Authors : Fereydoun Aghazadeh and Ashish Nimbarte
Abstract: The Focus of this paper is on the occupational hazards faced by the veterinarians. It contains a literature review and analyses the injury/illness data. The data includes one year of the AVMA (American Veterinary Medicine Association) workers compensation claims for four different classes of veterinarians (equines, large animals, mixed-small animals, and exclusively small animals). The data reveals a large number of injuries occur in the veterinary profession, and also the monetary implications are substantial. Veterinarians who deal with exclusively small animals are at a higher risk and their practice involves dealing with a larger number of cases. For all the four classes of veterinarian, major causes of injury are due to slips, trips, falls and animal lifting. Regarding various cost associated with different injuries, no specific trend is found. Cost varies significantly for similar injuries from class to class.
Fereydoun Aghazadeh and Ashish Nimbarte , 2004. Occupational Injuries of Veterinarians . Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 3: 707-716.