Veterinary Curriculum Leaders: Motivators, Barriers, and Attributes.

Curriculum leaders (individuals with responsibility for an institution's veterinary curriculum) play a vital role in driving local curriculum priorities, development, and accreditation. This study aimed to describe the career paths of curriculum leaders, and identify what motivates them, the barriers they face, and the knowledge, skills, and attributes they perceive as essential for the role. Self-determination theory was used to identify tensions experienced within the role. An international online survey targeted at those identifying as curriculum leaders was completed by 45 participants. 91% of participants held a doctoral level qualification and/or clinical Boards; 82% had additional training in leadership; 38% had additional formal training in education. Motivators included a desire to make a difference, personal satisfaction with teaching and working with students, and social influences. Participants experienced barriers relating to self-development and achievement of their curriculum goals; participants described essential knowledge (of the profession, educational theory, and wider higher education context) and skills (leading teams, change management, and communication). Attributes considered important related both to self (open-minded, patient, resilient, able to see the big picture as well as detail) and relationships with others (approachable, listener, respectful and respected, supportive, credible). Tensions arose in participants' need for autonomy (experiencing barriers to achieving their goals), in their social relatedness (achieving curriculum goals while working with colleagues with conflicting priorities), and in perceptions of necessary competence (a need, but lack of opportunity, for advanced training in educational theory). The findings may help institutions more effectively support and train current and future curriculum leaders.

Identifying the capabilities most important for veterinary employability using a modified Delphi process.

BACKGROUND: In the veterinary profession, employability has been defined as 'a set of personal and professional capabilities that enable a veterinarian to gain employment, contribute meaningfully to the profession, and develop a career pathway that achieves satisfaction and success'. This study was part of a multinational collaborative research project aiming to define the capabilities most important for employability in the veterinary context (www.VetSet2Go.edu.au). METHODS: The project gathered empirical evidence from multiple stakeholders including employees, employers, clients, team members, academics and professional bodies. These perspectives needed to be brought together as a cohesive body of evidence. We used a modified Delphi process, whereby a panel of experts were asked to reach consensus on the capabilities most important for veterinary employability, after considering the evidence from the sub-projects. RESULTS: The Delphi panel reached rapid consensus upon 21 of an initial 47 capabilities, including effective communication with clients and colleagues, teamwork, technical knowledge and skills, resilience and well-being, adaptability, emotional intelligence, workflow management and empathy and compassion. CONCLUSION: Of note for veterinary educators are those attitudinal items identified by this Delphi process as important to employability but potentially underemphasised in existing competency frameworks, such as accepts responsibility, keen to learn, diligence (high standard of care) and self-awareness.

Employability as a Guiding Outcome in Veterinary Education: Findings of the VetSet2Go Project.

This paper presents a mini-review of employability as a guiding outcome in veterinary education-its conceptualisation, utility, core elements and dimensions, and pedagogical approaches-through a summary of the findings of a major international project with the same aims (the VetSet2Go project). Guided by a conception of the successful veterinary professional as one capable of navigating and sustainably balancing the (sometimes competing) needs and expectations of multiple stakeholders, the project integrated multiple sources of evidence to derive an employability framework representing the dimensions and capabilities most important to veterinary professional success. This framework provides a useful complement to those based in narrower views of competency and professionalism. One notable difference is its added emphasis on broad success outcomes of satisfaction and sustainability as well as task-oriented efficacy, thus inserting "the self" as a major stakeholder and bringing attention to resilience and sustainable well-being. The framework contains 18 key capabilities consistently identified as important to employability in the veterinary context, aligned to five broad, overlapping domains: veterinary capabilities (task-oriented work performance), effective relationships (approaches to others), professional commitment (approaches to work and the broader professional "mission"), psychological resources (approaches to self), plus a central process of reflective self-awareness and identity formation. A summary of evidence supporting these is presented, as well as recommendations for situating, developing, and accessing these as learning outcomes within veterinary curricula. Though developed within the specific context of veterinarian transition-to-practise, this framework would be readily adaptable to other professions, particularly in other health disciplines.

International multi-stakeholder consensus for the capabilities most important to employability in the veterinary profession.

BACKGROUND: Employability has been defined within the veterinary context as a set of personal and professional capabilities that enable a veterinarian to gain employment, contribute meaningfully to the profession, and develop a career pathway that achieves satisfaction and success. This study explicitly addressed the construct of veterinary employability by exploring the perceptions of multiple stakeholders (recent graduates, employee veterinarians, veterinarian and non-veterinarian employers, para-veterinary staff, academics and policy makers). METHODS: A four-part online survey was distributed internationally via various agencies. Free-text responses, ratings of capabilities and rankings of categories were analysed. RESULTS: The congruence of stakeholder responses was notable, regardless of age and geographical location, with minor differences noted in academics' and para-veterinary staff responses, and gender. The most important capabilities were honesty, ethical behaviour, communicating effectively and collaboratively with clients, knowing when to ask for help, and the willingness to learn. The categories of communication and teamwork ranked highest. CONCLUSION: This study adds granularity to the existing evidence for the importance of communication and teamwork. The relationship between the veterinarian (self) and their work, enabled by engagement, meaning and purpose, and respect for their profession was a key finding, and illustrative of how to achieve personal satisfaction and well-being within the profession.

