Welly boots and spreadsheets: A rough guide to production animal medicine for medical writers

Abstract

n ow does veterinary medical writing differ from human medical writing? Formulating an answer to this question is a core preoccupation of EMWA's Veterinary Medical Writing -Special Interest Group. Companion animal medicine and human medicine may be in herently different. However, the fundamental princi ples of successful clinical case management are similar: 1 The focus is on the individual, whether the patient is human or veterinary. In contrast, we frame clinical production animal health, a term that refers to species such as cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry, in the context of the herd. Economic considerations, welfare concerns, environmental impacts, and additional regulatory requirements must all be considered alongside the health of the individual production animal. As a result, the role of the production animal veterinarian has evolved profoundly over the past few decades from the welly-wearing James Herriot stereotype to a position more remini scent of the business consultant. 2 They still wear the wellies, but the modern dairy vet's involve ment on the farm goes beyond the clinical, with know ledge transfer and consultancy at the fore and a proactive approach promoting disease prevention. 3 Here, I have drawn on my own experience as a dairy veterinarian in New Zealand to highlight the unique aspects of production animal health that medical writers should be aware of. Although I focus on dairy practice in this article, many of the principles described here apply to global best practices in the beef, swine, lamb, and poultry industries.