JIFFI is my imaginary and imaginative Journal of Incidental Findings and Freelance Inquiry. This page has a collection of small pieces of research that have to do with ergonomics, veterinary medicine, animal welfare, or animal sheltering.
Needle holder grasps in surgery
For the spay-neuter vet, pandemic social distancing has been a slow time. I’ve had plenty of opportunity to stay home sleeping, baking, playing Pokemon Go and watching birds (often these two are simultaneous activities), eating fiddleheads, and seeing spring unfurl. With services starting to reopen, I’m getting ready to go back to work on Monday, … Continue reading “Needle holder grasps in surgery”
Pool Shock at the clinic? Yes– here’s why
This post goes along with the JIFFI post about surgical hand hygiene from last year, since it’s about a low-cost way of keeping the surgical environment clean. For a lot of people, this will be old news, but for anyone who hasn’t used calcium hypochlorite to disinfect in their clinic, or who is wondering about … Continue reading “Pool Shock at the clinic? Yes– here’s why”
The HQHVSN Workplace
Years ago, in 2011, I set out to study spay neuter veterinarians with the aim of finding out about musculoskeletal pain risk factors and what we might be able to do about them. The resulting study was published here, but as with many research surveys, I collected data as background information that never made it … Continue reading “The HQHVSN Workplace”
Surgical hand hygiene
Several years ago I went to a continuing education lecture with a “surgery updates” session, and the thing I took away from it was this: that waterless surgical “hand rub” formulations are more effective than traditional wet scrub with chlorhexidine, betadine, or the like at reducing skin microbes on surgeon’s hands. The speaker said that … Continue reading “Surgical hand hygiene”
Journal of Incidental Findings and Freelance Inquiry (JIFFI)
This year I’ve been thinking a lot about academic publishing: the process, access, and rights, the built-in delays. If you’ve been following this blog, you know I’ve had two articles published this year in peer-reviewed academic journals (see here and here). While I’m proud and excited to have been able to get my articles published, … Continue reading “Journal of Incidental Findings and Freelance Inquiry (JIFFI)”
Surgery Packs and Suture in HQHVSN
Today’s post is a little different: I’m sharing the results of a survey of HQHVSN veterinarians and their choices in instrumentation and suture for spay and neuter surgeries. Instruments and suture are the interface between us and our patients, and are integral to every aspect of our surgical performance: our efficiency, our comfort, and our … Continue reading “Surgery Packs and Suture in HQHVSN”