Links between learning goals, learning activities, and learning outcomes in simulation-based clinical skills training: a systematic review of the veterinary literature.

Introduction: In veterinary education programs it is important to have a balance between providing students with valuable hands-on experience and ensuring the ethical treatment and welfare of the animals involved. In the last years simulation-based veterinary education played an important role helping with the replacement of experimental animals in education and at the same time creating a safe learning environment offering endless options for training in a safe environment. The aim of this systematic review was to discern which type of learning outcomes are used to evaluate specific learning goals of clinical skills training and to grasp the impact of diverse simulator characteristics on the measured learning outcomes in clinical skills training.

Implementation of a Blended Learning Module to Teach Handling, Restraint, and Physical Examination of Cats in Undergraduate Veterinary Training.

Cats can be easily stressed in a clinical (training) setting and may show unpredictable reactions and patterns of defensive aggression. This can be a complicating factor in undergraduate veterinary training. Inexperienced veterinary students can evoke defensive feline behavior that negatively affects learning outcomes and animal welfare.

Electromyographic Analysis of Muscle Activation Patterns During Bovine Transrectal Palpation and the Development of the Bovine Pregnancy Diagnosis Improvement Exercise Program.

The unusual and tiring physical activity of bovine transrectal palpation (TRP) requires a novel approach to improve students' TRP and pregnancy diagnosis (PD) skills. It has been shown that students who participated in an exercise program and students who had a grip strength (GS) of more than 30 kilograms performed better in bovine PDs. Participation in the exercise program increased students' sensitivity (ability to identify pregnant cows) but did not increase total arm muscle strength.

Influence of an Exercise Program, Muscle Strength, Proprioception, and Arm Length on Veterinary Students' Bovine Pregnancy Diagnosis Accuracy.

Bovine pregnancy diagnosis (PD) by transrectal palpation (TRP) is an important skill for veterinary graduates. Factors influencing students' PD accuracy were investigated to optimize bovine PD by TRP training without increasing live animal exposure. The objective was to determine whether arm length and strength, proprioception, and exposure to a 6-week exercise training program were significantly associated with students' PD accuracy.

Collaborative Development of a Shared Framework for Competency-Based Veterinary Education.

Competency-based medical education is an educational innovation implemented in health professions worldwide as a means to ensure graduates meet patient and societal needs. The focus on student-centered education and programmatic outcomes offers a series of benefits to learners, institutions and society. However, efforts to establish a shared, comprehensive competency-based framework in veterinary education have lagged.

Collaborative Development of Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Veterinary Education.

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) have been proposed as a practical framework for the implementation of competency-based education. As veterinary education moves toward a competency-based approach, core EPAs provide a context for assessment of workplace activities. This article reports on the development of eight core clinical EPAs for veterinary education created through multi-institutional collaboration, with international input from veterinary educators and veterinary educational leaders.

Bridging the Gap between Undergraduate Veterinary Training and Veterinary Practice with Entrustable Professional Activities.

The transition from being a veterinary student to becoming a member of the veterinary profession is known to be challenging. Despite being licensed directly after graduation, many veterinarians do not feel fully equipped to practice unsupervised when they graduate. The increasing rate of attrition from veterinary practice, and a relatively high percentage of burnout during the first years in practice, has been suggested to be related to a lack of early career support.

Identifying entrustable professional activities for surgical skills training in companion animal health.

Background: Veterinary medical education is increasingly moving towards outcome-based training based on competency frameworks. A source of concern is the translation of competencies into the practice of clinical teaching, for example, surgical skills training. It is suggested that the use of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) might bridge this gap.

Assessment Tools for Feedback and Entrustment Decisions in the Clinical Workplace: A Systematic Review.

Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) combine feedback and evaluation with a permission to act under a specified level of supervision and the possibility to schedule learners for clinical service. This literature review aims to identify workplace-based assessment tools that indicate progression toward unsupervised practice, suitable for entrustment decisions and feedback to learners. A systematic search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, ERIC, and PsycINFO databases.

