The first-ever guide to rational decision making in veterinary clinics and hospitals

Veterinary medicine entails crucial decisions about patient care and practice on a daily basis. Whether to admit patients displaying particular symptoms, whether to pursue diagnoses or prioritize therapeutic trials, whether to normalize overnight stays after routine surgery; the answers to questions like these can significantly shape patient outcomes and standards of care. However, clinicians are seldom trained to analyze their patterns of decision-making rationally, relying instead on the existing culture of a practice to dictate their responses. This can lead to irrational decision-making, institutional inertia, resistance to evidence-based changes, and a general decline in clinical effectiveness.

Decision Making in Veterinary Practice provides the first-ever dedicated guide to rational principles for decision-making in small animal care. Rooted in the study of normative ethics, it seeks to pose important questions and develop processes by which they can be answered, and those answers reviewed subsequently. The resulting book promises to transform the clinical performance of clinicians and practices that adopt it.

Decision Making in Veterinary Practice readers will also find:

• Discussions of key issues rooted in extensive clinical experience and observation
• Detailed discussion of important decision determinants like time of day, patient weight, criteria for determining trial success, and more
• Essential insights on clinical decision-making and clinical reasoning

Decision Making in Veterinary Practice is ideal for all veterinary practitioners and veterinary students.