EQUINE VETERINARY EDUCATION / AE / APRIL 2018


203


TABLE 2: Environment when injury occurred and purpose of examination (495 respondents who had sustained at least one injury; for all questions [apart from the question about sedation] it was possible to tick more than one box, hence total responses for some of those questions are more than 495)


Number (%)


Type of practice/type of equine work being carried out at time of injury (528 responses) Pleasure horse work Sports horse work Mixed practice Racing work Stud work


Referral hospital


Welfare and working equids Other


Horse sedated at time of injury (491 responses) No Yes


Site of injury (549 responses) Leg


203 (38.4) 109 (20.6) 65 (12.3) 59 (11.2) 57 (10.8) 13 (2.5) 11 (2.1) 11 (2.1)


312 (63.5) 179 (36.5)


Other form of restraint being used (495 responses) 149 (30.1) Twitch Stocks


Other restraint used


Rope, bridle, head collar Leg up


Purpose of equine examination (487 responses) Foot lameness


Dental examination


Female reproductive examination Distal limb nerve block Minor surgical procedure Bandage, wound, dressing IV injection or sampling Standing castration


Other (30 other purposes of examination)


Other handlers present at time of injury (576 responses) Horse owner or client Groom


Veterinary nurse Another vet


Veterinary student Other


Resident


96 (58.9) 37 (22.7) 16 (9.8) 7 (4.3) 6 (3.7)


55 (11.3) 33 (6.8) 29 (6.0) 26 (5.3) 26 (5.3) 24 (4.9) 20 (4.1) 20 (4.1)


254 (52.2)


274 (47.6) 107 (18.6) 88 (15.3) 58 (10.1) 35 (6.1) 12 (2.1) 2 (0.3)


respondents; better restraint and facilities to enable good restraint (including more frequent use of practice facilities rather than ‘in the field’) in 74 (14%) respondents; veterinary surgeon training/CPD about risks in 66 (12%) respondents.


Discussion


The current work suggests that over a 30-year working life an equine veterinary surgeon can expect to sustain between seven and eight injuries. The severity of these injuries will clearly be very variable and indeed many equine veterinary surgeons may never sustain an injury that results in hospitalisation or a loss of consciousness. However, it is undoubtedly the case that a significant proportion of equine veterinary surgeons will at some point in their career end up unconscious or hospitalised following an injury directly related to their work. Most injuries were described as bruising, fracture and laceration. The main cause of injury was a kick with hindlimb followed by strike with forelimb and crush. These results concur with previous studies (Landercasper et al. 1988; Lucas et al. 2009a, 2009b) which also indicated that the


Head Hand Foot Arm


Back Chest


Shoulder


Abdomen Neck Eye


Pelvis


Type of Injury (604 responses) Bruising Fracture


Laceration


Ligament Injury Concussion Dislocation Back injury


Loss of sight (temporary)


Cause of Injury (493 responses) Kick with hindlimb Strike with forelimb Crush Bite


Horses stood on vet foot


Horse rears up and fell on vet Other (14 other causes)


Treatment required (387 responses) Dressing of wound(s) Treatment of fracture(s) Physiotherapy Analgesia Stitches


Immediate outcome (495 responses) GP attendance Hospital admission


Hospital admission for >24 hours Loss of consciousness


160 (29.1) 124 (22.6) 57 (10.4) 42 (7.7) 38 (6.9) 36 (6.6) 33 (6.0) 21 (3.8) 15 (2.7) 10 (1.8) 7 (1.3) 6 (1.1)


263 (43.5) 134 (22.2) 102 (16.9) 40 (6.6) 31 (5.1) 15 (2.5) 8 (1.3) 6 (1.0)


242 (49.1) 58 (11.8) 25 (5.1) 23 (4.7) 23 (4.7) 22 (4.5)


100 (20.3)


88 (22.9) 85 (22.1) 79 (20.6) 57 (14.8) 50 (13.0)


80 (16.2) 165 (33.3) 71 (14.3) 36 (7.3)


more severe injuries were most likely to affect large animal (or specifically equine) practitioners. When examining the number of injuries per year stratified


by years in equine practice, it is apparent that those in their first 5 years were at greatest risk, certainly compared with


those who had more than 15 years of experience. It is important to acknowledge the wide standard deviation around the risk estimate for the least experienced veterinary surgeons, indicating a lot of variation in the number of injuries per year per respondent in that group. Nevertheless, it is useful to speculate why the injury risk apparently decreases over time. This may be due to greater experience and understanding of risky procedures as one works for longer with horses. It may also be related to work patterns with junior veterinary surgeons perhaps taking on more routine, but potentially more risky procedures, such as standing castrations or indeed seeing a greater case-load compared with very experienced veterinary surgeons. Whatever the


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TABLE 3: Site, cause and treatment of injury (495 respondents who had sustained at least one injury; for most questions it was possible to tick more than one box, hence total responses for some are more than 495)


Number (%)


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