Journal of veterinary medical education最新文献

To develop a veterinary workforce equipped for long-term professional success, educational institutions must prioritize their students' well-being. Most approaches focus on building assets within the individual, like stress management, to limit negative outcomes, like burnout. Our research proposes a positive psychology-based model of student thriving that instead emphasizes the pervasive role of the social climate within a context. Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT) posits that social relationships at the institutional, faculty and staff, and peer levels will promote student thriving and limit frustration through the satisfaction or frustration of the three psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Veterinary medical students across the United States (N = 202) completed a survey, and we used structural equation modeling to test how their institution's social climate predicted positive student outcomes (i.e., hope and life satisfaction) and a negative outcome (i.e., burnout) mediated by psychological need satisfaction and frustration. Students' perceptions of positive aspects of their institution's social climate ubiquitously predicted each variable in the model. Overall, the model positively predicted psychological need satisfaction (R² = .44), hope (R² = .67) and life satisfaction (R² = .51), and negatively predicted psychological need frustration (R² = .34) and burnout (R² = .87). Findings emphasize the role veterinary medicine peers, faculty, and staff play in creating learning environments that support student thriving while limiting their frustration. By leveraging the interpersonal qualities posited by BPNT's parent theory, self-determination theory, veterinary medical colleges can build a culture of student support that benefits all within their system.

The gender distribution of authors in the health sciences literature has been well documented. We explored whether this distribution persists among library course reserves for a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program, as course reserves are veterinary faculty members' own teaching materials. Such a bibliometric analysis of course reserves provides a novel method of examining curricular materials. In the Fall of 2022, researchers collected the library's current course reserve metadata, including fields, such as author names and material types. Binary gender was determined based on a variety of sources: traditional naming conventions, gender presentation in photographs, pronouns in signatures, and biographies. Of the 167 exported authors, 162 were included for further analysis in SPSS. Course reserves' authors were analyzed by collaborators and media type. The dichotomous gender distribution of first authors was 76% male/ 24% female. Female first authors were more likely to have collaborators than male first authors (39% vs 26%). When collaborations did occur, first and second authors had the same gender at a significantly higher rate. Exploring author gender across material type, we found that generally, the first author gender ratio remained 3 males to every female. Contextualizing these results in the framework of contemporary health sciences literature, we found that the gender disparities in course reserves to be unsurprising, while still disappointing.

Being able to prepare a diagnostic blood smear for evaluation is an essential skill for veterinary practitioners. While this basic technique can be demonstrated via videos or illustrations, it can only be learned through practice and with feedback. With the necessity for virtual learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, a model was developed and paired with an online module to facilitate at home instruction and practice of blood smear preparation. Materials for the simulated blood included water, corn starch, and gel-based food coloring. Students were supplied a kit that, in addition to the simulated blood, included slides, Kimwipes®, microhematocrit tubes, a disposable pipette, a cleaning cloth, and disposable gloves. The module includes an introduction to making blood smears, an explanation of simulation kit contents, a demonstration video, and a reflection component. The simulation experience was developed for a short course with 12 students, and the required clinical pathology course, which has 100 students. Overall, the model is cost-effective, and students felt that the activity was useful to practice making blood smears and provided a good introduction and useful explanation of the overall technique in a virtual/ distance learning environment.

University websites are often a first point of contact for prospective students. Portrayals of diversity on the website can influence current and future students' perceptions. Using content and statistical analysis, all 38 veterinary college websites in Canada and the US were systematically coded for representations of people in photos and content related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). In both Canada and the United States, people perceived as male or Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) were more likely to be portrayed without animals, and fewer photos with males depicted engagement in an activity compared with those depicting females. Compared with the self-identified data reported by US colleges to the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, BIPOC students were under-depicted by approximately 16.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 11.1%-21.7%) on some college websites and over-depicted on others by approximately 23.4% (95% CI = 15.4%-31.2%). A land acknowledgment or a link for a land acknowledgment was found on only six websites (16%). These results provide evidence and support that veterinary colleges should monitor their websites for depictions of people and content related to EDI, providing the opportunity to attract a diverse student audience.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided insight into the gaps provided by health care systems that could benefit from collaborative practice across the nexus of the animal and human health professions. The platform of Interprofessional Education (IPE), recognized as a pedagogical platform for delivering the principles of One Health, embodies the benefits of collaboration to address critical emerging public health issues, including the emergence of vector-borne zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, food security and defense and the impacts of climatic change. A phenomenological methodology, which is used to understand individuals lived experience, elicited veterinary students' perceptions of the benefits of interprofessional learning. Veterinary students indicated that the interprofessional learning experience facilitated their development of critical skills, including adaptability, communication, mutual support and an awareness of the social determinants of health, which are critical for readying them for practice in a postpandemic world.

Graduating competent veterinarians with the appropriate knowledge and skills to support and strengthen their country's National Veterinary Services is a key priority for veterinary institutions globally. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) developed a set of Day 1 Competencies that should be expected of every veterinary graduate. Veterinary schools need to be able to assess the coverage of these competencies in their curriculum and determine the level of proficiency of their graduates. This article describes the iterative design and development process used to create a semi-quantitative, competency-based assessment survey. The Evaluation Tool for WOAH Day 1 Graduating Veterinarian Competencies is used as part of a stepwise process to systematically assess a veterinary curriculum regarding these competencies. This tool was developed and tested at the University of Gondar College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences in Ethiopia. The Evaluation Tool was successful in systematically collecting, measuring, and analyzing the perceptions of faculty, senior veterinary students, recent graduates, and external stakeholders about the level of proficiency of graduates in all 19 WOAH Day 1 Competencies. It was specifically designed to be used in conjunction with curriculum mapping to provide a full picture of how effectively these competencies were taught and identify gaps that needed to be addressed. This tool, the supporting resources, and the methodology are now globally accessible to all veterinary institutions, enabling them to revise and update their curricula and, ultimately, improve the training of the future veterinary workforce to support veterinary services in their respective countries.

