PHASE A: DISCUSSION
There is strong support for the priority Suggested Actions being effective as five of the six had over 75 % of respondents rating them as“ very effective / effective”.
Table 10 shows the six Suggested Actions that were deemed the least important in Survey 1, and hence removed from consideration in Survey 2. Of the remaining 10 Actions considered in Survey 2, the top six were clear favorites, as the weighted rank scores were considerably higher than the bottom four.
There is strong support for the priority Suggested Actions being effective as five of the six had over 75 % of respondents rating them as“ very effective / effective”. Similarly, over 75 % of respondents agreed with five of the six priority Suggested Actions. The exception was“ mandatory producer training” which was lower in both circumstances. These findings demonstrate that although“ mandatory producer training” ranked 5th based on the weighted rank scores, it appears to have garnered less support overall.
“ Identify changes in resistance”, while seen as potentially very effective / effective( ranked third overall) only ranked tenth in both surveys using the weighted rank score. This finding indicates that while veterinarians felt that this Suggested Action had the potential to be effective, it was not considered important for them to champion.
The ranking, based on the weighted ranking scores, of the top six Suggested Actions from Survey 1 and Survey 2 were identical, indicating a strong and consistent response.
Statistical comparison of perceptions and corresponding rankings of Priority Initiatives between those Survey 2 respondents that did, and did not, respond to Survey 1 demonstrated no significant differences. Moreover, general trends and response patterns between these two groups were highly correlated, suggesting that the vast majority of respondents( irrespective of prior participation in Survey 1) held similar views with respect to the priority Suggested Actions.
Importantly, there were no significant differences seen between the respondents, based on their species affiliation.
Based on the findings of Phase A, the top six priority Suggested Actions were confirmed as the Priority Initiatives identified by Ontario food-producing animal veterinarians as those that are most important for them to champion as stewards of appropriate antibiotic use.
College of Veterinarians of Ontario 32