Vet Techs in Action: Helping Your Clinic Succeed in Dermatology

This podcast episode is sponsored by Dechra

In this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Ashley Bourgeois, DVM, DACVD, speaks with Emily Estrada, RVT, and Nastaia Kanaci Chica, RVT, about the realities of working in veterinary dermatology versus general practice.

Throughout the conversation, they emphasize how specialty dermatology allows for more thorough, targeted workups, especially with ears and chronic pruritus, how technicians play a critical role in obtaining detailed histories, performing skin and ear cytology, educating clients, and more!

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity.

Ashley Bourgeois, DVM, DACVD: Now, [from] both of your experiences in working in general practice and dermatology. How do you find being in a dermatology practice, the day to day, is different, because there's a ton of derm that you do in general practice. So what do you think are some of the differences on a daily basis that happen in a specialty clinic?

Nastaia Kanaci Chica, RVT: I definitely see, as far as the difference is, you know, sometimes the questions we ask [during] the examination, there's a lot of the same basics, you know, as far as listening to the patient, things like that. But definitely. I would say, when we're looking at the ears, that [I am a] little bit more thorough than I would say that [I was in] general practice. Especially in general practice, [because] they're usually coming in with something a little more specific. So in my experience, we didn't always look in ears for dermatology. That's always part of the exam.

Bourgeois: What about you, Emily?

Emily Estrada, RVT: I would echo the same thing that we're just being a little bit more specific with what we're looking at here. And like Kanaci said, clients will come in for, ‘oh, my pet needs their vaccinations and also there's this issue,’ but here at Durham, it's more of ‘we know that this is the issue so let's go ahead and take the time in this initial consultation appointment to really investigate what's going on with that specific problem.’

Bourgeois: I'm going to guess that happens a lot in general practice, they go to close the door, ‘oh and.’ I always, when dermatology clients tried to do that to me, they're like, ‘oh and they're vomiting.’ I'm like, ‘Oh, that's not me. Unless [it’s a] food allergy, like, you do not want me handling that.’ I don't even remember what we're supposed to do anymore. Do you ever miss having those other things, like the coughing cat, the diarrhea dog? Not really?

Chica: I would say not really because that was kind of what I was the change I was looking for when I went to dermatology. So no.

Bourgeois: If you were to go, let's say, back to general practice, like you just decided you want to go back to general practice and take what you've learned from dermatology and bring it into that practice. Like, what do you think you would change on how the approach is in general practice, totally understanding every practice is different, every client is different, every derm practice is different. But what do you think you would take now, spending time in a specialty practice that you would change from, like a day-to-day dermatology approach, if you were to go back.

Estrada: I think probably just being a little bit more thorough with asking more specific questions on whatever condition they're being presented for and trying to be a bit more insistent on flea control.

Bourgeois: What about you?

Chica: I think going into dermatology has made me realize things that I might have overlooked a little bit more in general practice, especially itch. You know, we see it in general practice, of course, but even in my own pet, I kind of noticed, I was like ‘I always thought he was itchy. But now, after being in dermatology, I've kind of started to look at signs…and things like that. So I definitely feel like the way I look at patients with itch allergy is very different.