Veterinary medical students experiencing curricular challenges naturally look to their institution for resources to facilitate improvement in academic productivity. Academic remediation programs tend to be institution-specific, and their impact on student success is uncommonly interrogated using rigorous objective assessment. This study investigated the deployment of an academic development program (ADP) in the second semester of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) Program. The research focused on the impact of the ADP on student attrition, mean semester course grade improvements, and performance on the Veterinary Educational Assessment (VEA) examination. Performance metrics were compared between the ADP group and a control group (CG) of students from one semester ahead who were determined to be demographically equivalent and in the same class (bottom) quartile as the ADP group but did not have any structured academic remediation. The findings indicate that students participating in the ADP had less attrition and gradual increases in end-of-semester grades, such that by the beginning of their 5th semester, ADP students' grades were indistinguishable from upper quartiles in their class. This trend was not observed in the CG class with significant differences still present between the lower quartiles (i.e., CG) grades and the remainder of the class (p = .0046). ADP enrollment had a positive effect on VEA scores with mean scale score increased by 4.83 points (p = .017). This study provided the framework for a successful institutional academic remediation program that could be modeled at other institutions striving to bolster student support services.

Clinical reasoning (CR) is an important clinical competency for effective veterinary practice. We hypothesized that implementing an explicit 7-week CR curriculum taught in a large-enrollment elective veterinary cardiology course would improve students' awareness of clinical reasoning principles, self-efficacy of CR skills, and application of CR principles in clinical case analyses. A secondary aim was to assess the impact of peer review as a means of providing feedback in a large classroom setting. A mixed method approach was used with veterinary students (N = 78) in a cardiology elective course meeting twice weekly for a half-semester (7 weeks). Course content included a 1-week introduction to CR led by the instructor and 6 weeks of instructor-facilitated, case-based learning. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected, including pre- and post-course surveys, weekly peer reviews for six clinical case assignments, and instructor-graded clinical cases for three case assignments. Students reported improved self-efficacy across all CR skill categories (p < .001) and significant improvement in applied CR skills was demonstrated in both peer- (p < .001) and instructor-graded assignments (p < .001). Peer reviews provided a means for students to reflect on and internalize CR skills, which may play a role in improved self-efficacy. In an elective cardiology course, implementing an explicit CR curriculum resulted in improved student awareness and self-efficacy of CR, as well as improved applied CR skills.

While all facets of the health care workforce need to diversify, the veterinary profession lags behind in training students from underrepresented populations. The need to increase diversity among health care professionals is not limited to clinicians but extends to those generating new information through biomedical research. To address demographic disparities within the biomedical research community, we provide a summer research program for veterinary and undergraduate students from populations historically underrepresented in the biomedical workforce that is explicitly designed to foster science identity and subsequently increase participants' interest and success in pursuing biomedical research-related educational and career paths. We hypothesized that participation in this program would enhance science identity, confidence, and pursuit of research-related education and subsequent careers. Three validated survey instruments containing qualitative ordered rating scales were administered to program participants (N = 57) over the course of the summer in which they participated (2018-2022). Questions asked at two time points were analyzed with a repeated-measures linear mixed-effects model. Significant growth was reported in most topics surveyed over time. Many queries within gains, confidence, and science identity modules displayed significant increases over time or scored high in surveys at both time points. In addition, post-graduate educational and career outcomes were obtained for alumni (N = 130) of program years 2011-2023; their post-graduate enrollment rates (78%) markedly exceeded national norms. This multidimensional experiential research program, which holistically fosters professional networking and student confidence in research-related endeavors, provides quantifiable growth in research skills and science identity. These gains support students' persistence in research and biomedical-related educational and career paths.

Dental issues are extremely common in dogs and cats, underscoring the importance of veterinary professionals' knowledge in dentistry. Nevertheless, dental problems are currently often underdiagnosed and, consequently, undertreated. This study investigated the attitudes, experiences, and self-confidence of veterinary (V) and veterinary nursing (VN) students in their final two years of study in small animal dentistry. An online questionnaire was distributed, and responses were received from 61% of V students (n = 94) and 41% of VN students (n = 72). The majority of both V students (61%) and VN students (69%) expressed a desire for more education in small animal dentistry. Furthermore, a minority of V students (20%) and VN students (22%) felt adequately prepared for their first day in practice after graduation. Less than half of the students (V 44% and VN 38%) had participated in a practical dental procedure outside training sessions. Self-confidence in small animal dentistry procedures was rated on a 0-10 scale. V students exhibited the highest confidence in teeth polishing (6.1) and removing tartar with ultrasonic scalers (6.0), while VN students were most confident in recognizing common oral/dental problems (6.0) and discussing dental issues with pet owners (5.3). Extra practical training significantly increased confidence in several dental procedures (p < .005). Despite positive attitudes, a notable proportion of V and VN students feel unprepared for their first day in practice, potentially stemming from insufficient training. Addressing these gaps through clear guidelines for Day One Competence and enhanced practical training is crucial, ultimately benefiting the well-being of small animals.