Development of core entrustable professional activities linked to a competency-based veterinary education framework.

Despite the adoption of competency-based education in some veterinary schools over the past 15 years, only recently has a concerted effort been directed toward this in veterinary education internationally. In 2015, educational leaders from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) member schools came together with a strong call to action to create shared tools for clinical competency assessment. This resulted in the formation of the AAVMC Competency-Based Veterinary Education (CBVE) Working Group, which then embarked on the creation of a shared competency framework and the development of eight core entrustable professional activities (EPAs) linked to this framework.

Inter-Rater Reliability of Grading Undergraduate Portfolios in Veterinary Medical Education.

The reliability of high-stakes assessment of portfolios containing an aggregation of quantitative and qualitative data based on programmatic assessment is under debate, especially when multiple assessors are involved. In this study carried out at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, two independent assessors graded the portfolios of students in their second year of the 3-year clinical phase. The similarity of grades (i.

Programmatic assessment: Can we provide evidence for saturation of information?

According to the principles of programmatic assessment, a valid high-stakes assessment of the students' performance should amongst others, be based on a multiple data points, supposedly leading to saturation of information. Saturation of information is generated when a data point does not add important information to the assessor. In establishing saturation of information, institutions often set minimum requirements for the number of assessment data points to be included in the portfolio.

The Development of Entrustable Professional Activities for Competency-Based Veterinary Education in Farm Animal Health.

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are professional tasks that can be entrusted to a student under a given level of supervision once he or she has demonstrated competence in these tasks. The EPA construct was conceived to increase transparency in objectives for clinical workplace learning and to help ensure patient safety and the quality of care. A first step in implementing EPAs in a veterinary curriculum is to identify the core EPAs of the profession.

Validity evidence for programmatic assessment in competency-based education.

Introduction: Competency-based education (CBE) is now pervasive in health professions education. A foundational principle of CBE is to assess and identify the progression of competency development in students over time. It has been argued that a programmatic approach to assessment in CBE maximizes student learning.

When to trust our learners? Clinical teachers' perceptions of decision variables in the entrustment process.

Introduction: Clinical training programs increasingly use entrustable professional activities (EPAs) as focus of assessment. However, questions remain about which information should ground decisions to trust learners. This qualitative study aimed to identify decision variables in the workplace that clinical teachers find relevant in the elaboration of the entrustment decision processes.

Am I ready for it? Students' perceptions of meaningful feedback on entrustable professional activities.

Background: Receiving feedback while in the clinical workplace is probably the most frequently voiced desire of students. In clinical learning environments, providing and seeking performance-relevant information is often difficult for both supervisors and students. The use of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) can help to improve student assessment within competency-based education.

Students' motivation toward feedback-seeking in the clinical workplace.

In medical education, students are increasingly regarded as active seekers of feedback rather than passive recipients. Previous research showed that in the intentions of students to seek feedback, a learning and performance goal can be distinguished. In this study, we investigated the intentions (defined as level and orientation of motivation) of different performing students (low, average, and high performing students) to seek feedback in the clinical workplace using Self-Determination Theory.

Competency-based veterinary education: an integrative approach to learning and assessment in the clinical workplace.

When graduating from veterinary school, veterinary professionals must be ready to enter the complex veterinary profession. Therefore, one of the major responsibilities of any veterinary school is to develop training programmes that support students' competency development on the trajectory from novice student to veterinary professional. The integration of learning and assessment in the clinical workplace to foster this competency development in undergraduate veterinary education was the central topic of this thesis.

Feedback-giving behaviour in performance evaluations during clinical clerkships.

Context: Narrative feedback documented in performance evaluations by the teacher, i.e. the clinical supervisor, is generally accepted to be essential for workplace learning.

International survey of veterinarians to assess the importance of competencies in professional practice and education.

Objective: To determine the perceived importance of specific competencies in professional veterinary practice and education among veterinarians in several countries.

Design: Survey-based prospective study.

Sample: 1,137 veterinarians in 10 countries.