Case Studies in Veterinary Technology is designed to:

1. Fill a perceived void in the education of veterinary technicians and encourage students to “solve problems” rather than regurgitate facts.
   

2. Develop critical thinking skills that can be applied to “real-world” problems.
   

3. Motivate students by providing authentic experiences that give relevance to the educational process and put information to use.
   

4. Enrich the educational process with a new methodology and provide a means of assessing student achievement that differs from standardized testing.
   

How to Use the Case Studies Workbook

Table of Contents

1. •Chapter One: Introduction to Critical Thinking and Case Studies
   

2. •Chapter Two: Clinical Anatomy
   

3. •Chapter Three: Client Communication / Documentation
   

4. •Chapter Four: Restraint
   

5. •Chapter Five: Surgical Nursing
   

6. •Chapter Six: Anesthesia
   

7. •Chapter Seven: Imaging Techniques
   

8. •Chapter Eight: Medical Nursing and Behavior
   

9. •Chapter Nine: Clinical Laboratory Procedures
   

10. •Chapter Ten: Pharmacology
    

11. •Chapter Eleven: Nutrition
    

12. •Chapter Twelve: Emergency Medicine
    

13. •Chapter Thirteen: Zoonotics
    

14. •Chapter Fourteen: Laboratory Animal / Exotics
    

15. •Chapter Fifteen: SOAPS and Concept Maps
    

16. •Chapter Sixteen: Photo Gallery
    

17. •Appendix
    

Workbook Description

Chapter one discusses the need to and reasons for developing critical thinking skills.  It illustrates how sound critical thinking leads to good clinical practice.  The chapter also “leads the student” through example case scenarios, SOAPs and concept maps to demonstrate the process of defining a problem, gathering data, formulating a hypothesis, and presenting a professional opinion.

Chapters two through fourteen each provide ten to fifteen case studies in areas of anatomy, communication, restraint, surgical nursing, anesthesia, imaging techniques, laboratory procedures, pharmacology, behavior, emergency medicine, zoonotics and nutrition.  Chapter content areas were specifically selected to reflect the AVMA’s accreditation content requirement, and we are pleased to say that all essential and recommended skills identified by the AVMA have been addressed.  Finally, scenarios included in each chapter contain a wide variety of species to mirror the spectrum of species seen within the profession.

Chapter fifteen uses case scenarios to focus specifically on SOAP composition and the development of concepts maps.  Chapter sixteen engages the student visually and provides an opportunity to examine photographic cases.

Additional Features

1. To ensure validity of content selection and assist veterinary technician programs with outcome assessment strategies, each case has been cross referenced with the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Essential and Recommended Skills List.
   

2. To encourage student use of valid reference sources, a list of core reference texts and websites was developed.  Each case study is cross-referenced with the resource list to assist students in researching the case.