Feline Medicine with Dr Andy Sparkes and Dr Carolyn O'Brien

• Introduction
• Topic List
• Reading List
• Technical Requirements for Online Study
• Register for this Course

Thank you for your interest in the Feline Medicine Course. The Feline Medicine course, a part of the PGF Distance Education program, provides veterinarians with the opportunity to extend their skills and knowledge in the world of feline medicine, with the flexibility of studying via coordinated external learning.

Cats are becoming increasingly popular pets and the provision of veterinary services specifically aimed at these patients is in high demand. Andy Sparkes and Carolyn O'Brien are both registered specialists in feline medicine. Andy is based in the United Kingdom and Carolyn practices in Australia, so this course has a truly international flavour. Participants will have a unique opportunity to gain an appreciation for key differences between patients in the northern versus the southern hemispheres. Andy and Carolyn will share knowledge gained through years of experience and review the current literature to bring you up to date with the latest developments in this fascinating field. Feline diseases can be challenging to both diagnose and treat. This course will improve your skills and confidence in dealing with these often-enigmatic patients.

Purpose

An ever-increasing proportion of time in small animal practise in most countries is now devoted to management of feline patients. Cats with medical diseases pose many unique challenges to the small animal practitioner and the differences between managing canine and feline patients (in both the art and science of veterinary medicine) are well recognised. This course is designed to reinforce, deepen and broaden your knowledge of feline medicine in a practical, interactive and enjoyable way.

The course has been developed by specialist feline clinicians from both Australia and the UK, with many years of experience dealing with feline problems. The course is designed to cover common problems in feline medicine and also some less common diseases, and through an understanding of the underlying pathophysiology provide a rational basis for therapeutic intervention. The course will help you to develop a better understanding of feline diseases and provide practical information and knowledge to enable you to better manage these in your own clinic.

Although this course would provide an ideal basis for any clinician wishing to undertake further clinical qualifications in feline medicine, it is equally suited to anyone who simply wants to extend and further their knowledge in this exciting and developing area.

Course Outline

The course is composed of 10 modules taking a broadly systematic approach to feline medicine. These modules will be delivered approximately monthly to your nominated address. Modules may also be accessed and downloaded from the course homepage on WebCT. Your login, password and instructions as to how to proceed will be provided at the start of the course. Each module is self contained and provides substantial written material providing a wealth of information that will build up into a valuable library for future reference.

Assignments will accompany each module to reinforce and deepen the knowledge learned - these will take a variety of formats but will include writing brief reports of cases that you have dealt with (to help develop a consistent approach to problem-orientated differential diagnoses, diagnosis and management of cases), guided critique of published papers (to help develop critical and incisive thinking), directed literature searches while summarising your findings (to develop on-line learning and data summary/interpretation), and on-line problem solving tasks. Your tutors will provide you with feedback on your assignments and encourage an interactive shared learning experience for all. Written course material and course assignments will also be supplemented by on-line interaction with your clinical tutors to augment the learning process and to stimulate fun and interactive discussion of clinical topics and cases. In addition, one or two workshops will be planned each year where tutors and delegates can meet together for additional face-to-face learning and interaction in an informal setting (attendance is not compulsory but will provide you with an additional opportunity for further discussion of topics/areas of interest and to raise any questions or concerns about the course).

The amount of time you need to spend on each module is flexible, but the more time you can devote to the various aspects of the course, the more you will get out of it. In general, we would suggest that you aim to set aside 6-8 hours per week for this course, but more or less time can be spent as needed and suited to the individual. On completion of all ten modules, you will receive a certificate of completion from the Post Graduate Foundation that recognises your achievement.

Key Benefits:

At the completion of this course you can expect to have:

• Review the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of common feline disease.
• Expand your knowledge on unusual feline conditions.
• Get practical advice that will increase your confidence in handling feline patients.
• Review important developments in feline medicine.
• Understand key differences when dealing with certain disease conditions in cats versus dogs.
• Broaden your knowledge of the art and science of feline medicine.
• Develop improved diagnostic skills in feline medicine.
• Develop improved understanding of important feline diseases.
• Improve your differential diagnoses and problem-solving skills.
• Gain knowledge of current therapeutic options in feline medicine.

