Vets have a huge array of tools at our disposal, to hunt down a diagnosis or to form a treatment plan. We have various scopes to look down every orifice or cavity, big or small. Stethoscopes to amplify minute sounds. There are a vast array of blood tests we can run, from general profiles down to specific enzymes. We have microscopes to look at urine samples, fine needle aspirates, scrapes, smears, and biopsies - examining things right down to the cellular level.
We can use x-radiology to see through a patient and add barium to see how something will move through the gut or blood vessels. Create x-rays in real time and you have fluoroscopy to see swallowing or coughing. We can use ultrasonography to rapidly build a mental 3d image of a patient's insides. And then there is advanced imaging like CT or MRIs – taking detailed cross sections through the patient.
We can even use medications as a diagnostic tool, by analysing the response to a certain medication. Surgery can be used in the same way, as well as to directly visualise things you can't pick up on imaging. And of course we have our eyes and ears, noses and fingers, as we examine a patient in the consult room.
But the most important instrument, the one all vets rely on, is often undervalued or overlooked - yet it is always the first one we reach for. It is used long before we even lay our hands on an animal. It appears simple to operate at first, and yet at the same time it is a complex artform which requires practice and skill to perfect, to use and interpret. It drives us, on a personal level as well as a professional one.
It is the vet’s first, last, and most powerful tool: The humble, and mighty, Question.
We can use x-radiology to see through a patient and add barium to see how something will move through the gut or blood vessels. Create x-rays in real time and you have fluoroscopy to see swallowing or coughing. We can use ultrasonography to rapidly build a mental 3d image of a patient's insides. And then there is advanced imaging like CT or MRIs – taking detailed cross sections through the patient.
We can even use medications as a diagnostic tool, by analysing the response to a certain medication. Surgery can be used in the same way, as well as to directly visualise things you can't pick up on imaging. And of course we have our eyes and ears, noses and fingers, as we examine a patient in the consult room.
But the most important instrument, the one all vets rely on, is often undervalued or overlooked - yet it is always the first one we reach for. It is used long before we even lay our hands on an animal. It appears simple to operate at first, and yet at the same time it is a complex artform which requires practice and skill to perfect, to use and interpret. It drives us, on a personal level as well as a professional one.
It is the vet’s first, last, and most powerful tool: The humble, and mighty, Question.
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