Using Learning Theories to Develop a Veterinary Student Preparedness Toolkit for Workplace Clinical Training

Learning theories are logically related statements designed to explain what should or could be aspired to in establishing ideal learning conditions. Multiple theories can inform our understanding of a single concept, in this case: veterinary workplace clinical training (WCT), which occurs just prior to students’ graduation as competent veterinary surgeons. The competency movement has strongly influenced reforms in veterinary education and is considered important. In reflection of this, the term “preparedness” is operationalised here as a measure of the likelihood that the veterinary student is going to be a competent learner and participant during WCT. Preparedness itself is therefore important because it directly impacts performance. Workplace clinical training is explored through the lenses of cognitivist, social constructivist and socio-culturalist learning theories and used to inform student preparedness characteristics in terms of their behaviours, personal attributes, knowledge and skills, and awarenesses to optimise learning and participation.

University Students’ Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) towards COVID-19 in Malaysia

Covid-19—associated with the human-to-human transmission is recent medical concern which also associated with public health concerns. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among clinical year veterinary and medical students studying in a university in Malaysia to determine the students’ knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19. The questionnaire consisted of 4 sections, namely, socio-demographic characteristics (6 items), knowledge (14 items), attitude (10 items), and practice (24 items) towards COVID-19. The collected data were subjected to descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H, and Spearman’s correlation analysis. A total of 219 students participated in this study, and they consisted of 52.1% and 47.9% of veterinary and medical students, respectively. The total scores were categorised into poor (<60%), moderate (60-79%), and high (>80%) based on Bloom’s cut off point. Overall, the students acquired high knowledge (80%), moderate attitude (76%) and high practice (86%) against COVID-19. In the attitude section, the veterinary student scored significantly higher than medical students (U=3791, p= .001), and female students scored significantly higher than males (U=3183, p= .001). The analysis revealed a statistically significant association between attitude and practice (P< .05) despite no association between knowledge to attitude and practice variables. Overall, the results indicated that both veterinary and medical students had high knowledge with moderate to high attitudes towards COVID-19. Thus, they were practising good preventive measures in limiting the spread of the disease.

A Survey of Veterinary Student and Veterinarian Perceptions of Shelter Medicine Employment

Shelter medicine appears to be popular among prospective veterinarians, but there is a shortage of veterinarians entering the field to fill available positions. The reasons for this discordance are not well understand. This study describes veterinary students’ interest in shelter medicine, their perceptions of common duties, and their perceptions of employment attributes in shelter medicine, compared with those of current veterinarians. The sample included 147 first-year students, 155 final-year students, and 221 veterinarians who self-completed an online survey between September 2020 and March 2021. We found high levels of interest in shelter medicine, with 40% of first- and 43% of final-year students indicating they were likely to consider working in shelter medicine. Outreach clinics (84% of first-year students, 86% of final-year students), access-to-care clinics (82%, 83%), and loan forgiveness programs (75%, 64%) encouraged many veterinary students to consider working in shelter medicine. The risk of compassion fatigue, burnout, and stress (70%, 68%); weekend work (51%, 59%); euthanasia decision making (49%, 47%); euthanasia (43%, 41%); and expected salaries of shelter veterinarians (39%, 37%) acted as deterrents. Kruskal—Wallis H tests revealed students reported more positive ratings than veterinarians for most shelter medicine duties and employment characteristics, with moderate to strong consensus within groups. Little difference appeared between first- and final-year students. This study highlights target areas for animal shelters to boost recruitment of newly graduated veterinarians. Increasing veterinary students’ exposure to shelter medicine throughout their veterinary training may also help address their concerns regarding euthanasia, salary, and quality of care.

Veterinary Education during Covid-19 and Beyond—Challenges and Mitigating Approaches

The public health implications of the Covid-19 pandemic have caused unprecedented and unexpected challenges for veterinary schools worldwide. They are grappling with a wide range of issues to ensure that students can be trained and assessed appropriately, despite the international, national, and local restrictions placed on them. Moving the delivery of knowledge content largely online will have had a positive and/or negative impact on veterinary student learning gain which is yet to be clarified. Workplace learning is particularly problematic in the current climate, which is concerning for graduates who need to develop, and then demonstrate, practical core competences. Means to optimise the learning outcomes in a hybrid model of curriculum delivery are suggested. Specific approaches could include the use of video, group discussion, simulation and role play, peer to peer and interprofessional education.

Hand-Held Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A New Tool for Veterinary Student Self-Driven Learning in the time of COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic abruptly halted all in-person clerkships, or clinical rotations, for clinical veterinary students across the United States (US). Online clerkships in radiology offered the opportunity to expand the student’s ability to interpret medical images but did not allow for the development of physical hands-on imaging skills recognized as core competencies in veterinary medicine. The present report highlights the value of providing veterinary students with a smartphone-associated Butterfly iQ point-of-care ultrasound during a 3-week self-driven virtual clerkship. During the virtual rotation, the student was able to develop the skills required to generate sufficient quality images using three horses residing on her property. The affordability, portability, ease of use of the Butterfly iQ and availability of animals made it possible to develop hands-on imaging skills when distance learning was required.

Veterinary Professions Advising Center: An innovative approach to pre-veterinary advising for Animal Science students

Veterinary Professions Advising Center (VetPAC) is a unique undergraduate advising center that combines Career Center services with pre-professional advising for pre-veterinary students at North Carolina State University (NCSU). During the past 10 years, VetPAC has created five distinct internships, three annual study abroad courses, a competitive annual high school summer camp, provided holistic advising, and hosted large-scale advising events that consistently provide resources to more than 800 students annually. The VetPAC provided outreach to an average of 13 local high schools per academic year, and educated over 300 visiting students about VetPAC and pre-veterinary life at NCSU since 2015. NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine has had a minimum of 26% and a maximum of 45% DVM students in the incoming classes who accessed VetPAC resources and advising. This article presents the impact VetPAC has had on pre-veterinary student success at NCSU, and provides an outline of VetPAC’s first 10 years of development as a model of combined career services and pre-professional advising for peer institutions.