A Week With ...
... Veterinary Ophthalmologist, Craig Irving Leanne Norman, BVSc It would be fair to say I can be prone to letting advertised opportunities slip by unnoticed without stopping to take a hard look at them. Busy family and working life will do that to you. I have seen the Dechra/CAV ‘A week with…’ scholarship advertised in the past, read the articles from past recipients and even had friends report back about their amazing weeks. Even with these prompts, it hadn’t struck me to apply, that was until this year. Two days before applications closed, I gave myself a good talking to, dusted off a rather outdated c.v. (an eye opener in itself; I have been working here how long? And did I really graduate that long ago?) and emailed off an application with crossed fingers but not really expecting much to come of it. Several weeks later I was excited to get a phone call to let me know my application was successful and the wheels were in motion for what turned out to be a great week for learning and skill development at Eyevet Services. Eyevet Services appealed to me, being a long-time enthusiast of all thing’s “eyes”. Monday was a crisp and clear morning as I arrived at the Totally Vets Clinic in Feilding, home of Eyevet Services for the first day of my weeklong stint with Craig Irving and Petra Price. After taking care of housekeeping and health and safety requirements I was straight into observing a superficial keratectomy of an indolent ulcer and temporary tarsorrhaphy. It was a great opportunity to question Petra on initial management of this condition and how we manage them in clinical practice, something familiar and sometimes frustrating to many of us. Contact: leanne.n@vetora.nz
28
Learning to use the slit lamp took a bit of practice but by the end of the week I was able to look at different parts of the eye in much more detail.[photo courtesy of the author]
This was followed up with a full morning of consults where I got plenty of opportunity to practice use of the indirect ophthalmoscope, slit lamp and tonometer, as well as tools I am more familiar with such as Schirmer tear tests, fluorescein staining and retro illumination. Throughout the week it became more and more apparent that setting yourself up for success in an ophthalmic examination involves light and magnification. Although it is not something most of us are ever going
to be lucky enough to have access to in general practice, using the slit lamp was a revelation (after I eventually got the hang of it) and seeing details of the cornea and lens up close made me more aware of the limitations we can have with of our examination techniques in general practice. After a quick bite to eat Petra took me under her wing and we worked our way through some slide shows recognising different ophthalmic conditions
Companion Quarterly: Official Newsletter of the Companion Animal Veterinarians Branch of the NZVA | Volume 33 No 1 | March 2022
