Teaching Anesthesia in China
Friday, January 17, 2020
Stefano Di Concetto, DVM, MSc, DACVAA, a clinical associate professor of veterinary anesthesiology at Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine, recently spent two weeks restructuring how anesthesia is taught to Chinese veterinary students and the practice of anesthesia in the veterinary clinic at Northwestern Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU) in Xi’an, China.
“In March 2019, I spent a month working with Dr. Kevin Ma at NWAFU to learn veterinary acupuncture,” said Di Concetto. “During my visit, I helped the team with anesthesia at the small animal clinic of the university, which resulted in the invitation to return later in the year.”
During the first week, Dr. Di Concetto delivered 17 lectures, including practical lab lectures, to approximately 30 final year veterinary students and veterinarians for three hours every morning in the didactic center on the main university campus located in Yangling, China. A translator conveyed his teaching in Mandarin. Morning lectures covered pharmacology of anesthetic drugs, airway management, and other aspects of veterinary anesthesiology including two lab lectures on anesthesia equipment.
The second week Di Concetto traveled to Xi’an, where the university has a small animal clinic that serves as a veterinary referral center for the entire city of 13 million people.
“Following an orientation lecture on day 1, the students and veterinarians who attended my lectures the week before were divided into groups of three,” said Di Concetto. “Each group had to prepare an anesthesia plan and actually anesthetize a dog or a cat for a spay or neuter surgery. This was very useful and allowed the attendees to use the information learned during the lectures.”
Di Concetto was also asked to visit a private veterinary clinic that often collaborates with the university.
“The private veterinary clinic primarily does exotic animal medicine and surgery, which enabled me to work with general practitioners in a real daily work routine situation,” said Di Concetto. “The entire experience was a great success! NWAFU has already invited me to teach again in 2020.”
MEDIA CONTACT: Taylor Bacon | Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator | 405-744-6728 | taylor.bacon@okstate.edu