Article 2018

A novel model for teaching primary care in a community practice setting: Tufts at tech community veterinary clinic

Journal of Veterinary Medical Education
Journal · Vol. 45 · Issue 1 · pp. 99-107
Abstract

Providing veterinary students with opportunities to develop clinical skills in a realistic, hands-on environment remains a challenge for veterinary education. We have developed a novel approach to teaching clinical medicine to fourth-year veterinary students and technical high school students via development of a primary care clinic embedded within a technical high school. The primary care clinic targets an underserved area of the community, which includes many of the participating high school students. Support from the veterinary community for the project has been strong as a result of communication, the opportunity for veterinarians to volunteer in the clinic, and the careful targeting of services. Benefits to veterinary students include the opportunity to build clinical competencies and confidence, as well as the exposure to a diverse client population. The financial model of the clinic is described and initial data on outcomes for case load, clinic income, veterinary student evaluations, and high school students' success in passing the veterinary assisting examination are reported. This clinical model, involving a partnership between a veterinary school and a technical high school, may be adoptable to other clinical teaching situations. © 2018 AAVMC.

Keywords

Author Keywords

veterinary education Accessible veterinary care Community medicine Primary care education

Index Keywords

adult clinical competence female human male Humans Article education primary medical care human experiment school Schools high school student outcome assessment Education, Veterinary Schools, Veterinary educational model Models, Educational clinical education community medicine hospital primary health care Massachusetts animal Animals clinical medicine volunteer veterinary clinic Hospitals, Animal
Author Affiliations
Center for Animals and Public Policy, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Grafton, MA, United States
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Grafton, MA, United States
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
2Tufts at Tech Community Veterinary Clinic, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Grafton, MA, United States
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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