Patient safety culture (PSC) is a multidimensional construct that reflects the way healthcare organizations promote safe patient care. Veterinary students are explicitly and implicitly indoctrinated into organizational cultures and will carry these attitudes and behaviors into their future work. In this study, we evaluated the psychometric properties of a PSC survey among veterinary students in the United States and investigated their attitudes toward PSC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study assessed the depth, breadth, and perception of toxicology education in curricula at Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) member veterinary schools. An online questionnaire was sent twice to all 54 AAVMC members and sent once to a veterinary toxicology list serve. The survey covered areas related to instructor demographics, the depth and extent of toxicology taught, and the respondent's perceptions of their student's ability to perform entrustable professional activities (EPA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study assessed the fidelity of an existing questionnaire regarding attitudes toward safety culture in an academic veterinary hospital setting and gathered baseline data on these attitudes in a local population. A cross-sectional study design was used to evaluate perceptions held by veterinary teaching hospital employees. An established veterinary safety culture survey was modified and administered as a confidential online survey to faculty, house officers, and professional staff of a veterinary teaching hospital in the United States.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo study changes in Journal of Veterinary Medical Education () content, this article presents the results of an analysis of a purposeful sample ( = 537) and demographic analysis of all 1,072 articles published from 2005 to 2019. The findings were compared to a prior analysis of articles from 1974 to 2004. Article length increased, as did the number of authors and institutions per article.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic prompted instruction at many veterinary schools to switch to an emergency remote teaching format to prevent viral transmission associated with in-person synchronous lectures. This study surveyed student perspectives and academic performance in a pre-planned online second-year veterinary toxicology course given at North Carolina State University in Spring 2020. This course relied on asynchronous narrated presentations for content delivery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a concern over long-term retention of knowledge in professional programs. The goal of this study was to evaluate the retention of veterinary clinical pathology knowledge between the fourth-semester and fourth-year clinical pathology courses. We hypothesize that students will forget a significant amount of content area knowledge between the fourth semester and fourth year in the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDog aggression directed towards humans is a common and serious behavioral and public health issue. This cross-sectional study was designed to gain insights into U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActive teaching approaches such as the flipped classroom are linked to better quality student learning outcomes across health care disciplines, with the potential to support students' preparedness for practice. In the flipped classroom instructional approach, students engage in significant pre-class preparation to learn foundational knowledge and skills, then undertake instructional activities in the classroom that require them to integrate, apply and extend their learning to new contexts. This study reports the results of a multinational survey of flipped classroom use in veterinary education.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of medical errors (specifically, near misses [NMs] and adverse events [AEs]) and their personal and professional impact on veterinarians. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SAMPLE Members of the Veterinary Information Network (n = 46,481).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRenewing a veterinary curriculum is challenging work and its impact is difficult to measure. Academic leaders are charged with regular review and updating of their curricula, but have few resources available to guide their efforts. Due to the paucity of published veterinary reports, most turn to colleagues at other veterinary schools for insider advice, while a few undertake the task of adapting information from the educational literature to suit the needs of the veterinary profession.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Bovine Educational Symposium (BES) is a unique opportunity for North Carolina State University (NCSU) veterinary students to visit dairy farms, feedlots, cow-calf operations, and processing facilities, and to meet local bovine veterinarians. We hypothesized that this active learning opportunity would increase knowledge, change perceptions of animal agriculture and food-animal medicine, and provide skills that persist beyond graduation. Pre- and post-trip surveys were administered to 124 first-, second-, and third-year veterinary students attending BES over 3 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhysical specimens are essential to the teaching of veterinary anatomy. While fresh and fixed cadavers have long been the medium of choice, plastinated specimens have gained widespread acceptance as adjuncts to dissection materials. Even though the plastination process increases the durability of specimens, these are still derived from animal tissues and require periodic replacement if used by students on a regular basis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOBJECTIVE To survey practicing veterinarians regarding their perceptions of and experiences with cases of suspected or confirmed animal abuse and related state laws. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. POPULATION Members of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN; n = 34,144) who were in veterinary practice at the time of the survey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClinical empathy is a multi-dimensional concept characterized by four dimensions: (1) affective-the ability to experience patients' or clients' emotions and perspectives, (2) moral-the internal motivation to empathize, (3) cognitive-the intellectual ability to identify and comprehend others' perspective and emotions, and (4) behavioral-the ability to convey understanding of those emotions and perspectives back to the patient or client. The Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was used to examine the affective and cognitive facets of empathy in veterinary practitioners. The IRI consists of four subscales that measure cognitive (perspective taking and fantasy) and affective (emphatic concern and personal distress) components of empathy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGiven the unique nature of programs in professional veterinary medicine (PVM), the increasing numbers of students requesting accommodations for emotional support animals (ESAs) in higher education settings is of growing interest to student affairs and administrative staff in PVM settings. Since the legislation pertaining to this type of support animal differs from the laws governing disability service animals, colleges and universities now need to develop new policies and guidelines. Representatives from a sample of 28 PVM programs completed a survey about the prevalence of student requests for ESAs and service animals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmpathy can be defined as the ability to understand and connect with the emotional state and frame of mind of another. Establishing connections with others is a crucial skill for veterinarians who must earn the trust and compliance of their clients to provide quality care for their patients. This is a longitudinal study using the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) to assess changes in veterinary students' self-reported empathy as they progressed through the didactic portion of the DVM program at Colorado State University.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ethics document of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges provides guiding principles for veterinary schools to develop conflict of interest policies. These policies regulate faculty and student interactions with industry, potentially reducing the influence companies have on students' perceptions and future prescribing practices. This paper examines the implementation of a conflict of interest policy and related instructional activities at one veterinary college in the US.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroscopy (skill of using a microscope) and the concepts of cytology (study of cells) and histology (study of tissues) are most often taught in professional veterinary medicine programs through the traditional method of glass slides and light microscopes. Several limiting factors in veterinary training programs are encouraging educators to explore innovative options for teaching microscopy skills and the concepts of cytology and histology. An anonymous online survey was administered through the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association to Colorado veterinarians working in private practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA mixed-method educational research study was conducted to evaluate the use of a series of online histopathology modules by students at two levels in a professional veterinary medical program. The materials were hypothesized to support student learning of histopathology concepts by facilitating "dual coding" of the content, since they provide both visual and verbal information. Second- and fourth-year professional veterinary students were surveyed about their perceptions of the effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal of the online modules.
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