Assignments

Assignments consist of varied activities primarily based on problem-solving exercises that may take the form of case studies, short answer questions, case reports from animals you have treated, completing or constructing tables and algorithms, etc. You may need to be prepared to provide financial support to investigate cases seen in your own practice if the animal's owner is unable to pay for full investigation. In fact, this is a great idea at all times; allocate a certain budget to allow you to run some further tests on selected cases for your own education and for the purposes of the module. If you are employed, it is worth asking your employer for a budgeted sum for case support for the year (eg. $500-$1000) which you can utilise as you see fit during the duration of the course (and beyond).

Workshops

There will be two workshops in the year 2005, one in the first half of the year and one in November. The workshops are an opportunity to meet the tutors and fellow course participants, and they provide a forum to discuss individual problems, cases, study guides, etc. You will be required to bring some case studies or discussion items to these sessions to present to the group. These 'in person' seminars are very valuable and you should attempt to attend. The first workshop is especially important and participation will ensure you are on the 'right track' for the rest of the year.

Website

Another innovation will be the opportunity to communicate via a List Serv. All the courses will have individual List Servs where various queries regarding the course or assignments can be posted. Andy and Carolyn will access the site to answer relevant questions about the modules. Your tutors, Andy and Carolyn DO NOT want the ListServ to be a passive exercise for participants!! Where possible they would much prefer to see two or three participants voice their opinion BEFORE they express an opinion, and if they are feeling particularly obstinate, may post a message that we will not reply to until others have expressed their view! As you may gather, they consider the aim of the group ListServ is to facilitate discourse regarding the contents of the modules and general issues in medicine. The aim of the List Serv is NOT to provide a clinical service to advise on the case that you have in your hospital today. There are other means of seeking such advice (eg. separate email to Andy or Carolyn or the usual sources of information in your region).

What if I fall behind?

By undertaking any distance education course you are committing yourself to a considerable workload. Various work and personal factors may arise that do not allow you to dedicate as much time as is required to complete all the assignments in each module. Rather than risk 'giving it all away', there is still value to be gained and considerable material for later reference to be enjoyed. To ease the burden we will provide:

• Annoted reading lists. In each module you are presented with a wide range of articles to provide further information on the topic. A few short words on the list of references gives you a guideline to the 'value' of the references. Remember there is still value even if you just read the abstract.
• The various questions in the monthly assignment will be colour coded to nominate 'core' and 'additional' material. If pressed for time, try and get the core part of the assignment completed. For maximal benefit we would suggest you try and complete as much of the additional material as possible.

What can the tutors do for you?

We are not here simply to make life difficult by setting lots of questions. If you are having problems understanding a section of text or a particular concept, if you have a problem case in your practise, etc. contact us. You will have details of our phone/fax/email/numbers so get in touch (email and use of the List Serv are the preferred media).

What can't the tutors do for you?

As tutors we will make ourselves available over the duration of the year. However, at the end of the year we need time to prepare for the next group and to recharge our own batteries. Our aim is to help as many of you as we can but we are not available after December 1st. So write this in your diary now and work with this deadline in mind.

You can help us!

We need your feedback on the course, individual modules, problems, difficult questions or cases, etc. Anything you think might make the course better for you, your colleagues and next year's students! Don't be shy, tell us your concerns or tell us if we are 'doing it right' for you.

Methodology

• You will receive ten modules, delivered monthly to your nominated address. These modules will contain most of the information required to complete the course. You may find it useful to consult the recommended reading lists

Topic List

Recommended Reading List

This list is designed to guide you to books and journals that may be of value to you as you go through this course. It is not intended or suggested that delegates should attempt to read all of these! The useful core texts provide valuable information on general feline medicine, while the additional texts provide a list of books covering various aspects of small animal medicine.

Useful core texts

• The Cat - Diseases and Clinical Management. Vols 1 - 2. Sherding (ed) 2nd Edition. Saunders, Philadelphia 1994
• Consultations in Feline Internal Medicine. August (ed.) 4th and 5th Editions. Saunders, Philadelphia.
• Feline Medicine and Therapeutics. Chandler, Gaskell and Gaskell (eds) 3rd Edition. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 2004.
• Feline Internal Medicine Secrets. Lappin (ed) Hanley & Belfus, 2001
• Self Assessment Colour Review of Feline Medicine. Sparkes & Caney (eds). Manson Publishing, London. 2005

Additional useful texts

General Medicine

• Small Animal Internal Medicine. Nelson and Couto (eds) 3rd Edition. Mosby, St Louis 2003.
• Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine. Vols 1 -2. Ettinger (ed.) 6th Edition. Saunders, Philadelphia 2004
• Current Veterinary Therapy, Kirk R.W. 9ed). Saunders, Philadelphia. Recent issues (eg CVT XII, CVT XIII)

Dermatology

• Muller & Kirk's Small Animal Dermatology. Scott (ed) 6th Edition. Saunders, Philadelphia 2000.
• Dermatology for the Small Animal Practitioner. Muller (ed) Teton New Media, Jackson 2000.
• A Practical Guide to Feline Dermatology. Guaguere and Prelaud (eds. Merial 2000.

