Veterinarians and their colleagues in clinical practice can now get practical tips from world-class experts in the field, anytime and anywhere.
Founded by Australian veterinarian Sally Grainger and award-winning film production house Grainger Films, the Versatile Vet online video library offers high quality videos of clinical skills and procedures in all species, which are frequently difficult to learn accurately from textbooks or lectures alone.
One of the challenges of veterinary practice is the constant pressure to stay up to date and improve practical skills, while the costs of continuing education are high, and there may be little time in busy clinical schedules to fit in workshops or visit specialist practices for mentoring.
With her experience in veterinary practice, Grainger identified the need for an online video library many years ago. “I found it frustrating in vet school that there were limited opportunities to revise key skills we had been taught in order to consolidate knowledge, as well as get exposure to the breadth of skills vets need to learn.”
“After I graduated, I worked in both specialist and general practice, and found the lack of access to specialists onsite in general practice limits your ability to learn skills that you need to improve patient outcomes. I wanted something that would bridge the gap between formal teaching and general practice, so that I could feel more confident performing essential procedures to a higher standard. An online video library featuring practical guidance from specialists in each field was the obvious answer.”
“Of the many veterinary instructional videos online, few are available from reputable sources, video quality is often amateur or dated, and there is no organised site in which they may be easily located when you need them,” she said.
The need for such a library was highlighted in 2020, when COVID-19 effectively shut down in-person teaching in veterinary schools around the world and made mentoring in private practice difficult. Versatile Vet had a large number of videos available already and was able to fast-track release of its video library to help veterinary schools which needed resources to keep teaching practical skills to students in lockdown.
“The quality of the filming and editing expertise of the team at Versatile Vet has been beyond my wildest expectations: clear, focused and engaging”, Jennie Mohler, Senior Lecturer of Ruminant Health and Production at the University of Sydney said. Versatile Vet filmed Mohler extensively for the project.
“I have been using the videos as preparation material for practical class teaching sessions for the last three years. During COVID having these videos was an innovative way to introduce students to key cattle and sheep core practical skills during lockdown, which in turn allowed students to efficiently engage with these skills on animals when face-to-face teaching resumed,” Mohler said.
The video library is now available to the wider veterinary profession for a simple annual subscription fee. It is regularly updated with new videos featuring noted specialists across many fields.
“I’m hoping the videos will encourage vets and veterinary support staff to expand their skillset, reduce stress in those starting out or working with minimal support, and promote retention and return to the workforce for those who have taken a break or changed fields,” Grainger said.
“Veterinary medicine is fascinating and getting ‘fly-on-the-wall’ access to watch these talented experts doing what they do best is just so inspiring”.
For more information, visit www.versatilevet.com.
