Online Continuing Education Courses

• Outline how antibiotics were discovered and what drives the discovery of new antimicrobial drugs.
• Define and differentiate the following related terms: antibiotic, antimicrobial, anthelmintic, antiparasitic, and antifungal.
• Describe the different mechanisms of action for antimicrobial drugs, and associate these mechanisms with the common classes of antimicrobial drugs.
• Explain pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic factors that affect dose and duration of treatment needed to provide effective therapy for bacterial infections.
• Describe some important considerations in prescribing antimicrobial drugs to successfully treat infections in animals without promoting microbial drug resistance.

RACE does not accredit or endorse or certify any program or person, nor does RACE approval validate the content of the program

• Identify the frequency of antimicrobial use in small animal practice
• Summarize the classes and types of antimicrobials commonly used in small animal practice

• Describe the association between antimicrobial use and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance
• Demonstrate understanding of the use of bacterial culture with antimicrobial susceptibility testing as an important diagnostic tool to support antimicrobial therapy

• Identify how antibiotics are frequently used in the pocket pet industry and how the use of antibiotics in pocket pets may select for antimicrobial resistance
• Discuss how animal and human health may both be impacted by antimicrobial resistance
• Describe how veterinarians in agriculture departments work with veterinarians and other health professionals in local, state, and federal health departments to investigate and control zoonotic disease
• Summarize how the use of antibiotics may select for the dissemination of gene cassettes conveying resistance to multiple antibiotics

• Discuss how antibiotics are frequently used in treatment of canine pyoderma
• List the factors to be considered when choosing antibiotic therapy
• Identify the underlying causes of canine pyoderma and possible diagnostic and treatment options
• Describe the importance of bacterial culture and susceptibility testing, and effective communication with the client
• Demonstrate understanding of how animal and human health can both be affected by antibiotic resistance

• Discuss the use antibiotics to treat feline lower urinary tract disease
• List factors that need to be considered when using antibiotic therapy in cases of feline lower urinary tract disease
• Identify the importance of bacterial culture results in the selection of an antibiotic

• Be aware of the guidelines for feline upper respiratory infections set by the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases (ISCAID)
• Name the underlying causes of feline upper respiratory infections
• Determine the appropriate diagnostic tests and interpretations for cases of feline upper respiratory infection
• Explain when the use of antibiotics is appropriate for cases of feline upper respiratory infections and which 2 antibiotics would be appropriate to use empirically
• Identify 3 alternative treatment options for antibiotics in cases of feline upper respiratory infection and describe when these treatment options are appropriate

RACE does not accredit or endorse or certify any program or person, nor does RACE approval validate the content of the program

Parts 1-3

• Demonstrate understanding of how preconditioning and other preventive management procedures can reduce the frequency of antibiotic treatments for Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD).
• Describe the components of a good preconditioning program and how BRD can be prevented in the feedlot.
• Describe how preventing BRD tends to cost less than clinical treatments with antibiotics.

• Describe medicated milk replacer and how it is regulated under the Veterinary Feed Directive.
• Identify antibiotics that historically were most commonly added to medicated milk replacer.
• List the disadvantages associated with using medicated milk replacer.
• Describe proper management and preventive medicine that are critical to long-term calf health.
• Describe a good colostrum management program for dairy calves.

• Describe the management practices that can prevent scours in calves, such as high quality colostrum management, sanitation and proper isolation procedures.
• Explain the proper role of antimicrobial agents in treating calves with scours.

• Discuss the general guidelines for the judicious use of antibiotics in the treatment of mastitis.
• Describe the factors to consider in the selection of an antimicrobial drug for mastitis treatment.
• Outline the preventive measures that may be taken on a dairy farm with regards to mastitis.
• Discuss proper indications for the use of antimicrobials for contagious mastitis in dairy cattle.
• Demonstrate understanding of the need to follow proper treatment protocols when using an antibiotic to treat individual cows for contagious udder pathogens.
• Explain how somatic cell counts and culture results are used to formulate a herd antibiotic treatment plan for contagious udder pathogens.
• Describe how antimicrobial treatment of contagious udder pathogens can be greatly reduced in herds by using effective mastitis prevention and control programs.
• Recognize the futility of using antibiotics to treat cases of contagious mastitis if the cow is to be returned to a herd where she will quickly become reinfected.

RACE does not accredit or endorse or certify any program or person, nor does RACE approval validate the content of the program

• This contains all courses with the educational objectives listed from Antimicrobial Resistance in Veterinary Medicine 210 through Antimicrobial Resistance in Veterinary Medicine 213

• Identify bacterial antimicrobial resistance mechanisms for resisting antimicrobial agents
• Discuss the molecular basis for bacterial antimicrobial resistance
• Explain laboratory methods for detecting and measuring antimicrobial resistance

RACE does not accredit or endorse or certify any program or person, nor does RACE approval validate the content of the program