Veterinary CAT database review shows global reach over 10 years

Veterinary evidence resource maps a decade of use, and where clinicians still need more support

A 10-year review of BestBETs for Vets, the University of Nottingham’s veterinary critically appraised topic database, found that the resource published 96 CATs across 27 topic areas, with canine medicine and reproduction the most common subjects. The study also found the site reached users in more than 190 countries, with most traffic coming through direct access rather than referrals, suggesting repeat or intentional use by clinicians seeking point-of-care evidence summaries. BestBETs launched in 2014, and Nottingham’s Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine said in October 2024 that the platform had since reached 100 published BestBETs. The database is designed to give vets and veterinary nurses/technicians short, structured evidence summaries to support clinical decision-making, teaching, journal clubs, and guideline development. (nottingham.ac.uk)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the review is less about web traffic than about how evidence is actually being used in practice. Evidence-based veterinary medicine has been promoted for more than 20 years, but adoption still faces familiar barriers: limited time, uneven training in appraisal skills, and difficulty accessing or interpreting primary literature. Tools like BestBETs aim to reduce that burden by translating research into a practical “clinical bottom line,” while still leaving room for clinician judgment and the circumstances of the patient and pet parent. That need for practical decision support is not unique to veterinary medicine: a recent scoping review in drug safety identified 18 case-level causality assessment tools developed or updated between 2008 and 2023, most of them algorithm-based and often tailored to specific settings, populations, or adverse-event types such as drug-induced liver injury, severe cutaneous adverse reactions, pediatrics, NICU care, and vaccines. The review also argued that future tools may need to incorporate biomarkers and other real-world considerations such as drug quality, medication error, and adherence to risk-minimization measures, reinforcing the broader point that clinicians need evidence resources that are both accessible and fit for the context in which decisions are made. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

What to watch: The next question is whether growth beyond 100 BestBETs, plus continued use in teaching and practice, translates into broader uptake of evidence-based decision-making across clinics, nursing teams, and veterinary education—and whether future veterinary evidence tools become more tailored to specific clinical contexts in the same way human medicine’s causality tools increasingly are. (nottingham.ac.uk)