The ability to assess and control pain is listed as one of the desired Day One competencies among veterinary graduates. As such, a study was conducted to examine the current status and effectiveness of a video-based training module on the attitude toward and knowledge of pain assessment in cats among fourth- and final-year veterinary students of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in January of 2013. A total of 92 students participated in this study, resulting in a response rate of 60.1%. Upon completion of a pre-training survey, the respondents undertook an interactive video-based presentation, followed by a post-training survey. The majority of the students (96.7%) agreed on the importance of pain management. Before the training, many (76.1%) disagreed that they had received adequate training, while 53.3% were not confident in their pain-recognition skills. After training, their knowledge and confidence in pain assessment increased. Responses to the survey were not associated with differences in gender, level of study, or field of interest. Students were found to have mistaken some physiologic parameters as good pain indicators after ovariohysterectomy. Their assessment of three standardized video cases revealed that they could recognize prominent signs of pain but failed to identify changes in behavior that were more subtle. Refinement to the training module is required to address the above deficiencies.
Subcutaneous (SC) administration of tramadol was compared with intravenous (IV) administration to evaluate analgesia following canine ovariohysterectomy (OHE). Healthy female dogs (n = 12) between 1 and 3 years of age (1.95 ± 0.65 years), weighing between 10.5 and 17.1 kg (13.12 ± 1.95 kg), were used. Pain was assessed at baseline before surgery and then hourly for 8 hr after surgery. Tramadol was administered both SC and IV at a dose of 3 mg/kg and provided significant postoperative analgesia, as indicated by analgesiometry, β-endorphin levels, and interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels. The respiratory rates and rectal temperatures remained normal and were not significantly different between or within the groups. A significant increase in heart rate was observed at 4 hr for dogs in both groups relative to the baseline, but there was no significant difference in heart rates between the groups at any time point. A significant decrease in mechanical pain threshold was observed within each group after surgery, but both groups responded similarly, suggesting that SC administration of tramadol is as effective as IV administration. Increased serum levels of both IL-6 and β-endorphin 3 hr postoperatively further indicate that both routes of administration achieve similar pain control. Thus, the relative analgesic efficacy of SC tramadol is comparable to that of IV administration and can be used to achieve similar effects for postsurgical pain management in dogs undergoing OHE.