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| VET GAZETTE | MAYHEW
VET GAZETTE |
INTERNATIONAL
VET TRAINING
Dr. Ioannis Fouskis
CASE STUDY
Mayhew encourages the advancement of animal welfare abroad through
humane education. Chief vet, Ursula Goetz, reveals her training techniques
M
ayhew is a 131-year-old
London-based animal
welfare organisation that
helps thousands of dogs
and cats to escape a life of
cruelty and neglect each
year. In addition to work within the UK, it
offers an international veterinary training
programme designed for veterinary
personnel from overseas who are genuinely
inte rested in promoting animal welfare in
their country. The Mayhew’s team works
with like-minded vets to introduce long-
term programmes for the development of
animal welfare in their local communities.
The Training Programme covers the
basics of veterinary care for cats and dogs
with particular focus on the special needs
of animals in a shelter environment and
those living on the streets. Mayhew aims to
enable vets to return to their countries with
enhanced veterinary skills and foundation
in animal welfare and humane education.
Chief vet Ursula Goetz MRCVS, GP Cert
(SAS) runs the international vet training
programme. She explains how Mayhew tries
to influence attitudes to help relieve the
suffering of animals all over the world.
How do international vets apply for your
training programme?
“We’ve had vets from countries including
Japan, Peru, Nepal, India, Georgia, Lebanon,
Malaysia, Latvia and Greece… I go abroad
to Russia and Georgia and we have teaching
projects in Afghanistan and India. We’ll
invite some of the best students to come
and participate in the programme.
“There are criteria vets need to meet before
applying. First, they have to be fully qualified
in their country of origin. This is because
we have to register them with the Royal
College for Veterinary Surgeons for the time
that they’re here, so they’re legally allowed
to practice under my supervision. Second,
they have to have good spoken and written
English and, third, have to be involved in
animal charity welfare work so that they
can use the skills that they’ve learnt here on
street animals and homeless animals. We’re
a charity and, to put it bluntly, we don’t want
people to use the skills they’ve learnt here
for profit. They have to be involved in charity
work and be willing pass their knowledge
onto other vets in their home environment.
Those are the key aspects that qualify people
to apply for the course here.”
How do you adapt the courses to meet
vets’ needs?
“In the beginning we had applications
from vets who had heard about us from
other charities. We didn’t really have a
previous relationship with them and
sometimes that was a little bit tricky. I recall
one vet who came over here from Tanzania.
I was explaining, ‘you need to scrub up
before surgery’ and he said, ‘we don’t have
running water in our village, I can’t prepare
for surgery the way you tell me to.’ We
changed our approach and now make sure
we know more about the environment our
international vets work in.
“We send a questionnaire to vets before
the course starts, asking questions such as
‘do you have running water?’ ‘do you have
access to power?’ so we can then facilitate
good training while they’re here. We offer
a fairly standardised programme that is
then tailored to the individual and to the
environment they’ll be working in when
they’re back home.”
“Most of the vets who come here see more
of either dogs or cats. Greece has many cats,
for example, so we recently made a Greek
vet’s course cat-based. The Russian, Georgian
and Indian vets said they dealt mainly with
dogs so we teach them more about dogs.
Overall, all of the vets learn about shelter
medicine, population management, the
principals of surgery, anaesthetic and how to
deal with potential complications.”
Which teaching methods have you found
to be most effective?
“I have a postgraduate degree in
veterinary education from the RVC so I have
learnt how to teach veterinary science.
That’s really helped me to understand
how to encourage people to learn. We
encourage peer learning and people to
study here in pairs. Sometimes I’ll ‘say these
are the questions for this afternoon’ and
then they discuss it together instead of
having to sit down by themselves. It sparks
a lot more talk and discussion.
“Since our new clinic was built last
year we have been able to facilitate more
training. We now have two operating
theatres so we don’t have to compromise
our community outreach while teaching.
“We have a standardised protocol for
our teachers - which includes vets and our
Private vet Dr. Ioannis Fouskis
volunteers at the animal welfare
organisation, Crete Animal Welfare
Society, he spent two weeks with
Mayhew, finding out more about its
Community Veterinary Clinic.
He says: “I first heard about Mayhew
through the charities I help and
volunteer for in Crete and thought
it was a great opportunity to learn
from Mayhew about the different
techniques they use for dog castration
and spaying cats.”
“I have learnt a lot about the
improved handling and treatment of
animals before and after surgery, also
the sterilisation techniques they use. I
have learnt skills and techniques that
I can take away with me and show
other vets working at the charities
I volunteer for. I really appreciated
the veterinary nurses that worked at
Mayhew. In Greece I don’t have any
veterinary nurses to help me during
surgery, but I’m now considering
training a nurse when I get back.”
nursing team - so that when there’s more
than one way to carry out a procedure we
all use the same explanations and exactly
the same methods. It makes learning easier
for the international vets, though it isn't
always easy for my team as they have to
relearn some techniques! Everyone is used
to teaching so they’re very patient. It’s a
lovely team, like a family, which creates a
positive learning environment.”
What are your plans for the future?
“We are fully booked for the rest of this
year and are starting to fill places for 2018.
Vets coming for the training normally have
to pay for their own flights, visa and food
but we give them free accommodation
while they’re here (which in central London
costs quite a bit!) We also arrange their
temporary registration at the RCVS.”
“In future, I would like to have videos of the
procedures our international vets learn here
so they can re-watch the surgery and take
the information home with them. The videos
would give our students something to fall
back on, especially when they return to their
community and are teaching other vets.”
Chief vet, Ursu la Goetz, in Georgia
Dr. Ioannis Fouskis with Mayhew's chief vet, Dr. Ursula Goetz, and
chief executive, Caroline Yates, and the rest of the Vet Team
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49
August 2017
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Organisations interested in
donating to or fundraising for the
international training programme
can call 020 8206 5870 or go to
www.themayhew.org/donate
August 2017