DoveLewis and Vetstream Bring World-Class Veterinary Education to Developing Countries

PORTLAND, Ore.—DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital is partnering with Vetstream, a global supplier of digital veterinary reference content, to bring the respected On the Floor @Dove collection of clinical training videos to veterinary professionals around the world. This partnership makes it possible to improve veterinary care on a global scale by providing veterinary education at preferential rates (and free of cost in specific areas) in developing countries, where there is an urgent need for affordable education and training.

On the Floor @Dove content will be accessible by Vetstream platform members, as well as members of the many projects, associations and organizations with which Vetstream has established partnerships.

Vetstream is a partner with WikiVet, which provides a comprehensive, online veterinary knowledge database to 30,000 members and is free of cost to students; and with the African Small Companion Animal Network (AFSCAN), an initiative from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Foundation to raise standards of veterinary care across Africa by providing a number of resources including training and continuing education. Vetstream is also providing educational support to 10 of the less financially endowed veterinary schools in Asia through its relationship with the Federation of Asian Veterinary Associations (FAVA).

“Advancing the standards of veterinary care around the world, especially in developing countries where there is a great need for training and support, is an extremely important component of our mission as a teaching hospital,” said Ron Morgan, CEO of DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital. “There is an urgent need for affordable, high-quality veterinary education in many parts of the world, and especially in geographically isolated parts of Africa and Asia, where veterinarians lack the educational tools they need.”

On the Floor @Dove is a unique, on-demand training website that serves as a virtual community for the veterinary profession. It is a place where veterinary professionals from across the globe can join DoveLewis veterinary staff on the hospital floor for additional learning and professional development courses any time, from any place. On the Floor @Dove offers more than 300 comprehensive veterinary training videos, filmed using real patients and case discussions from certified specialists on a broad range of clinical topics. Content is developed by the team at DoveLewis, which is an AAHA accredited and AAVC accredited teaching hospital based in Portland, Ore.

Since launching in 2011, On the Floor @Dove (OTF) has more than 23,000 active members, and almost half a million people have accessed the site from 197 countries. The global demand for online continuing veterinary education continues to grow rapidly, and in the last year alone, 234,000 new users signed up to access OTF training, of which 24 percent of users were outside of the United States. The majority of these new users sign-up only to access free content, which shows the need to provide reduced-cost access to developing countries. Nearly 1,000 clinics in the U.S. and abroad are premium customers of OTF.

“Partnering with Vetstream is the best way for DoveLewis—as a non-profit—to be able to bring our unique educational video content to veterinary professionals and universities in developing countries at as low a cost as possible if not entirely free,” said Morgan. “Both of our organizations feel strongly about supporting practices in countries without access to the high-quality information and education resources we take for granted in the U.S. and Europe, so this opportunity gives us a chance to have a global influence by helping to improve the quality of veterinary medicine throughout the world.”

“On the Floor @Dove has rapidly established itself as a popular source of veterinary videos and online training in the U.SA.,” said Dr. G. Mark Johnston, Managing Director of Vetstream. “Vetstream offers a range of online training resources to veterinary professionals around the world and, thanks to our partnership, many of them will also now be able to access these excellent resources from the DoveLewis team.”

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