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Attending Veterinarians

The term Attending Veterinarian is defined in the Animal Welfare Act as an individual who has received training or experience in the care of the species being attended and who has direct or delegated authority for activities involving animals. This individual shall provide adequate veterinary care and if part time or a consultant, must provide a written program of veterinary care and regularly scheduled visits to the facility. The facility shall assure that the Attending Veterinarian has appropriate authority to ensure the provision of adequate veterinary care. The Attending Veterinarian shall be a voting member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Programs of veterinary care assured by the Attending Veterinarian must include provision of appropriate facilities, personnel, and equipment to assure compliance with regulatory requirements. Further, prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment of disease; daily observation, weekend and holiday care for animals; guidance to principal investigators regarding care, handling, immobilization, anesthesia, tranquilization and euthanasia; as well as pre- and post-procedural care must be assured by the Attending Veterinarian. Because of the diversity of animal species and decentralized nature of the animal care and use program at TAMU the duties of the Attending Veterinarian are shared and delegated to other veterinarians, but the assurance of compliance remains the responsibility of the Attending Veterinarian.

The term "Veterinarian of Record" is used to describe the veterinarians who provide oversight and compliance functions within various facilities that are a part of the TAMU animal care and use program but do not serve on the institutional animal care and use committee. These individuals are responsible to the Attending Veterinarian or designee regarding assurance of compliance.

The "Clinical Veterinarian" is the person who provides hands on clinical care for animals that are a part of the TAMU animal care and use program.

In some areas, one person may fill all three of the veterinary roles described above, while in others there may be multiple veterinarians fulfilling these roles.

Currently, the Campus Veterinarian is the Institutional Attending Veterinarian and delegates the duties of Attending Veterinarian for the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Sciences Teaching and Research Center (ASTREC), and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES) centers that use USDA covered species to the Director of the Veterinary Medical Park. The Campus Veterinarian serves directly in the capacity of Attending Veterinarian for the Laboratory Animal Resources and Research Facility, the College of Medicine, the College of Science, the College of Liberal Arts, the Kleberg facility, and TAMU Galveston.

Each of these individuals works closely with other veterinarians to assure appropriate delivery of service and to assure compliance:

  1. Attending Veterinarians
    The Campus Veterinarian and the Director of the Veterinary Medical Park serve as Attending Veterinarians. The Attending Veterinarians are responsible for providing routine training and education for Veterinarians of Record and Clinical Veterinarians in their designated roles. This includes providing training sessions to make veterinarians familiar with their regulatory roles, providing regular refresher sessions, developing web-based educational materials, and promoting methods of compensation.

  2. Veterinarians of Record who are responsible to the Campus Veterinarian regarding delivery of appropriate veterinary care and compliance include: the Director of the Vet Med Park, the Associate Director of LARR, the Assistant Director of LARR, and the Laboratory Animal Program Residents. The Director of the Vet Med Park is assisted in the same capacity by additional veterinarians working in specific facilities.

  3. Clinical Veterinarians include personnel listed above and other qualified individuals who are veterinarians that are associated with direct delivery of veterinary care to animals. This includes the clinical faculty within the College of Veterinary Medicine as well as veterinarians who are Principle Investigators. These clinical veterinarians are a valuable part of the institutions delivery of appropriate veterinary care and work within the program to assure compliance. Each is responsible to the Veterinarian of Record for the program component where the animals are housed. The name of the Clinical Veterinarian should be given in Section II.C. of the Animal Use Protocol.