just what pops in your head of the one thing you wish that every time you went to a dinner party, you're like, man, people were always asking about this. I wish they knew blank. Right? And if there's anything pop in your head, so the the thing that pops in my head is that pet owners, you're part of our you're part of our veterinary team. You're part of our healthcare team. And I want you to feel that way. Oh, how nice. Is that? True? Yeah. So she wants everyone to feel that way. I do too. I got to go. Alright, Jean. So I'm not a veterinarian, but I do play well. On

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the business side, I would say that I am proud to represent a group of passionate, loyal individuals who look out for the thing closest to us in our lives, which is our pets. Holy moly. I mean, is there Kleenex behind?

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Yeah, well, I can't thank you guys enough for what you do for animal lovers everywhere, in particular for veterinarians because we're partial to them here. But also for taking the time to talk with our fans and our viewers, our listeners, because they're number one in our hearts. But we love to expose everyone to the great things that are happening with navc V max and the veterinary world at large. So thank you so much, Dr. Dana. Gene, thank you so much for joining us, and we'll catch you guys next time on the next episode of chats with the Chatfield.

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This episode was brought to you by full bucket veterinary strength supplements