New veterinary resources launch online
Two new internet resources for vets have been launched by scientists at the University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Medicine.
The free facilities have been developed at the school's Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (CEVM), in order to enable the use of best evidence in practice.
One of the websites, called BestBETS for Vets, has been adapted from an evidence-based medicine resource for emergency doctors (BestBETs).
BET stands for Best Evidence Topic and the website offers vets a summary of the evidence found in relation to particular questions asked by members of the veterinary profession.
The CEVM team carried out a structured search of literature to find the answers to questions posed by veterinary surgeons working in general practice.
Due to the way the BETs are structured, those wishing to simply find the answer to the question can read just the last line of the BET. Or, it is possible to read entire entries, each of which contain the search terms and appraisals of the papers found by the team.
Vets can also sign up to the website in order to post questions for future BETs or to receive regular updates about any new entries published online.
The second new resource to be launched is VetSRev, an online database of 300 citations for systematic reviews. The CEVM team says this website has been developed to provide a single place of reference for researchers looking for veterinary systematic reviews.
Dr Rachel Dean, director at the centre, says: "There is no other database of this kind in veterinary medicine, despite many that have been created for human medicine.
"There are also very few practitioner orientated evidence summaries for practising vets to help them incorporate evidence in clinical decision making. These new resources should help to facilitate the use of best evidence in practice."
Click the links below to visit the new websites:
BestBETs for Vets - www.bestbetsforvets.org
VetSRev - www.nottingham.ac.uk/cevm/vetsrev
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
