Contextualised Care
To support veterinary teams to navigate discussions around the topic of contextualised care, we have curated a collection of resources from a variety of sources. Please email [email protected] to suggest other materials for inclusion in this collection.
- What is contextualised care?
- Contextualised care in practice
- Veterinary support and tools
- Evidence from research
What is contextualised care?
Contextualised care is a way of delivering veterinary care that acknowledges that there are different ways to approach the diagnosis and treatment of an animal, depending on the circumstances of the individual animal and their caregivers, and the context in which the care is delivered.
This requires a partnership between caregivers/owners, and the veterinary team, all working together for the best quality of life for the patient.
It builds on evidence-based veterinary practice, which combines clinical expertise with the most relevant and best available scientific evidence, patient circumstances, and caregiver/owner circumstances and acknowledges that it is appropriate to offer different pathways of care in different circumstances.
Although the term ‘contextualised care’ is relatively new, the idea of adapting veterinary care to the individual circumstances of the animal and their owner is not and has been described in a number of ways:
- evidence-based decision making
- patient-centred care
- spectrum of care
- art and science of veterinary medicine
- shared decision-making
- value-based care
Whatever terminology is used, this is all about veterinary teams taking a holistic approach to providing quality veterinary care and making decisions that take all domains of quality into consideration.
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Contextualised care in practice
- RCVS Knowledge (2022) What matters? Is a change in how we provide care needed? - Read about a case in practice that uses contextualised care to decide on the most appropriate treatment plan for a newly diagnosed diabetic cat.
- RCVS Knowledge (2022) Maximising welfare benefits by contextualising case management - Contextualised care can be used to assess a patient's wellbeing while receiving treatment, ensuring that the treatment plan is still the correct course of action.
- RCVS Knowledge (2021) Clients' view of QI - With the wide range of information available to clients, it’s important that information comes from a reputable source. Find out what clients think of Quality Improvement and EBVM in this podcast hosted within our QI Boxset.
- Davidson, J. et al. (2024) Contextualised care in practice. Veterinary Record, 194 (10), pp. 396. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.4294
- Skipper, A. et al. (2021) ‘Gold standard care’ is an unhelpful term. Veterinary Record, 189 (8), pp. 331. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.1113
Veterinary support and tools
- RCVS Knowledge (2022) Dogs Trust Complex Case Management - Framework - This tool can help the caregiver team record and assess different aspects of care, what further support might be required for the team, and how any treatment might impact the patient.
- RCVS Knowledge (2022) Conversation guide for discussing contextualised care - This tool, to be used when the patient has a diagnosis, can be used to discuss treatment options with the owner, allowing for an in-depth discussion on what treatment will entail, and how this might impact both the owner and the patient. This can help the team make more informed decisions on the most appropriate care plan.
- RCVS Knowledge (2022) Boxset Series 4 Guidelines - This Series in the QI Boxset will show you how you can use guidelines in practice, and how they can be beneficial to teams, patients and clients. Learn how to structure your own guidelines in practice. Guidelines should be used in conjunction with your clinical expertise and each patient and owner's circumstances to provide contextualised care. Please create a free account to log in.
- RCVS Knowledge (2021) Spotlight: Quality of Life assessment tools
- RCVS Knowledge (2022) Spotlight: Caregiver burden and the client perspective on veterinary care
- British Veterinary Association (2024) Transparency and client choice guidance [BVA] [online]. Available from: https://www.bva.co.uk/resources-support/practice-management/transparency-and-client-choice-guidance/ [Accessed 4 June 2024]