Technology and the 21st Century Exotic Animal Veterinarian: Positives and Negatives (Round Table Discussion) (Discussion‪)‬

IPads, iPods, iPhones, digital imaging, video chatting, and more.... So much technology, so little time! How do we keep up? More importantly, how did we ever survive without all of this stuff?. Whether in our personal lives or our professional lives, we are literally bombarded with technology. It's on TV, on the radio, in our offices, in our homes, with our family members, physically on our bodies. Is it all necessary? Does it really help us? As a recent article by Ramon Ray on smallbiztechnology.com recently asked, "Is your business productivity low because of old technology? Are you wasting money because of old technology?" The purpose of this round table discussion is to ask just this: how has all this new technology affected vets both personally and professionally in the 21st century? To help answer this question, I have invited 7 participants from different areas of veterinary medicine and from different geographic regions. The participants are Douglas W. Folland, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Parrish Creek Veterinary Clinic, Centerville, UT, USA; Susan Horton, DVM, Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital, Skokie, IL, USA; Jennifer Langan, DVM, Dipl ACZM, Brookfield, Zoo, Brookfield, IL, USA; Maureen Murray, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA, USA; Gary Riggs, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), North Coast Bird&Exotic Specialties, Norton, OH, USA; Gary Schwartz, DVM, Wheaton Animal Hospital, Kensington, MD, USA; and Marcy Souza, DVM, MPH, Dipl ABVP (Avian), DACVPM, University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Knoxville, TN, USA. I hope that in hearing their responses, we will all think about how we might better our own personal and professional lives with select technology. If nothing else, we might have a better idea, from all the new technology available, what's really useful and what's not.