Success in career transitions in veterinary practice: perspectives of employers and their employees.

This study qualitatively explored success factors across career transitions in veterinary practice. Semistructured interviews were conducted independently with pairs of veterinary employers and their recent graduate employees, focusing on success in gaining initial employment, their transition to practising veterinarian and longevity in the veterinary profession. The divergence and convergence of interviewees' perspectives, the changing emphasis of capabilities over different career phases, and the meaning of success were explored. Overall, the perspectives of employers and employees were similar, and highlighted communication skills, confidence, diligence and reliability, and technical skills and knowledge as important themes for initial employment and transition to practice. Other important success factors for initial employment included interpersonal skills, teamwork and team fit, enthusiasm, willingness to learn, and previous experience with the graduate. Support, resilience and work-life balance were important to the transition to practice phase. For career longevity, work-life balance remained an important theme, but also continual learning, business skills and goal-setting. Success was defined around enjoyment and personal satisfaction, developing proficiency, and maintaining passion for the profession. Job fit was a persistent theme throughout. This exploratory study highlights the capabilities and factors supporting success in veterinary career transitions, some of which may be inconspicuous in traditional competency-based frameworks.

Beyond Competence: Why We Should Talk About Employability in Veterinary Education.

The purpose of this article is to explore employability as a complement to competency in defining the overarching objectives of veterinary education. Although the working usage of the term competency has evolved and stretched in recent years, and contemporary competence frameworks have expanded to better reflect the range of capabilities required of a veterinary professional, the potential remains for the dominance of competency-led discourse to obscure the aim of producing not only competent but also successful and satisfied veterinarians. Expanding the educational mission to include employability may provide this broader focus, by stretching the end point, scope, and scale of veterinary education into the crucial transition-to-practice period, and beyond. In this article we review available evidence from multiple stakeholder perspectives and argue that employability expands the focus beyond servicing the needs of the public to better integrate and balance the needs of all the stakeholders in veterinary education, including the graduates themselves. By refocusing the goal of veterinary education to include the richer end point of success, turning the attention to employability could enhance current attribute frameworks and result in veterinarians who not only better meet the needs of those they serve but are also better prepared to experience fulfilling and satisfying careers. Finally, we suggest one educational approach may be to conceptualize competency, professionalism, and employability as overlapping dimensions of the successful veterinary professional.

Which professional (non-technical) competencies are most important to the success of graduate veterinarians? A Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) systematic review: BEME Guide No. 38.

BACKGROUND: Despite the growing prominence of professional (non-technical) competencies in veterinary education, the evidence to support their importance to veterinary graduates is unclear. AIM: To summarize current evidence within the veterinary literature for the importance of professional competencies to graduate success. METHODS: A systematic search of electronic databases was conducted (CAB Abstracts, Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, Australian and British Education Index, Dissertations & Theses) from 1988 to 2015 and limited to the veterinary discipline (veterinar* term required). Evidence was sought from consensus-based competence frameworks, surveys of stakeholder perceptions, and empirical evidence linked to relevant outcomes (e.g. employability, client satisfaction or compliance). Data extraction was completed by two independent reviewers and included a quality assessment of each source. RESULTS: Fifty-two sources were included in the review, providing evidence from expert frameworks (10 sources), stakeholder perceptions (30 sources, including one from the previous category), and empirical research (13 sources). Communication skills were the only competency to be well-supported by all three categories of evidence. Other competencies supported by multiple sources of empirical evidence include empathy, relationship-centered care, self-efficacy, and business skills. Other competencies perceived to be relatively more important included awareness of limitations, professional values, critical thinking, collaboration, and resilience. CONCLUSIONS: This review has highlighted the comparatively weak body of evidence supporting the importance of professional competencies for veterinary graduate success, with the exception of communication skills. However we stress this is more indicative of the scarcity of high-quality veterinary-based education research in the field, than of the true priority of these competencies.

The Life of Meaning: A Model of the Positive Contributions to Well-Being from Veterinary Work.

We present a veterinary model of work-derived well-being, and argue that educators should not only present a (potentially self-fulfilling) stress management model of future wellness, but also balance this with a positive psychology-based approach depicting a veterinary career as a richly generative source of satisfaction and fulfillment. A review of known sources of satisfaction for veterinarians finds them to be based mostly in meaningful purpose, relationships, and personal growth. This positions veterinary well-being within the tradition of eudaimonia, an ancient concept of achieving one's best possible self, and a term increasingly employed to describe well-being derived from living a life that is engaging, meaningful, and deeply fulfilling. The theory of eudaimonia for workplace well-being should inform development of personal resources that foster resilience in undergraduate and graduate veterinarians.