Changes in teaching of nontechnical skills, knowledge, aptitudes, and attitudes at US colleges and schools of veterinary medicine between 1999 and 2009.

OBJECTIVE: To identify changes in the teaching of nontechnical skills, knowledge, aptitudes, and attitudes (SKAs) at US colleges and schools of veterinary medicine between 1999 and 2009. Design-Cross-sectional survey. SAMPLE: All 28 US colleges and schools of veterinary medicine. Procedures-An electronic questionnaire was sent to the entire study population. Results were compared with published results of a similar survey performed in 1999 of colleges and schools of veterinary medicine in the United States and Canada. RESULTS: A 100% response rate was achieved. All respondents were found to offer at least 1 course related to SKAs in 2009, compared with 94% (29/31) of respondents in 1999. A total of 110 such courses were documented, compared with 47 in 1999. In 2009, 26 of the 28 (93%) colleges and schools had at least 1 course related to SKAs that was required, compared with 17 of the 31 (55%) respondents to the 1999 survey. Courses were most commonly incorporated in years 1 and 3 of the curriculum and were most often valued at 1 or 2 credit hours. Forty-one of 67 (61%) courses had been developed since 1999. The most common topics were communication and financial management. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results demonstrated an increased commitment to teaching the SKAs on the part of the US colleges and schools of veterinary medicine. However, the question remains as to how effective these initiatives will be in enhancing the economic success of graduates and the veterinary medical profession in general.

A retrospective analysis of veterinary medical curriculum development in The Netherlands.

Over the past two decades, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University (FVMU) has introduced major curriculum changes to keep pace with modern veterinary educational developments worldwide. Changes to program outcomes have been proposed according to professional and societal demands, with more attention paid to generic competencies and electives and species/sector differentiation. Furthermore, changes in educational approaches and the educational organization have been proposed, aiming at a transition from teacher-centered education toward more student-centered education. Curriculum development is a complex and difficult process, with many elements interacting. For a new curriculum to become valid, curriculum elements and their interrelation-such as statements of intent (also called outcomes, goals, or objectives), content, teaching and learning strategies, assessment strategies, and context-need to be addressed in the educational philosophy (i.e., the intended curriculum). This paper describes a document analysis of the major curriculum reforms of the FVMU. Curriculum committee reports were critically analyzed to gain insight into the intentions of the curriculum designers and the match between the curriculum elements, as described by Prideaux. The results show that the reports paid considerable attention to generic competency training, especially to academic training, and to the introduction of more student-centered teaching and learning strategies. However, little attention was paid to assessment strategies and the statements of intent were defined rather broadly. Curriculum evaluation (i.e., what is delivered to the students and how is the curriculum experienced) is needed at all curriculum levels. Possible mismatches between levels need to be identified.

One world of veterinary medicine.

The veterinary profession finds itself in the midst of a new world order. Today veterinarians are part of a world that is exquisitely interconnected culturally, economically, socially, and professionally. As a consequence, societal needs and expectations of the profession are more demanding, critical and far-reaching. Veterinarians must play important roles in five intersecting domains of work: public health, bio-medical research, global food safety and security, ecosystem health and the more traditional role of caring for animals. To be successful in this broad and complex range of services and activities, veterinarians must possess an expanded knowledge base, acquire new skills, and develop a new mindset that will ensure their success and excellence in all these domains. The veterinary profession is becoming more fragmented and specialised, and it needs to be brought back together by a single sphere of knowledge or discipline that can serve as an intellectual foundation. The concept of One World of Veterinary Medicine can do just that. With this mindset veterinarians will become better connected to the world around and gain new public recognition and esteem. To achieve this, a special commitment by academic veterinary medicine is, of course, essential. Veterinary schools must lead an educational transformation that reaffirms the social contract of veterinarians and works to align diverse sectors, build a global community, find a common purpose and expand the 21st Century veterinary portfolio of services, activities, and new possibilities.

Addressing educational challenges in veterinary medicine through the use of distance education.

The veterinary profession is currently facing many educational challenges, including an insufficient capacity to train and educate veterinarians for the multiple disciplines within the profession, a shortage of veterinarians in private and public practice, a shortage of faculty, a lack of human and professional diversity, and a rising cost of education resulting in extreme student debt loads. As a methodology for teaching, distance education (DE) has the potential to address many of these issues. By its very nature, DE can increase the capacity of current facilities and faculty. In addition, DE can allow students to acquire the necessary knowledge at less cost. This article describes a model for incorporating DE in the form of interactive Web-based courses, in conjunction with short, intensive residential programs, for the lecture portions of courses taught in the pre-veterinary, veterinary, and post-veterinary educational periods. In this model, the Web-based courses are used to convey the necessary core knowledge required at each step of the educational process. The residential portions are then used to apply the knowledge in such a way as to combine clinical applications with research in basic and applied sciences. Distance education can provide increased flexibility, high-quality educational experiences, and a less costly alternative for students while maximizing the reach of current faculty efforts and the capacity of existing physical structures.

Perspective from Western Canada and the Canadian meat industry.

The Canadian broiler chicken and turkey industries are distributed approximately according to human population. Individual components of these industries tend to be smaller than their U.S. counterparts and not to be vertically integrated. The outlook of the poultry meat industries is positive because of increasing per capita consumption of chicken and the potential for gains in turkey consumption. The number of permanently employed poultry scientists at publicly funded institutions has declined in Western Canada. University training in Poultry Science is restricted to four major institutions where it has been integrated into Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine programs. For the most part, poultry scientists have developed successful research programs and this research has been enhanced by scientists employed in term positions. Publicly funded poultry extension has declined but this reduction has been compensated to some degree by industry-sponsored programs and the private sector. The majority of research funding, which was once derived from government, is now provided by industry; government contributions are frequently contingent on initial industry support. The consequence of this type of funding arrangement is a trend to more short-term and less long-term research. Canada has no strategic plan regarding poultry training, research, or extension and this needs to be addressed before there is a further reduction in the country's infrastructure. Modern communication technology offers promise to reduce the isolation of scientists in different parts of Canada.