A chance find on the internet led an Australian veterinarian to attend a continuing veterinary education course in China. Perth veterinarian Chad Marriott recently travelled to Shenzhen in China to attend an Ultrasound course run by the European School for Advanced Veterinary Studies.
Having found it difficult to find ultrasound courses available in Australia due to their popularity, Marriott initially investigated continuing education courses available in Singapore and Hong Kong. It was through searching online that he then found out about the course being run in China and was attracted to it by the large practical component involved in the course.
The lead lecturer was Hock Gan Heng from Purdue University in Indiana, USA.Heng was supported by three other specialists from other universities in the USA. The European School for Advanced Veterinary Studies runs many veterinary continuing education courses in Europe, and the organization is slowly introducing more courses based in China.
The five day Ultrasound course had about fifty attendees including many from Taiwan, Malaysia, China and Hong Kong. Lectures were given in English, and were then translated into Mandarin. Marriott said that although this took some getting used to it didn’t affect the quality of the teaching, and he found the course very useful. “The course was held in the hotel which minimised any problems of travelling within the city, and it was quite easy to travel between Shenzhen and Hong Kong before and after the course,” Marriott said.
Marriott is a Member of The Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Small Animal Surgery. He works at the Currambine branch of the Vetwest practice group in WA. For several years Marriott has found ultrasound to be a more and more useful tool in small animal practice, and so he has been trying to gain more skills in this area. Marriott says that it was during a previous job that he was fortunate enough to work with another veterinarian who had experience with ultrasound and was able to teach him the fundamentals of abdominal ultrasound during the day to day running of the practice. Wanting to formalize his training, Marriott decided to complete some continuing veterinary education in the field of small animal ultrasound to further enhance his skill level.
Marriott said his goal with ultrasound from here is simply to perform more abdominal ultrasounds and then extending this to being able to perform ultrasound guided biopsies. He hopes to complete a continuing veterinary education course in echocardiography in the near future.
For more information on courses offered by The European School for Advanced Veterinary Studies, check out their website.
Phil Tucak