A significant portion of the problems faced by veterinarians is related to communication. These problems are intensely experienced between veterinary practitioners and animal owners; yet no lectures or courses aiming to improve professional skills are available in the curriculum of veterinary schools in Turkey. In this study, all students currently enrolled at, and 1992 and 1998 graduates of, the Veterinary School of Firat University (VSFU), Turkey, were surveyed to evaluate the attitudes of veterinary students and graduates toward technical and professional skills. Data were collected from 581 students and 61 recent graduates via personal interviews with students and questionnaires mailed to graduates; information was obtained about participants' technical and professional skills. The overall response rate was 85%. The results show that learning about technical and professional skills is highly valued; competence and comfort in skill sets are associated with comfort in establishing communication with instructors. Positive correlations were also noted between feeling comfortable with and feeling competent in both skill sets. In conclusion, it appears to be essential to introduce courses addressing improvement of professional skills to the curriculum of veterinary schools in Turkey, given that a successful veterinarian profile requires feeling competent in and comfortable with both technical and professional skills.

No abstract

ABSTRACT:In this study, veterinary students and veterinary educators from Firat Veterinary School, Istanbul Veterinary School and Selcuk Veterinary School were surveyed to evaluate their a�itudes to animal use in research. Data were collected from 330 students and 204 educators by personal interviews. All participants showed anthropocentric a�itudes toward animal use in research. Most of the participants agreed on items regarding the animal tests being easier, more scientific, more common, more economical and more reliable than alternative methods, but they also signified that they did not agree with the item indicating that the animal experimentation is more conscience. In conclusion, we can state that both the veterinary students and the educators are in a complete dilemma in the discussions regarding the animal experimentation. In order to avoid the negative circumstances that can arise from this dilemma, it could be said that veterinary schools should be supported in this aspect with related courses to be included within their curriculum.

Women in Turkey were first given the opportunity to attend schools of higher education in 1914. Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, a number of social, judicial, and economic reforms took place that enabled women to participate actively in both the public and private sectors, and, as a consequence, the number of women students in higher education increased rapidly. The first woman graduated from the veterinary school in Ankara in 1935, becoming the first female veterinarian in the country. Since that time, the number of female veterinary graduates in Turkey has steadily increased.

ABSTRACT:The authors examined the a�itudes of veterinary practitioners in Turkey towards animals' right to life. For this purpose, a telephone questionnaire was applied on a total of 303 practitioners located in four provinces in Turkey. The overall response rate was 82%. The respect for right to life was valued slightly over neutral. According to the 5-point Likert scale, the average value scored by the participants for the items of views about animals' right to life was found as 3.25. Type of practice (pet clinics: 3.41), gender (females: 3.63), perceived responsibility (to animal: 3.48), keeping a pet (yes: 3.34) and membership in a society (yes: 3.67) had a statistically significant influence on a�itudes towards animals' right to life. Independent variables explained 87% of the variance in a�itudes, with most of the variance accounted for by perceived responsibility.