Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:In the 2016-2017 budget period, the Food Armor program was able to travel to 4 different veterinary schools including University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine and North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine. During that time Food Armor trained 85studentsand the plan isto increase those numbersin year 2 and 3 by adding additional schools each year. The students trained were 3rd and 4th year veterinary students and a few 2016 graduates. Through our first year efforts we have made great connections within these colleges which allowed us to providea solid foundation in responsible drug use education which we hope to continue years into the future. All four schools have requested Food Armor's return for the next two years of the grant, and if funding can be secured, they would like to continue this education every year for all students in their programs. Changes/Problems:The software project did have significant delays due to delays with the third party programmer. The development took longer than our contract bid estimated resulting in a delay of theend user testing. The software went through user testing in October and November of 2017 and now is in the final stages of review and debugging. The estimation for launch of the software is January 2018, if no further delays arise. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?TheFood Armor®Veterinary Student Educational Program has been able to train 85 veterinary students or recent veterinarian graduates. These food animal focused students will be entering into food animal practice, focusing on dairy, beef, pork, or poultry, either in private practice or in a regulatory role. Food Armor's educational training provide these students a solid foundation in responsible antibiotic stewardship on farms through a risk management/procedural controlapproach. The students go through an in-depth two day training program with interactive lectures, group discussions, real life exercises and review of concepts. Current antibiotic use regulations, best practices and on-farm veterinary oversight are all covered in depth. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Food Armor program has completed over 500 presentations on residue reduction and responsible medication use over the last 7 years. Since the USDA NIFA grant was received in 2016, all Food Armor presentations, articles, newsletters and interviews have discussed the Food Armor veterinary student training program, its goals, its results and the acknowledgment of its funding partners. This will continue through the entire grant funding period and beyond. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1) Continue veterinary student trainings in grant periods 2 and 3 as described in application. 2) Work with the software developer to finalize the cloud-based project in early 2018. Once completed, a strategic plan will be developed to disseminate this program to all veterinary students trained through the grant.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Food animal veterinarians play crucial roles in assuring food safety, protecting public health, and ensuring responsibleuse of animal medicationson farms and ranches.As highly respected resources for animal health, the public relies on veterinarians to ensure the quality and safety of products produced by animal agriculture.The Food Armor®Veterinary Student Educational Program, generously funded by the USDA NIFA Veterinary Services Grant Program,takes the nationally known Food Armor®Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) for Proper Drug Use Program and further customizes it specifically for veterinary students. The Food Armor®HACCP for Proper Drug Use program is an essential educational program, for both veterinarians and producers, working towardsenhanced food safety in the dairy industry through implementation of risk management HACCP plans. Food Armor®has two primary objectives: 1) Reduce meat and milk antibiotic residues and maintain food safety, and,2) Long-term responsible medication use in animal agriculture through transparency and accountability of use. Farms utilizing a veterinarian to enhance and optimize animal welfare, animal nutrition, and food safety are equally important to disease control and reproductive management and are fundamental to protecting public health. Veterinarians trained through the Food Armor program are able to offer additionalrisk management and procedural reviewservices to their clients, in addition to the variety of technicalservices they are trained to offer. Despite numerous attempts by veterinarians to diversify and expand their businesses to account for these important roles, the veterinary skills and services currently utilized by the majority of farming operations are highly technical in nature.These newly acquired skill sets will provide an avenue for sustainability in rural practice by developing a veterinarian's consulting services. Ultimately, improving drug use decisions andantimicrobial stewardshipwillhave a positive impactinanimal agriculture by improving animal health, management,prevention of disease, and reducing the risk of developing antibiotic resistance in animals.Antibiotic resistance is a global human health issueso any efforts to curb antibioticresistance development in agriculture has the potential to have a positive impact on humans, both nationally and globally. Specific Aim #1: 1) In its first year theFood Armor®Veterinary Student Educational Program has been able to train 85 veterinary students or recent veterinarian graduates. These food animal focused students will be entering into food animal practice, focusing on dairy, beef, pork, or poultry, either in private practice or in a regulatory role. Food Armor's educational training provide these students a solid foundation in responsible antibiotic stewardship on farms through a risk management/procedural controlapproach. The students go through an in-depth two day training program with interactive lectures, group discussions, real life exercises and conclude with a review of the concepts. Current antibiotic use regulations, best practices and on-farm veterinary oversight are all covered in depth. 2) A training workshop evaluation is offered to all students following completion of the classroom training.After graduation, these students will be surveyed to see how they took the educational concepts and skills they learned into practice. Through this same survey the program will also be able to access the geographical regions these students end up practicing within after graduation. 3)The results of the workshop evaluation shows that 95% of students felt their knowledge and awareness around drug residues, drug regulations and responsible drug use decisionsincreased due to the training they received and they plan to use these skills sets with their future clients. 98% of students stated they would recommend the Food Armor training to other students or professional colleagues. The follow-up surveys of these veterinary students willbe conducted once these students graduate and enter in veterinary practice. 4) The first year of student trainings has gone exceptionallywell. The students have shown appreciation for the depth of knowledge they received and the participating schools have all scheduled their dates for the second grant period. Many students expressed thankfulness for having a support system offered through this program. All students were welcomed to reach out to Food Armor staff with questions and support requests now and when they enter into their careers. Specific Aim #2: 1)Veterinarians trained through the program are provided access to all Food Armor® program materials to assist with on-farm implementation of the HACCP for proper drug use concepts. The program currently provides a wide variety of paper templates which are useful but may limit implementation of the program, especially in veterinary service shortage areas where time management and efficiency are crucial. Converting current program materials into an electronic, easily accessible format will allow veterinarians to streamline the HACCP implementation process on farms. The conversion of program materials is almost completed. It is in the final stage of user testing and debugging. The program should be finalized and available to Food Armor trained veterinarians in January of 2018.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
https://cvm.ncsu.edu/effective-drug-use-ce/
|