Veterinary Webinars: The Future of Veterinary Continuing Education
Veterinarians are often extraordinarily busy, balancing clinic work with their home life and juggling additional tasks on the side—so it’s no surprise that online veterinary education has taken off. Online learning is flexible and accessible, making it a preferred option for many.
Veterinary webinars are online videos that educate vets about everything from clinical ocular pharmacology to palliative care for cancer patients. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed many veterinarians to try out veterinary webinars for the first time out of necessity—now, many prefer it out of practicality.
Types of Veterinary Webinars
Veterinarians looking to keep up to date on the latest best practices and improve patient outcomes have several webinar formats to choose from.
Continuing education webinars
Veterinarians have to complete certified continuing education (CE) classes as a condition of licensure renewal. This ensures that vets maintain a high standard of care for their patients.
Continuing education webinars are the most common type of webinar and typically feature an expert speaker and focus on a single topic. These webinars can be either live or prerecorded. During live CE classes, webinar watchers can ask questions and interact with the speaker.
Product demonstrations
The veterinary equipment vets use when they start practicing medicine will be completely different from the veterinary equipment they use when they finally retire from veterinary care. Throughout their career, they’ll need to adapt to new equipment and products in the workplace. Product demonstrations are one type of veterinary webinar that can educate veterinarians about the latest equipment and show them how to use new tools. Veterinary software webinars, for example, are useful considering that the average clinic updates their computers every 5-7 years.
Research presentations
Research is essential for the advancement of veterinary knowledge, and new research can shed light on how to better deal with diseases, injuries, and aging in patients. Veterinarians can watch research presentations to get caught up on the latest discoveries and insights.
Case studies
Patient case studies can help vets understand case-based diagnostics. Hearing about successes and failures with other patients can help veterinarians improve their assessment skills and their practice. Sometimes the case studies are real, other times they are fictitious scenarios that can help vets apply critical thinking and ethical reasoning.
Panel discussions
In panel discussions, experts in the veterinary field delve deeper into their unique insights. Because panels involve multiple speakers, it allows for a range of perspectives—offering a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. These panels are typically moderated, and the moderator will help guide the discussion and ask questions to clarify points.
Why Webinars are Crucial for Veterinarians & Continuous Learning
The rise of digital learning has changed the landscape of veterinary education. It’s no longer necessary to take time out of their week—and their clinic—to physically attend seminars. The traditional model of education is undergoing a transformation, and webinars play a pivotal role.
Flexible and remote learning allows veterinarians to access valuable insights and updates from the comfort of their own homes. As the industry continues to embrace innovation, webinars are an increasingly valuable tool for staying informed of the latest advancements, fostering network opportunities, and honing existing skill sets.
Webinars also make practical demonstrations more accessible. It would be difficult to show tips for restraining a canine patient in a conference hall—but it’s very possible to do so over video.
Top Platforms to Find Veterinarian Webinars
When looking for a veterinary webinar platform for continued education courses, one thing vets should look for is whether the courses are “RACE approved.” The AAVSB’s Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) program creates uniform standards for veterinary medicine continuing education.
Webinars are either interactive or passive. If vets view the webinar live, they can receive interactive, active CE credits. If one views the recording later, it will count as passive CE. Most webinars, especially CE webinars, are free.
Here are some of the top, trusted platforms for veterinarian webinars:
IndeVets
IndeVets offers monthly live webinars hosted by doctors who made the switch to IndeVets and now love their jobs again. We provide CE for all our our own doctors on a variety of topics that help keep their expertise up-to-date.
Additionally IndeVets offers an “Introduction to Associate Relief Work.” The hosts, practicing IndeVets, share observations about what it’s like being an Associate Relief Vet with IndeVets, how to take control of your work schedule without losing stability, how IndeVets is redefining community and support in vet med, and why you may want to join.
DVM 360
DMV 360 offers on-demand continued education on its website. These webinars are RACE-approved and each webinar typically covers .5 CE credit hours. Examples of topics covered include open wound management, the future of feline diabetes and SGLT2 inhibitors, and pulmonary pattern types. The speakers are renowned experts in their field.
Global Vet Link
Global Vet Link offers both free RACE-approved continuing education webinars as well as informational webinars on a range of topics relevant to animal health and movement. Topics range from industry updates for equine practitioners to cyber security for veterinary clinics.
Zoetis
Zoetis offers live and recorded webinars, with content covering relevant categories in dairy, equine, poultry, diagnostics, and more. Their CE courses are RACE-approved and aim to help with knowledge expansion in key disease areas, as well as offer product-level training and support. The site also allows vets to keep their records and certificates in one place for easy access.
How to Make the Most Out of a Veterinarian Webinar
Since vets can watch webinars at their own pace, the best way to prepare for their webinar is to make sure they have the time, energy, and privacy to focus. They should have a notebook on hand so that they can make notes of any questions or thoughts they have.
Engaging during the session (if it’s a live session) by asking clarifying questions or for further details will not only help vets get more out of the webinar, but will help others as well.
After the webinar, vets will typically need to take a quiz on what they’ve learned to receive the credits.
Benefits of Interactive Webinars in Veterinary Medicine
When it comes to webinars, the benefits of veterinary interactive webinars—where the participants can interact with and ask questions of the presenter—should not be underrated. Research has shown that asking questions helps to improve learning outcomes.
Unlike with a static pre-recorded video, an interactive webinar allows vets to receive individualized feedback in real-time. If a veterinarian is struggling to understand the application of a technique, for example, they can ask the presenter for an example of how they worked with a past patient to better understand the outcome.
A veterinary interactive webinar also serves as a networking opportunity, helping veterinarians expand their professional network and increase their visibility in the industry. Veterinarians can share insights from their diverse practices, and build collaborative relationships for the future.
Tailoring Webinars for Specialized Veterinary Fields
Webinars are not just for general practitioners. Board-certified veterinary specialists can choose from a wide range of tailored webinars, geared toward honing their knowledge of their specific field. Board-certified fields include cardiology, dentistry, emergency care, ophthalmology, radiology, and more.
Many webinar websites offer video packages for specialty tracks so that vets can receive multiple relevant webinars at once, without having to search around through large libraries of videos. Overall, though, most sites offer specialty-topic webinars. GlobalVetLink, for example, currently has a webinar for Updates for Equine Practitioners available.
Veterinary Webinars Ensure Accessible Learning
It’s no secret that veterinarians are busier than ever. Online webinars help keep continued education accessible, allowing vets to learn about case studies, new research, and product demonstrations at a time that’s convenient to them.
Veterinary webinars have transformed veterinary education, and are a crucial resource for veterinarians of all types.