Clinical externships within undergraduate studies in veterinary medicine

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of checklists for clinical practical courses. Clinical externships are a component of the practical part of the veterinary medicine curriculum. The control is under the responsibility of the training centres. Guidelines and checklists for extramural clinical courses were developed in order to facilitate control mechanisms. The analysis of such checklists should give an overview over the actual situation to enable the setting of minimum standards for extramural courses. The guidelines list practical activities carried out by the students in the veterinary practices or clinics. Data of 360 checklists were assessed in this study to evaluate whether checklists constitute a useful tool to control extramural studies.The results show that checklists are useful to enhance the knowledge of the training centre about the training of students to be adapted. However, the advantage is not completely clear to students. The communication of the importance of the extramural training sessions has to be enhanced.