DVM Program Curriculum

The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine is committed to revolutionizing the landscape of veterinary education to empower our students for diverse career paths. Our innovative curriculum is focused on graduating confident and competent veterinarians prepared for diverse career opportunities.

Starting in 2019, we embarked on a comprehensive curriculum makeover using the Competency-Based Veterinary Education framework, which is at the forefront of a new era in veterinary medicine. Our Preparing for Excellence in Veterinary General Practice program is a trailblazer in this approach, introducing clinical assessment changes like entrustable professional activities and ongoing tracking of student performance.

We've transformed the way we teach by moving away from the traditional model of students primarily observing complex specialty cases. Instead, we offer a balanced approach emphasizing hands-on learning across a spectrum of care considerations. This approach exposes students to cutting-edge technology and advanced options in specialty rotations while also ensuring they gain experience in providing care that aligns with the expectations of a diverse client base in first-opinion practices. This prepares our graduates to offer high-quality, affordable care to a wide range of clients and animals, all while maintaining sustainable business practices.

student in clinical skills lab
curriculum thread

Collaborative Innovation Shapes a Student-Centric DVM Curriculum with Real-World Emphasis

Working together, college faculty, staff, alumni and external stakeholders identified the goals for DVM graduates and created a a new curriculum framework rooted in an evidence-based concept, and used backward design — developed the specific performance level indicators and milestones that will help guide content development. The college gathered additional input from more than 300 general practitioners to to learn what skills they deemed critical for new graduates.  

At the core of the new curriculum is general practice and workplace experience. Students will have the opportunity to participate in shifts in the new Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic beginning the first semester of the DVM program and continuing throughout all four years. The new program is designed for students to self-regulate and drive their own learning. There is an emphasis on hands-on and small group learning and the shift in curriculum ensures the college maintains a breadth of choice and offerings.

The new curriculum has four areas of focus that thread throughout the foundational science and prerequisites of each year of a student’s DVM program. The four areas of connecting (integrated problem solving), being (professional skills), understanding (communication skills) and doing (clinical skills) are all centered around early general practice and workplace experience.

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Year-by-Year Curriculum Guide

Tab of
AutumnSpring
  • Healthy Animals
  • Healthy Populations
  • Clinical Skills
  • Thinking and Reasoning with Integrated Problems
  • Communication and Collaboration
  • Professional Development
  • DVM Experience
  • Spectrum of Care Clinic Shifts
     
  • Healthy Animals
  • Healthy Populations
  • Clinical Skills
  • Thinking and Reasoning with Integrated Problems
  • Communication and Collaboration
  • DVM Experience
  • Spectrum of Care Clinic Shifts
     

 

autumnspring
  • Diseases and Diagnoses
  • Population Medicine
  • Clinical Skills
  • Thinking and Reasoning with Integrated Problems
  • Communication and Collaboration
  • Professional Development
  • Spectrum of Care Clinic Shifts
     
  • Diseases and Diagnoses
  • Population Medicine
  • Clinical Skills
  • Thinking and Reasoning with Integrated Problems
  • Communication and Collaboration
  • Professional Development
  • Spectrum of Care Clinic Shifts
  • Electives (Career Area of Emphasis Exploration)
     
autumnspring
  • Solutions to Clinical Problems
  • Clinical Skills
  • Thinking and Reasoning with Integrated Problems
  • Communication and Collaboration
  • Professional Development
  • Spectrum of Care Clinic Shifts
  • Electives (Career Area of Emphasis)
  • Solutions to Clinical Problems
  • Thinking and Reasoning with Integrated Problems
  • Spectrum of Care Clinic Shifts
  • Electives (Career Area of Emphasis)
  • Early Clinical Entry
     

 

  • Applied Pathology
  • Shelter Medicine and Surgery
  • Small Animal Internal Medicine
  • Small Animal Critical Care
  • Small Animal Surgery - Soft Tissue
  • Small Animal Emergency
  • Small Animal Surgery – Orthopedics
  • Small Animal Oncology
  • Small Animal Neurology
  • Equine Medicine
  • Equine Surgery
  • Equine Field Service
  • Equine Emergency and Critical Care Medicine
  • Farm Animal Medicine and Surgery
  • Large Animal Ambulatory Services
  • Radiology
  • Ophthalmology
  • Dermatology
  • Cardiology
  • Theriogenology
  • Advanced Theriogenology
  • Clinical Anesthesiology
  • Preventive Medicine
  • Advanced Preventive Medicine