One medicine?
BMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7527.0-f (Published 24 November 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:0-f
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I wondered if doctors & veterinarians might be interested in
taking part in a piece of preliminary research which I am carrying out in
General Practice at the present time. I am collecting data via anonymous
questionnaire comparing the weight and height of owners and their dogs,
with a view to ascertaining whether the Body Mass Index of the two species
correlate. Since dog obesity is, I gather, a current issue, it may reveal
useful information in terms of causation, ie. environmental versus genetic
factors. My understanding is that BMI is not usually used as a measure of
dog obesity but I have taken 'weight in kilogrammes divided by (dog's
height at the shoulder in metres) squared' as a comparative figure.
Certainly, looking at my own animals' measurements, there does appear to
be a potential link.
If any doctors or vets would like a copy of the questionnaire in order to
accumulate data for the study, please email janet.menage@lineone.net and
return completed forms to Dr Janet Menage, Bulkington Surgery, School
Road, Bulkington, Warwickshire CV12 9JB (or) send scanned forms via email.
Any findings will be published at a later date.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Martin Alder's (Editor of the Veterinary Record) email address was
printed incorrectly in this article. His correct email address is:
editorial@bva-edit.co.uk
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I am a trainee psychiatrist with a medical degree in India. During my
intership I had a wonderful opportunity to work in a Community Clinic for
tribal people in a remote place. I worked with 2 doctors from whom I have learnt
the most liberating of concepts.
It was a place with a school for the tribal children and there were
some cows which provided milk for all in that place. There was supposed to
be a veterinarian, but he had left and there was no replacement. A couple
of the cows had some ulcers in the foot and other places. We (One doctor
who was a surgeon and myself) decided to help and even though we were not
vets, read a little bit and tried to clean the wound and give some
antibiotics- a fantastic experience.
I learnt to be open and do what we can, and I wondered for along time
- 'why dont we do such things routinely?'.One of the doctors would treat
people with homeopathic medicine even though he was an allopathic doctor,
for minor conditions, utilizing the placebo potential and knew when to
change to a stronger much needed allopathic medicine. I dont want to say
that we should cross boundaries and try to do everything, but do what we
can when we can. We are lost in a terribly civilized way of functioning
that we forget to be human. All we can think of -is legality,
responsibility,working times, record keeping, etc. We look at patients
from our own medical and sometimes philosophical viewpoints that we miss a
lot- and are probably not helping them as much as we would think.
I recently watched the movie- KINSEY, which only reinforced my view.
I am sure many including doctors, continue to hold what I would call
negative views expressed by some in the movie. I am sure there were many
such people who studied and applied knowledge irrespective of the species
including Da Vinci. In Psychiatry we had a lot of pioneers in the learning
theories who studied animals. We read about it but have lost that contact.
We need to liberate ourselves from the conventional way of listening,
reading, examining, thinking, learning, teaching, emoting, treating,
researching, analysing........
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Editor's choice - One medicine?
We are pleased to see this joint issue. Might we suggest going a step
further?
The veterinary surgeons, at least in our experience of keeping pets,
provide ready access and are available out of hours. They have a fund of
common sense which enables them to apply their pharmacological expertise
to prescribing for a wide spectrum of zoological species. They are able to
elicit physical signs and to interpret them with a minimum of history.
And, they are good at dealing with bereavement.
We feel that vets should be authorised to prescribe for humans within
the limits of their own clinical judgement, to carry out simple suturing
and debridement.
We suggest that the foregoing would not be a step too far.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests