Oct 2025 Quarterly Newsletter

President’s Update

1.  We’re updating the EBVMA Master Plan and want your input. Watch for a survey this January.
2.  A new RACE-certified video is close to launch. It is the first of a series hosted by Dr. Gary Block and made in partnership with VIN. The series focuses on expert discussion of the evidence supporting answers to VIN’s top search requests. Watch for announcements next month on the EBVMA’s website and List-serv.
3. Universally, time to read research on veterinary treatments is limited. In response, the EBVMA Board and invited colleagues developed a novel tool called ‘QUIT’, the Quality and Uncertainty Indicator Triage Tool, to help you quickly identify concerns that cumulatively render articles as not worth your time to read. We’ve built support materials around this tool and will launch a test version for your use before the year’s end.
4. Dr. Martin Whitehead is leading creation of a video series interviewing founders of the resources where you go for quick and informative answers to your veterinary questions (i.e. VIN, Vet Lexicon, VetCompanion, VETbytes, Veterinary Prescriber, Plumb’s). The aim is to help you understand the services they provide,important niches they fill, and what goes into making their content. We’re targeting Spring 2026 for the release of the first videos.

EBVM Terminology

So we’re all on the same page...

Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) involves diagnostic testing performed in close proximity to the patient —frequently at the patient’s bedside —in a primary care environment or community setting, rather than in a centralized clinical laboratory. https://nccid.ca/cphln-point-of-care-testing-poct/

Point-of-care information tools are decision-support resources that”bridge the gap between medical research and clinicians, facilitating the exchange and application of research in clinical settings by integrating and adapting research evidence into formats relevant to practitioners in specific clinical environments. Point-of-care resources help clinicians overcome the obstacles of time, limited search skills, and limited critical appraisal skills”. Toews, L. J Vet Med Educ. 2011 38:2, 123-134

Evidence-based point-of-care information resources “are compiled using systematic, explicit methods to locate, critically appraise, and synthesize all relevant research evidence for a clinical problem. These resources present conclusions and practice recommendations from this synthesis in concise, easily searchable formats that align with clinicians' decision-making processes and workflows and are continuously updated as new evidence becomes available”. Toews,L. J Vet Med Educ.38(2):123-34. doi: 10.3138/jvme.38.2.123. PMID: 22023920.

Spectrum of Care (US)/Contextualised Care (UK):There are numerous definitions of the Spectrum of Care/Contextualised Care1,2,3,4, all of which recognize a veterinarian’s responsibility to provide a wide range of diagnostic and treatment options for clients and their pets. These options must ideally be based on the best available evidence. Spectrum of Care recognizes the unique circumstances of each case, including the client’s financial resources.

¹ https://www.aavmc.org/resources/spectrum-of-care/

² The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) defines the spectrum of care (SOC) as “a patient-centered, evidence-based approach to veterinary medicine that provides a range of acceptable treatment and diagnostic options tailored to the individual pet and owner's circumstances, including emotional, physical, and financial resources.”

³ https://vet.osu.edu/news/introducing-spectrum-care-concept-better-prepare-practice-ready-veterinarians

⁴ https://knowledge.rcvs.org.uk/evidence-based-veterinary-medicine/contextualised-care/

Access to Care: refers to the efforts veterinarians, veterinary hospitals, animal protection organizations, and society make to increase the availability of veterinary care to the pet-owning public. As a progressively larger percentage of the pet-owning public finds preventative, emergency, and tertiary veterinary care unaffordable, access-to-care initiatives recognize that the most important thing we can do to improve the health and welfare of our patients is to address potential barriers to care and get them through the hospital door.

Standard of Care: In veterinary tort law, Standard of Care is typically defined as "the care provided by the average, reasonably prudent, competent veterinarian in the community". There is increasing recognition that in clinical veterinary practice, that the standard of care, rather than representing a single baseline for the minimum accepted level of care, should instead reflect a continuum of acceptable care that takes into account available evidence-based medicine, client expectations of care, and financial limitations that may limit diagnostic and treatment options. Block, G. 2018. JAVMA, 252(11), 1343-1344