Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, UK.
Equine Veterinary Consultants (EVC) Limited, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Equine Vet J. 2022 May;54(3):563-573. doi: 10.1111/evj.13469. Epub 2021 Jun 24.
Exotic diseases pose a significant risk to horse health and welfare. Several stakeholder groups, including primary care veterinarians, share responsibility for maintaining freedom from pathogens that cause exotic diseases. However, little is known about the current state of exotic disease preparedness within the British horse industry.
The aim of this study was to explore equine veterinarians' experiences of, and attitudes towards, exotic disease preparedness in Great Britain.
This is a qualitative interview-based study.
Semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 primary care equine veterinarians in Great Britain. Participants were purposively selected to include perspectives across varying levels of experience, clientele and location. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.
Three themes were developed: (a) the reactive generalist, relating to participants' self-concept of their role as primary care practitioners; (b) working within the bounds of influence, encompassing participants' perceived inability to influence their clients' knowledge and behaviours and (c) a fragmented horse industry, illustrating the wider culture in which participants worked, characterised by a lack of cohesion amongst its members.
Only veterinarians' perspectives have been captured, so viewpoints from other stakeholders, such as horse owners and government officials, should be used to triangulate these findings.
The findings suggest that improvements are required before an optimal level of exotic disease preparedness can be achieved. Additional support provided to frontline veterinarians, such as skills-based training (ie, clinical reasoning and collaborative relationship building), accessible and trusted emergency support networks and clear expectations and responsibilities during an outbreak are recommended to optimise exotic disease preparedness.
外来疾病对马的健康和福利构成重大威胁。包括初级保健兽医在内的几个利益相关者群体共同负责防止引起外来疾病的病原体传播。然而，人们对外来疾病防范在英国马业中的现状知之甚少。
本研究旨在探讨英国马兽医对防范外来疾病的经验和态度。
这是一项基于定性访谈的研究。
对英国的 14 名初级保健马兽医进行了半结构式访谈。参与者是根据经验、客户群体和地点的不同而有针对性地选择的，以纳入不同的观点。所有访谈均进行了录音、逐字记录，并使用主题分析进行了分析。
确定了三个主题：（a）反应性通才，与参与者作为初级保健从业者的自我概念有关；（b）在影响范围内工作，包括参与者认为自己无法影响客户的知识和行为；（c）马业的碎片化，说明了参与者所处的更广泛的文化背景，其特点是成员之间缺乏凝聚力。
仅捕获了兽医的观点，因此应该使用其他利益相关者（如马主和政府官员）的观点来对这些发现进行三角剖分。
研究结果表明，在实现最佳外来疾病防范水平之前，需要进行改进。向一线兽医提供额外的支持，例如基于技能的培训（即临床推理和协作关系建立）、可访问和值得信赖的紧急支持网络，以及在疫情爆发期间明确的期望和责任，以优化外来疾病防范。
