Editors' Note: A clean bill of health

Scanning the program, I wished for an enlightening lecture such as "Turning Tricky Minutes with Clients into Charmed Moments," because this telephone exchange was sutured into my memory:

"I'd like to drive over there right now and punch you! You're just lucky I'm not that kind of person!"

"Excuse me?"

"We just finished that ultrasound you sent us across town for, and they didn't find ONE thing wrong with Dagger!"

"So...isn't it good news that he doesn't have a tumor?"

"Well it's RIDICULOUS that we spent ALL that money and time to find out there's NOTHING wrong with our dog!"

Sure, in hindsight they would've chosen the crystal ball diagnosticator. But an underlying mystery remained: Why would a pet's clean bill of health infuriate some clients?

Has that mode of thinking ever snarled your viewpoint? Let's say it's Day 3 of a fortifying CE conference, and you're primed to take notes again in the cool auditorium twilight. The afternoon lecture, "Renal Tubules: Enchanting Physiology," begins with a slide illustrating the symphony of ion transport. Amazingly, the diagram resembles The Marauder's Map1 with footprints pattering over multiple tubular passageways. Unfortunately, it's been a solid hour since that three-enchilada lunch, so as the speaker soothingly translates the step-by-step mechanisms, your postprandial CNS serotonin concentrations peak and start to magnetize your eyelids.

Nodding off, then jolting to consciousness every few minutes, your attitude deteriorates ("Yes, yes; I already know that.") as you struggle to stay awake. As you finally emerge from the auditorium, annoyance surfaces—after all, you could be at the hospital, doing five multiple-dollar procedures every hour!

Unlike the revitalizing lectures you attended earlier, this colleague's presentation didn't reveal fascinating, clinically applicable breakthroughs every few minutes. But shouldn't you still consider that good news? Doesn't an "I-know-it-already review" bolster your clinical skills confidence and confirm you're managing your patients correctly? And I bet you were reminded of a thing or two you'd forgotten. After all, a clean bill of CE health isn't just a bargain—it's invaluable good news.

I recently received similar good news to be mad about—in the enthusiastic sense, that is. In addition to attending the AVMA Annual Convention/World Veterinary Congress in July, I attended the International Veterinary Editors Meeting for a second consecutive year. Through discussions with editors from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Korea, Canada, and France (to list a few), I reaffirmed that Veterinary Medicine's editorial, peer-review, and publishing processes match those of other renowned veterinary journals such as The Veterinary Record, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Veterinary Clinical Pathology, JAVMA, and several others. Those meetings' take-home messages helped us confirm that Veterinary Medicine, too, maintains a clean bill of health.

So as you read this issue, which spotlights presentations from August's Central Veterinary Conference in Kansas City, you'll reinforce your own CE health. It's all part of our mission to help you in your daily "Care of Magical Creatures."2

REFERENCES

1. Rowling JK. The Marauder's Map. In: Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999;183-210.

2. Rowling JK. Talons and tea leaves. In: Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999;96-122.