Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | winter 2006

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COLLEGE CLOSEUP:
COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

THE VETERINARY TEACHING HOSPITAL: PREPARING TOMORROW'S VETERINARIANS, TREATING TODAY'S PATIENTS

Shortly after midnight on Oct. 20, 2004, Des Moines K-9 Officer Reno was shot in the line of duty. Reno had tracked a suspect who had fled into the woods in Des Moines after shooting a man. The suspect opened fire on the police who, in turn, returned fire. Reno received several gunshot wounds, one of which shattered his knee cap. After spending the night at an emergency center, Reno was referred to an area practitioner, Dr. Brian Martz. “Once I saw the radiograph, I decided that this highly trained, expensive dog needed a specialist,” Mertz said. Reno was transferred to the Iowa State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

On Sept. 27, 2005, Ruthann Robson went to check on her 13-month old miniature schnauzer, Beau. She found him collapsed in the yard. She rushed Beau to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Veterinarians, technicians, and staff at Iowa State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital don’t need to watch the television channel Animal Planet. They live it every day.

As part of Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, the teaching hospital serves as a referral
center for Iowa’s veterinarians and as a teaching center for fourth-year veterinary students who work under the supervision and direction of the hospital’s veterinarians.

Each year, approximately 17,000 patients are examined and treated at the hospital. With 52 board-certified specialists, there’s always a veterinarian available who has the experience and expertise to handle whatever walks, hops, or slithers through the front doors.

As human medicine has grown, so has veterinary medicine. In the past 25 years, there has been a proliferation of newly recognized veterinary specialties.
Thanks to advancements in veterinary medicine, the two cases involving Beau and Reno have happy endings. Although the cause of his illness has yet to be determined, Beau required several blood transfusions, nearly wiping out the teaching hospital’s blood supply. He also underwent emergency exploratory surgery to determine the cause of stomach pain that was diagnosed after he was admitted. In Reno’s case, he had orthopedic surgery to stabilize his leg and patella and extensive rehabilitation afterward in the hospital’s hydrotherapy pool and underwater treadmill.

Orthopedic surgery and emergency medicine are just two of many specialities that have grown over the past 20 years. Others include dermatology, cardiology, radiology, animal behavior, neurology, oncology, and ophthalmology.

While those advances in specialty veterinary medicine are priceless to countless owners whose pets are alive and well because of them, they come at a significant cost to the veterinary teaching hospital that has to accommodate the new technologies and specialists.
“We now have specialties that didn’t exist 30 years ago, and we don’t have space for them,” said Mary Ann Nieves, director of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. When the veterinary teaching hospital was built originally, it had two examination rooms; it now has eight, but 25 are needed.

Specialists provide examinations and treatments in whatever space they can find, often in converted faculty offices. Neurology is one such area. An important part of a neurological examination is to see the animal walk. Often the only place the veterinarian can see an animal walk is in the hallway – which is full of students, technicians, veterinarians, gurneys, carts, and other patients.

New specialty areas also mean the need for new advances in technology. The new technologies allow the veterinarians to pinpoint more complex problems. For example, the CT scanner (computer-assisted tomography) installed in 2001 allows veterinarians to see more than they can with a conventional radiograph. A CT scanner provides 3-D images, allowing veterinarians to better detect tumors and other lesions, an invaluable tool in the field of oncology. But, space was limited. Office space was converted to radiology space to renovate and house a CT scanner large enough to handle patients weighing 400 pounds.

“We have been cramped, trying to renovate just to get enough space for people – internally we are just out of room,” said John U. Thomson, dean of the veterinary college.

It’s not just overcrowding in the medicine wards; clients who check in at the small animal desk often find the space overcrowded. Imagine walking up to the reception desk with your Chihuahua while a client is checking out with her Great Dane and two small children.

As the teaching hospital runs out of creative solutions to the overcrowding, a $51 million plan for renovation has been set in motion. “When the project is completed in 2009, we will have space for all of our specialties,” Thomson said.

“We have an obligation to the greater community as a referral center. The renovation plan will enhance our capabilities to serve the region’s animal owners, provide students with a conducive environment for learning and practicing their skills, and support veterinarians in a manner that helps them succeed professionally,” Thomson said.

“Our high caseload demonstrates the value of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital to Iowa’s pet owners and practitioners,” Nieves said. “Our services are needed and in demand, and that’s a positive reflection on how the College of Veterinary Medicine is helping Iowa State University meet its historic mandate to serve the people of Iowa.”

About the Writer | Tracy Ann Raef is the communications specialist for the College of Veterinary Medicine

Read on | Bricks and Mortar: The College of Veterinary Medicine renovation project