Evidence
What does evidence look like in veterinary botanical medicine?
Evidence in veterinary botanical medicine looks like evidence in other fields of veterinary medicine. As in other fields of medicine, you can find it at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
How much evidence is there?
There is…rather a lot. Botanical medicine for both people and animals has been extensively studied. There is research on each of fundamental parts: phytochemistry, whole herbs and herbal formulas. In addition, clinical research has been undertaken on all of these aspects of botanical medicine. The array of research is vast and includes experiments done with cell cultures in the basic science laboratories as well as metanalyses on patient care. As of October of 2024, if you were to go to https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and type in herbal medicine, you would find over 270,000 peer reviewed publications on the subject. This is of course research on both veterinary species and on human beings.
What is Evidence Based Medicine?
Evidence based medicine is based on Sackett’s Pyramid of Evidence in Medicine. A pyramidal representation is referenced here:
Evidence in veterinary botanical medicine looks like evidence in other fields of veterinary medicine. As in other fields of medicine, you can find it at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
How much evidence is there?
There is…rather a lot. Botanical medicine for both people and animals has been extensively studied. There is research on each of fundamental parts: phytochemistry, whole herbs and herbal formulas. In addition, clinical research has been undertaken on all of these aspects of botanical medicine. The array of research is vast and includes experiments done with cell cultures in the basic science laboratories as well as metanalyses on patient care. As of October of 2024, if you were to go to https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and type in herbal medicine, you would find over 270,000 peer reviewed publications on the subject. This is of course research on both veterinary species and on human beings.
What is Evidence Based Medicine?
Evidence based medicine is based on Sackett’s Pyramid of Evidence in Medicine. A pyramidal representation is referenced here:
And DL Sackett wrote:
Therefore, the evidence-based pyramid above roughly translates to this picture:
This means that there is a lot of medicine that occurs every day on the bottom of the pyramid in every field of veterinary medicine. We use this information to inform our research, so that we know better how to treat patients. We need more information to better help our patients, and this is why we want to fund more research. That doesn’t stop us from treating patients every day with the extensive knowledge that we have already amassed.
Expertise
What does expertise look like in veterinary botanical medicine?
What does expertise look like in conventional veterinary medicine? Expertise in any field is based on knowing information and how to use that information in a clinical setting, applying that information to treat patients and teach other clinicians how to use this information to treat patients. This is a description of the pyramid of clinical competency. It is a model also used in other professional fields such as engineering and manufacturing. This pyramid looks like this:
What does expertise look like in conventional veterinary medicine? Expertise in any field is based on knowing information and how to use that information in a clinical setting, applying that information to treat patients and teach other clinicians how to use this information to treat patients. This is a description of the pyramid of clinical competency. It is a model also used in other professional fields such as engineering and manufacturing. This pyramid looks like this:
This illustration is an excerpt from a journal article called “Teaching in the clinical environment”
Unfortunately, historically in veterinary schools, education about veterinary herbal medicine has fallen on people not trained in these modalities. This is the veterinary equivalent of having someone who has read about a subject (and not very thoroughly) teach the subject. It is the equivalent of asking the internist or the radiologist to teach surgery. They may have learned a little about the subject, but it really would be better to have the boarded veterinary surgeon teach surgery and have the boarded veterinary internist teach internal medicine.
The ACVBM has been established by veterinarians who have years of study, extensive knowledge and clinical mastery in the field of botanical medicine and experience in clinical practice using botanical medicines. This is the knows and knows how part of the pyramid. They also have experience teaching other veterinarians how to use botanical medicine to heal patients. This is the shows how and does part of the pyramid. Charter Fellows of the American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine have: years of practice treating and helping patients with herbal therapies, years of experience teaching other veterinarians how to help their patients with these therapies, authored veterinary textbooks on the subject and have written peer reviewed papers on the topics that are included under the field of veterinary botanical medicine. Unfortunately, only a few veterinary schools have a department of Integrative Medicine, so most of these schools do not have staff with expertise in these areas. The American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine would like to change this. We feel that literacy in the field of botanical medicine is a critical part of veterinary education, so that veterinarians can have, at a minimum, a base knowledge on the supplements that are currently being marketed through veterinary medical distributors and familiarity with supplements that owners may be giving patients.
As an example of expertise, you can read through the Curriculum Vitae of some of the Charter Fellows of the American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine HERE.
Unfortunately, historically in veterinary schools, education about veterinary herbal medicine has fallen on people not trained in these modalities. This is the veterinary equivalent of having someone who has read about a subject (and not very thoroughly) teach the subject. It is the equivalent of asking the internist or the radiologist to teach surgery. They may have learned a little about the subject, but it really would be better to have the boarded veterinary surgeon teach surgery and have the boarded veterinary internist teach internal medicine.
The ACVBM has been established by veterinarians who have years of study, extensive knowledge and clinical mastery in the field of botanical medicine and experience in clinical practice using botanical medicines. This is the knows and knows how part of the pyramid. They also have experience teaching other veterinarians how to use botanical medicine to heal patients. This is the shows how and does part of the pyramid. Charter Fellows of the American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine have: years of practice treating and helping patients with herbal therapies, years of experience teaching other veterinarians how to help their patients with these therapies, authored veterinary textbooks on the subject and have written peer reviewed papers on the topics that are included under the field of veterinary botanical medicine. Unfortunately, only a few veterinary schools have a department of Integrative Medicine, so most of these schools do not have staff with expertise in these areas. The American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine would like to change this. We feel that literacy in the field of botanical medicine is a critical part of veterinary education, so that veterinarians can have, at a minimum, a base knowledge on the supplements that are currently being marketed through veterinary medical distributors and familiarity with supplements that owners may be giving patients.
As an example of expertise, you can read through the Curriculum Vitae of some of the Charter Fellows of the American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine HERE.
All content © The American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine 2024.
The American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine (ACVBM) is not affiliated with the Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association (VBMA).
The American College of Veterinary Botanical Medicine (ACVBM) is not affiliated with the Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association (VBMA).