Benefits and harms: Evidence-based thinking for canine osteoarthritis

Whenever we prescribe treatments or management strategies for the animals under our care, we naturally tend to focus on what benefits these might bring about. But there are usually potential harms to any course of action we might be thinking about advising. How frequently do we truly consider both for every single one of our patients? The process of weighing up the risk benefits of any approach is an important step in our clinical decision making, and in this session, we will use the management of canine osteoarthritis as a lens to further explore this concept. Case examples will be used to identify strategies we can employ to ensure we are more likely to be helping, and not hindering, the lives of our patients.