Gastroenterology

• Strombeck's Small Animal Gastroenterology. Guildford and Center (eds.) 3rd Edition. Saunders, Philadelphia 1996
• Handbook of Small Animal Gastroenterology. Todd Tams. 2nd edn. WB Saunders 2003
• BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline of Gastroenterology. Hall, Simpson and Williamson (eds) 2nd Edition. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 2005

Endocrinology

• Canine and Feline Endocrinology and Reproduction. Feldman and Melson (eds) 3rd Edition, Saunders, Philadelphia. 2003

Oncology

• Feline Oncology. Ogilvie and Moore (eds), Veterinary Learning Systems, Trenton 2001
• Small Animal Clinical Oncology. Withrow and MacEwen (eds). 3rd Edition Saunders, Philadelphia. 2001

Cardiology

• Small Animal Cardiovascular Medicine. Kittleson and Kinele. Mosby, St Louis. 1998
• Textbook of Canine and Feline Cardiology: Principles and Clinical Practice. Fox and Sisson. Reissued 2nd Edition. Saunders, Philadelphia. 1999.

Immunology

• Clinical Immunology of the Dog and Cat. Day (ed). Iowa State University Press 1999

Infectious Diseases

• Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat. Green (ed) 3rd Edition. Saunders, Philadelphia. 2006

Neurology

• Handbook of Veterinary Neurology. Lorenz and Kornegay (eds) 4th Edition, Saunders, Philadelphia. 2004.
• Neurology for the Small Animal Practitioner. Chrisman, Mariani, Platt and Clemmons (eds) Teton New Media, Jackson.

Clinical Pathology

• BSAVA Manual of Small Animal Clinical Pathology, Davidson, Else and Lumsden (eds). Iowa State University Press, Ames. 1998.
• Fundamentals of Veterinary Clinical Pathology. Stockham and Scott (eds) Iowa State Press, Ames. 2002
• Veterinary Cytology. Canfield and Martin. Postgraduate Foundation in Veterinary Science, Sydney. 1999.

Nutrition

• Canine and Feline Nutrition. L.P Case & D.P. Carey. Mosby, 2nd Edition, 2000
• Small Animal Clinical Nutrition. Hand et al (eds). Mark Morris Institute; 4th Edition, 2000

Physiology

• Textbook of Veterinary Physiology. Cunningham (ed) 3rd Edition. Saunders, Philadelphia. 2002
• Textbook of Medical Physiology. Guyton and Hall (eds) 10th Edition. Saunders Philadelphia. 2005

Perusal of the following journals would provide additional information:

• Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery
• Compendium of Continuing Education for the Practising Veterinarian
• Veterinary Clinics North America - Small Animal Practice
• Australian Veterinary Journal
• Australian Veterinary Practitioner
• Veterinary Medicine
• Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
• Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association
• Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine

Useful websites:

• Post Graduate Foundation (interactive case studies): www.pgf.edu.au
• Veterinary Information Network: www.vin.com
• Case Studies in cardiology: www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/Cardio/cases/

Technical requirements for online study

Technical requirements for online study WebCT is a software program developed in Canada which provides a platform and a set of web course teaching tools for online learning. As an introduction to the online learning environment The Post Graduate Foundation in Veterinary Science is using this platform to give you access to your course online. This medium will allow you to access your course and participate in online discussions with other participants and your tutor via a computer, a modem and a web browser, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer.

To optimise your use of WebCT for online learning we recommend the following specifications: http://www.pgf.edu.au/disted/index.cfm#technical

• Read your Online Course Requirements?
  
  
• Read the General Information page?
  
  
• Read the How Much Does it Cost page?
  
  
• Become a Member of the Post Graduate Foundation?

Please contact Leo Adler to register your interest in this course.