ALBERTA VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

The Council of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has finished updating its strategic plan and has laid out an aggressive approach to the next 3 years. The main areas of interest are:

Scope of practice

In 2002, the AVMA filed an injunction application against a layperson in an attempt to stop him from practising veterinary medicine in the field of equine dentistry. The Court of Queens Bench for Alberta denied the application on the basis of equine dentistry not being specifically named in the definition of veterinary medicine in the Veterinary Profession Act of Alberta. The AVMA is appealing this decision on points of law and fact, as it strongly believes the definition of veterinary medicine in the Act is “non exhaustive” and, in fact, does include dental procedures on animals. Hopefully, the appeal will be heard before the end of 2003.

In a similar vane, AVMA filed an injunction against a layperson who had set up a home pet vaccination business. An injunction was granted. The dichotomy of these decisions is one of the reasons that the AVMA Council has decided to review the suitability of the entire legislation.

Pharmaceutical regulation

The responsible use of pharmaceuticals by veterinarians is of keen interest to the AVMA Council. Many of the related issues have been brought to light by Health Canada's report on antimicrobial resistance. This has been deemed to be a high priority by the Council, and AVMA has struck a Task Force to create a set of guidelines for practising veterinarians that would cover the following: antimicrobial resistance, use of active pharmaceutical ingredients, compounding, triplicate prescriptions, and other items in this area. As a self-regulating profession, the AVMA believes it is imperative to be proactive. The goal is to have this document available in early 2004. The medium- and long-term effects of government and consumer action in relation to pharmaceuticals could significantly affect the way veterinarians practise veterinary medicine. Veterinarians should be leading change because there is no other profession that is able to understand and respond to all aspects of these issues better.

Assessment of demographic trends and veterinary shortages

The AVMA will be participating with the other western provinces in a study to quantify shortages in different areas of veterinary medicine. This will help to answer some questions that have been asked by the Alberta government and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM). This study was scheduled to be completed by September 2003. Hopefully, this will assist the WCVM in developing its ongoing business plan.

Public advocacy

It is important that the views and opinions of the veterinary profession be properly and adequately represented in the media and to the government and other stakeholders. The Council of the AVMA is initiating an advocacy program to ensure that any message is delivered in a proactive manner. This process includes media training, as well as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) partnering program.

Practice inspection

The AVMA is endeavoring to review and enhance its Practice Inspection/Practice Standards bylaws. The objective is to model the procedure more closely along the lines of quality assurance programs that are currently the standard for other industries. The AVMA's goal is to launch the new program in 2004.

Animal health technologists

Council, in conjunction with the Equine Committee, has encouraged Olds College to start developing an advanced course on equine dentistry to be offered to graduate animal health technologists (AHT). The intent is to improve the skills of registered AHTs working under the direction and control of a registered veterinarian. The AVMA sees this as the first step in making AHTs more involved in specialized aspects of veterinary medicine, and it ties in with the ongoing shortage of veterinarians in other areas.

Future continuing education events

The AVMA has now completely separated its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Committee Leadership Weekend from its Annual Conference (Rendezvous). In 2004, both events will be hosted at the Banff Centre in the beautiful Canadian Rockies. The Committee Leadership Weekend and the AGM will be held at the traditional time in January 2004. New this year is the “Rocky Mountain Rendezvous” to be held in Banff in October 2004. It is hoped that this appealing location will encourage attendance from veterinarians across Canada and the northwest United States.

The AVMA would like to give credit where credit is due and congratulate the government veterinarians and AVMA's veterinary staff in the face of the BSE crisis. In particular: Dr. Brian Evans of CFIA and Dr. Gerald Ollis, Alberta's Chief Veterinarian. They acted professionally and decisively and have shown to Canadians, Americans, and the world the value of the veterinary profession in dealing with global health concerns. The AVMA office has been deluged with calls regarding BSE and its staff has made the time to deal with it in the same professional manner. Alberta veterinarians were faxed regular updates of the situation in the early stages of the crisis and this allowed members of the AVMA to better react to questions from clients or local media.

So, it continues to be a busy time in Alberta.

(by Dr. Greg Andrews, President, Alberta Veterinary Medical Association)

Dr./D^r Greg Andrews