Jacobson Elliott, Heard Darryl, Isaza Ramiro
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA.
J Vet Med Educ. 2006 Fall;33(3):373-81. doi: 10.3138/jvme.33.3.373.
Reptile medicine has emerged as a specialty area within the broader field of zoological medicine. It encompasses the medical needs of approximately 7,500 vertebrate species. This vertebrate class is highly diversified, having biological and medical peculiarities that differ both between and within major groups. Historically, veterinarians who have become recognized specialists with reptiles have had limited formal training in their medical management. The pet reptile trade is a multi-million-dollar business, and the popularity of reptiles as pets has resulted in a need for more veterinarians with training in their medical management. While few private practices have high volumes of reptile cases, many small-animal practices will have the opportunity to see a significant number of reptiles on an annual basis. Most practitioners with reptile medical expertise have merged their experiences as reptile pet owners with the principles of veterinary medicine taught in veterinary college. Several North American veterinary colleges have reptile medicine courses, and most have didactic and clinical courses in exotic and zoo animal medicine that include lectures and practical experience. Most accredited zoological medicine residency training programs include training in reptile medicine. The case load and interest in reptile medicine will probably never be sufficient to lead the average veterinary college to develop much more than what is currently offered. Consequently, those few colleges having more extensive course offerings, both didactic and clinical, will serve as educational centers for this discipline. Future Web-based teaching programs in reptile medicine will allow students nationally and internationally to have access to instructional material that can be continually updated.
爬行动物医学已成为动物医学更广泛领域中的一个专业领域。它涵盖了大约7500种脊椎动物的医疗需求。这个脊椎动物类别高度多样化，在主要类群之间以及类群内部都有不同的生物学和医学特性。从历史上看，那些成为公认的爬行动物专家的兽医在其医疗管理方面接受的正规培训有限。宠物爬行动物贸易是一项价值数百万美元的业务，爬行动物作为宠物的受欢迎程度导致需要更多接受过其医疗管理培训的兽医。虽然很少有私人诊所处理大量的爬行动物病例，但许多小型动物诊所每年都会有机会接诊大量爬行动物。大多数具有爬行动物医学专业知识的从业者将他们作为爬行动物宠物主人的经验与兽医学院教授的兽医学原理相结合。几所北美兽医学院开设了爬行动物医学课程，大多数还开设了外来动物和动物园动物医学的理论与临床课程，包括讲座和实践经验。大多数经认可的动物医学住院医师培训项目都包括爬行动物医学培训。爬行动物医学的病例数量和关注度可能永远不足以促使普通兽医学院开展比目前提供的课程多得多的内容。因此，少数几所提供更广泛的理论与临床课程的学院将成为这一学科的教育中心。未来基于网络的爬行动物医学教学项目将使国内和国际的学生能够获取可以不断更新的教学材料。
