Components of the Preparing for Excellence in Veterinary General Practice Program

The Preparing for Excellence in Veterinary General Practice program is a shift in The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine's focus of its clinical training to encompass training across an entire spectrum of veterinary health care options, from technologically advanced and higher cost options to more practical ones consistent with the veterinary care and cost expectations of a diverse population of clients. The primary goal is to educate career-ready veterinarians who can provide high-quality, affordable care while maintaining sustainable business practices.

Read about some of the key components of the program.

Veterinary Clinical and Professional Skills Center

Students learn clinical, technical, and communication skills from the beginning of their education with regular and continual practice, coaching, and feedback in a low-risk controlled setting. Through this approach, they can develop a growth mindset and seek to gain the confidence they need to thrive in new situations. Gaining skills, knowledge and confidence early in the program and learning to be open to feedback are key to success throughout their veterinary career. Combining audiovisual and lecture capture technology with high and low-fidelity models and simulators, the center is a safe clinical training environment and also imitates actual client/patient interactions.

Faculty and local practitioners are truly invested in this hands-on education and are committed to creating graduates who are immediately ready to begin their careers. After students have been taught hands-on skills, they are tested in an equally hands-on method. Students are re-taught and tested until they are confident and competent in their abilities. Early introduction of skills, repetitive practice with feedback on performance, and critical review of competence are required to ensure learners are successful.

Spectrum of Care Summer Externship Program

In this program, students are placed in a private spectrum of care practices that combine intensive educational training with real-world clinical practice experience serving underserved populations. The program emphasizes the traditional role of the general practitioner. Through observation and performance, students are prepared to work with clients and pets at various socioeconomic levels, including underserved populations of companion canines and other small animals in need of care. Students in the program receive a 10-week stipend and compensation for travel and lodging.

The early exposure to hands-on veterinary practice is transformational. As students gain knowledge and skills, they become more confident and feel invested as part of the veterinary care team. Once students understand their own potential, their learning experience is even more valued and they commonly report the program as a life-changing and transformational experience.

Veterinary Medicine Outreach Program

By providing wellness care and basic medicine services to underserved animals and their pet parents in our community, students interact with diverse populations, better preparing them for general practice veterinary careers, in which compassion and interpersonal skills are as essential as medical knowledge. Students learn spectrum of care principles when working with underserved animals by providing high-quality medical assessments and wellness care to dogs and cats while working with limited resources. Students practice low-stress animal handling skills, veterinary technical skills, verbal and written communication skills and working as part of a team to provide medical care to a patient.

The Veterinary Outreach Medicine Program is one of the veterinary students’ favorite experiences. The program has strong support from administration and is funded through generous private gifts. There are many ways for students to become involved, and the program continues to grow and evolve to increase service to underserved people and pets in Franklin County and beyond. In addition to enhancing their clinical and communications skills, it helps to raise social awareness, build cultural competencies, and instill civic responsibility in our students.

Shelter Medicine and Surgery Rotation

The shelter medicine and surgery rotation are core clinical programs every fourth-year veterinary student takes. The entire rotation is conducted offsite and in partnership with Columbus Humane. Students work in pairs as the primary surgeons and/or anesthetists on spay and neuter procedures for canine, feline, rabbit, and potbelly pig patients, as well as performing other procedures such as dental extractions, mass removals, eyelid surgeries, limb amputations, hernia repairs, and other common soft tissue procedures. Two faculty members oversee, supervise and support students regarding questions, concerns, or correction of complications.

Students also perform procedures in a shelter setting with basic surgical instruments. Students have the opportunity to make decisions while also having the support of clinical faculty with private practice experience who are able to provide in-the-moment feedback on techniques and skills while helping new surgeons become more comfortable in that role.

Spectrum of Care Career Area of Emphasis

General practice is particularly challenging for new veterinary graduates because it requires comfort with ambiguity, and this is normally difficult to foster during training, especially with high-achieving learners who tend to be perfectionists by nature. Students have a unique opportunity in their program to broaden their skill set and confidence by intentionally working in a small animal general practice that has been identified as a model of spectrum of care.

These practice placements focus on clinics offering a broad range of diagnostic and treatment options in first-opinion environments with clients from across a range of financial means. Students learn firsthand that a variety of choices can be offered regarding acceptable care for the pets that are presented. This program endeavors to instill the tools and confidence students need to rise to the challenge of being innovative in practice.

These unique placement settings provide students with exposure to the challenges and solutions that are different than those of a tertiary referral setting. Students are able to gain exposure to daily decision-making in general practice by being put into the “driver’s seat” so they can learn to manage clients, the staff, and patients. The supervising doctors are primarily in a coaching role to offer support and advice as students are observed to consider their available options and to counsel clients effectively.

Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic

Final-year students become practice-ready by taking the lead role in providing veterinary care during their rotation through the Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic. They manage patients across the entire spectrum of care, in addition to fine-tuning clinical and business management skills and building the confidence and competence needed to be successful primary care practitioners.

Alongside the final year “students as doctors”, the year 1 to 3 students join the workforce to learn the art of veterinary practice from the “ground up”. Students participate in clinic duties like patient care, client care and assisting with diagnosis and treatment as they also learn in their other classes. This alignment with early clinical experience makes their other classes richer and more meaningful and exposes them to the expectations and realities of practice right from the start.

All students are trained to practice broadly across the spectrum of care in this setting, becoming veterinarians who are confident and competent to provide a full range of treatment options, thus producing positive pet and client outcomes.