College Connection | Spring 2025
Persistent problems deserve continued action:
Beginning our next chapter on Antimicrobial Stewardship
College Connection | Spring 2025
Persistent problems deserve continued action:
Beginning our next chapter on Antimicrobial Stewardship
Some topics are too important to set aside. For health care professions, the stewardship and safeguarding of antimicrobial drugs for animals and humans is one of those topics. While progress may be slow, we need to persist and move toward solutions that are key to the future.
Veterinarians and their prescribing practices are in the middle of the solution to antimicrobial resistance. Declared by the World Health Organization in 2014, this global crisis has the potential to eliminate treatment options for society as we know it and wreak havoc on disease and infection pathways. While one can say the evolution of illnesses created by new viruses and bacteria will continue to exist, the overuse or misuse of antibiotics in the treatment of animals is no longer acceptable behaviour for licensed veterinary professionals.
Veterinary medicine has been and continues to be a part of a national or pan-Canadian set of strategies to reduce the use of human medically important antimicrobials in the prevention and treatment of animals wherever possible. While this is great, how do these strategies translate to on-the-ground and in-the-moment practice?
The College Council has been puzzling on its role to assist veterinarians to lean into their important task as stewards since 2013. We have led provincially-funded projects in the food animal sector, produced a first set of standards on prescribing and dispensing for the profession, and published articles on stewardship by experts such as Dr. Scott Weese. However, this has not been enough to see meaningful change.
Complaints to the College, for example, still highlight the inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobials, particularly in small animal medicine. We need a new path forward; one focused on collaborating to gain momentum.
As part of Strategy 2026, the Legacy Council has decided to continue to shine a spotlight on antimicrobial stewardship. Over the next several months, the College will engage ACER Consulting to conduct a review of current best practices in stewardship and hear from the veterinary community through focus groups. We want to better understand the barriers to achieving meaningful results that help veterinarians contribute to the greater public good.
The aim of this project- our next chapter in this critical conversation with veterinarians in Ontario- is to produce a set of innovative recommendations together where we can implement and measure our progress over time.
Veterinarians are leaders in health care for animals and for humans. The gauntlet is down- let’ s pick it up and lead the way to assisting Ontario and Canada with a bright future for disease management.
CONTACT THE COLLEGE
Registrar Jan Robinson, Registrar & CEO registarsinbox @ cvo. org
Shilo Tooze, Deputy Registrar stooze @ cvo. org
President Dr. Jessica Retterath, President president @ cvo. org
Transition Council Catherine Knipe, Transition Council Chair TransitionCouncil @ cvo. org
Associate Registrar
Dr. Kim Lambert, Associate Registrar Regulatory Programs klambert @ cvo. org
College Staff Find the staff list & contact information at www. cvo. org / contact-us
Program E-mails inquiries @ cvo. org licensure @ cvo. org accreditation @ cvo. org complaints @ cvo. org qualityassurance @ cvo. org
Public confidence in veterinary regulation cvo. org 3