Specifications Grading for Veterinary Medicine.

Assigning grades in a traditional manner is often problematic: grades may or may not reflect actual student achievement, and students may base their self-worth on grades. Specifications (spec) grading claims to remedy these through a novel grading scheme. The scheme also purports to uphold high academic standards, reflect student learning, motivate students to focus on learning (rather than a grade), discourage cheating, reduce student stress, give students control over their grade, minimize conflict between students and faculty, save faculty time, make expectations clear, and facilitate higher-order learning. In spec grading, students must achieve 80% or higher to pass selected assignments, which include exams and quizzes, with the number and nature of assignments dictating the student's final letter grade for the course. Students may resubmit assignments until they pass. Implementing spec grading requires creating assignments, determining assignment bundles, and communicating the new scheme to students to set clear expectations. The purpose of this tip is to describe how to develop a course using spec grading for didactic and clinical applications.

Specifications Grading in a Cardiovascular Systems Course: Student and Course Coordinator Perspectives on the Impacts on Student Achievement.

This study investigated students' and a course coordinator's perceptions about specifications (spec) grading in a cardiovascular systems course and assessed its effects on student performance. Spec grading was hypothesized to result in lower perceived student stress about the course, improved student performance, and less work for the course coordinator. The study used a mixed methods approach consisting of student pre-, peri-, and post-course surveys; student focus group interviews; analysis of student course evaluations; and course coordinator reflection. Participants were from a cross-section of one course in the veterinary professional curriculum. Results demonstrated significantly more A grades assigned to students than in the previous year's course, where traditional grading was used (p = .024). The focus group produced two primary themes: pros and cons. Pros included flexibility, student control over grades, generally lower perceived stress, opportunities to resubmit assignments, and more motivation to learn. Cons included confusion about the process, some disorganization, perceived higher workload for the professor, and communication concerns. The course coordinator's positive perceptions included students being less combative about grades than with the traditional system, students appreciating opportunities to resubmit assignments, and students demonstrating improved learning outcomes. Negative course coordinator perceptions were that reduced student stress was inconsistently achieved and that there was increased time commitment compared with traditional grading. Course evaluation themes included skepticism about spec grading in the beginning, varying stress experiences, improved learning, and increased workload. In conclusion, spec grading variably reduced student stress and did not result in less work for the course coordinator.

Understanding Implicit Bias and Its Impact in Veterinary Medicine.

Implicit biases are those we are unwilling to admit, yet they influence our behavior in ways that impact our experience in the workplace. Literature demonstrates that implicit bias influences career choice and limits success within a chosen career. Discrimination in the veterinary workplace is pervasive and has a negative impact that is responsible for financial loss. It can also influence client communication, patient-care, and be inadvertently perpetuated by well-meaning community clinics. Strategies can be employed to acknowledge implicit bias and to foster behavioral change, which results in a healthier workplace and improved client and patient-care.

A qualitative study of the roles, motivations, and challenges of academic veterinary technicians.

OBJECTIVE: A qualitative study based on one-on-one interviews was conducted to better understand the role of the academic veterinary technician (AVT) and identify the motivations and challenges that AVTs face during their academic careers. SAMPLE: 34 AVTs from 12 accredited US colleges of veterinary medicine. PROCEDURES: Virtual, semi-structured interviews were conducted between July and December 2020. Transcripts were analyzed using discourse analysis within the context of social identity theory. RESULTS: Five themes and seven accompanying sub-themes emerged: one title but many roles and responsibilities (professional/work; other obligations); workplace culture (belonging/inclusivity, administrative/policies); unique challenges of being in the ivory tower (impostor syndrome, educator role, technical skills for academia); entry into the profession and career progression; and motivation. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: AVTs have great passion for and dedication to their profession. Overwhelmingly, they want their voices to be heard and their skillsets to be both utilized and respected. Recognition of and consideration for the themes uncovered in this study may help to better support and retain technicians in their academic career paths.

Vasculitis secondary to presumptive leptospirosis treated with long-term corticosteroids in a captive lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis australis).

A 2-yr-old female lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis australis) was presented for lethargy. Empirical antibiotic treatment appeared to improve its clinical signs, although no etiology for the symptoms was determined. The kudu again presented with lethargy, diffusely swollen limbs, and subcutaneous ecchymoses of 1 day's duration after completion of the initial therapy. Vasculitis secondary to presumptive leptospirosis infection was diagnosed based on a skin biopsy and decreasing paired serologic titers for Leptospira grippotyphosa. The vasculitis was responsive to intramuscular antibiotic therapy and dexamethasone treatment. This case provides evidence that corticosteroids can be used in ruminants at moderate doses for chronic treatment without clinically relevant detrimental effects.

Faculty and students' self-assessment of client communication skills and professional ethics in three veterinary medical schools.

Client communication skills and professional ethics are areas that have received much attention in veterinary education in recent years. The objectives of this study were to: i) establish the confidence level of faculty teaching in three veterinary schools with regard to their client communication skills, ii) establish a baseline of professional ethics indicators in the same faculty, and iii) compare veterinary students of all levels to faculty in both areas. Students and faculty received identical questionnaires, including statements addressing client communication skills and professional ethics. The results indicate that students are generally comfortable with their communication skills, except in the areas of visual and/or audio aid use, handling emotional clients, and discussing costs of care and payment. Faculty were more comfortable than students in all areas of client communication, although they also had low confidence when dealing with costs of care and payment. Ethically, students and faculty answered similarly. Faculty showed a stronger belief that people are basically honest and ethical, but both cohorts responded similarly when asked about reporting an ethical violation admitted to them by their best friend. Further research is needed to determine whether students are communicating as effectively as they believe they are, with particular attention paid to improving communications with emotional clients and the business aspects of veterinary medicine. Additional work is needed to ensure that veterinary students are learning how to cope with ethical issues objectively. This may begin by ensuring that faculty are teaching and, more importantly, modeling these behaviors during the clinical year(s).

Assessment of clinical reasoning skills in veterinary students prior to and after the clinical year of training.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of various clinical tracks within the veterinary medical clinical curriculum at Texas A&M University on clinical diagnostic proficiency as determined by pre- and post-training assessment. We expected that the clinical track chosen by the student would impact their measured outcome with bias toward higher scores in their chosen field. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. STUDY POPULATION: 32 students from the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University. PROCEDURES: By use of standardized, written case scenarios, clinical reasoning was assessed twice: once prior to the clinical (fourth) year of the curriculum and again at completion of the clinical year. Students demonstrated their abilities to collect and organize appropriate clinical data (history, physical examination, and laboratory findings), determine clinical diagnoses, and formulate and implement acceptable treatment modalities. Data from clinical assessments were compared for a given cohort and correlated with other measures (eg, grades, standardized test scores, and species-specific curricular track). RESULTS: Differences were detected in clinical diagnostic proficiency among students in different clinical tracks and for different species groups in the case scenarios. Tracking by species group in the clinical veterinary curriculum appeared to affect development of clinical reasoning and resulted in differential proficiency among cases for differing species groups. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Differences in clinical experiences between small animal tracks and all other track opportunities (large animal, mixed animal, and alternative) influenced the development of clinical proficiency in fourth-year veterinary students during their clinical training period.