Information Technology

Information technology is a rapidly growing part of today's society. It affects everyone's life in many aspects. Every human endeavor is influenced by information technology and the increasing rate at which what it can perform includes. One area of human endeavor that information technology has greatly influenced is the practice of medicine, specifically veterinary medicine. Not only has veterinary medicine been influenced by information technology, it has also been enhanced by it. The degree to which the practice of veterinary medicine includes information technology is observable at the Animal Emergency Clinic of Central New York on Erie Blvd. in Syracuse, New York.

Section I: veterinary medicine.

Doctors of veterinary medicine are the people who engage in the human endeavor of practicing veterinary medicine. The activities that are included in this endeavor are the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of animal diseases. The best way to handle a disease is to prevent acquiring it altogether. To accomplish this animals are given the available vaccinations for the most likely diseases they would get according to what type of animal they are and where they live. Unfortunately not every disease has a vaccination and not every animal has the opportunity to receive the available vaccinations. When an animal gets sick it is the duty of the veterinarian to determine the cause of the sickness and the best possible course of treatment for it. Veterinarians have many other responsibilities as well. These range from, but are not limited to, treating wounded animals and spaying or neutering them to preventing the spread of diseases from animals to humans through agriculture.

The first school of veterinary medicine was in France. It opened in 1761. Veterinary medicine schools started to open in the United States of America during the civil war. (www.encyclopedia.com)

To become a doctor of veterinary medicine, DVM, one must complete veterinary school. To get accepted into a school of veterinary medicine, a student has to meet the requirements of that particular vet school. Most of the requirements can be satisfied through undergraduate course work. The hard part is to have done a better job at meeting these requirements than the competition has.

As an undergraduate, the student must demonstrate not only academic excellence and dedication to service and helping others, but also a vast repertoire of experience in the field. To prove that he/she is truly dedicated to the service of others, community service must be done and documented. Working, volunteering and interning are all acceptable ways to gain experience in the field of veterinary medicine. The reason behind schools requiring experience is to ensure that the student knows what they are getting into before they spend thousands of dollars (approx. $20,000/yr.) and at least four years of their life in an extremely intensive academic environment. Many people have an altered idea of what being a vet is about. A lot of physical and emotion endurance is necessary to be a successful veterinarian. Many people are unaware of that.

The specific undergraduate course requirements to get into a school of veterinary medicine vary between the schools. All of them are science intensive. Most require a well-rounded education. The University of California at Davis school of veterinary medicine requires one year of general biology, one year of general chemistry, one year of organic chemistry, and one year of physics as far as lower division requirements. Upper division requirements include a semester of biochemistry, a semester of systemic physiology, a semester of vertebrate embryology, and a semester of genetics. On top of that they want their applicants to have taken courses in English composition, humanities, social sciences as well as statistics. Simply taking these courses is not enough, they need to be completed with a GPA above a 2.5. However, the competition has an average GPA of 3.45. The GRE must also be taken and a competitive score must be achieved for consideration. Tuskegee University requires two semesters of English, two of math, two of chemistry (Enough to include organic. Which really means four), two of physics, three of biology, two of animal science, one of animal nutrition, and then courses in humanities, social sciences and electives. They add that grades less than a c are not acceptable.

Once a student has meet all of the undergraduate requirements and has been accepted into a school of veterinary medicine he/she still has the hard part to look forward too. It has been said many times that vet. School is harder than med. School. The course work is extremely intensive and demanding. Not everybody makes it through. Nobody becomes a vet. for the money because what one must go through to become and be a vet. is not worth it. That is why veterinarians are so dedicated to what they do.

In order to keep up with new findings veterinarians must continue to take courses so they can learn new findings that have occurred since they were in vet. School. To keep up with the competition veterinarians must stay current when it comes to technology. This also allows them to be aware of the most efficient and effective ways available to treat their patients. Short courses are offered to veterinarians on such changes. Since medical discoveries have been and still are constantly being made, and technology is always advancing, veterinarians have always had to continue their learning of information. The only difference over time is the actual material that they are learning.

Section II: Information uses and needs in the practice of veterinary medicine.

There is a lot of information that doctors of veterinary medicine need and use in the process of preventing, diagnosing and treating animals. The courses they are required to take account for a lot of the information they know and bring to work with them every day. They have to know the anatomy of the normal canine locomotor system and a normal canine head. The structure and function of the cardiorespiratory system as well as the urinary system is imperative information. So are parisitology, epidemiology, virology, bacteriology, and mycology. Principals of nutrition and behavior come in very handy when trying to determine the cause of distress in an animal. Immunology is necessary when it comes to routine vaccinations, auto immune reactions and pathogenic responses. Even veterinarians who do not perform surgery must retain information on anesthesiology since it is sometimes necessary for other procedures. In order to correctly prescribe medicines they must have information on pharmacology and toxicology. Physiological chemistry and correct pH balance of body fluids is another must. So