A Veterinary Comparative Counseling Elective Featuring Web-based, Student-created, Client Information Sheets

To design and implement a course in Companion Animal Comparative Counseling that would expose students (N=38) to essential elements of veterinary therapeutics and provide them with the opportunity to apply their knowledge by writing and posting client information sheets (CIS) on an open web site.

The elective course was limited to companion animals. Nine different topics were covered over the semester. Class sessions included a didactic component, trivia questions, and field trips. There were 4 major graded assessments: an examination on foundation knowledge, followed by two comparative counseling assessments and evaluation of group-composed CIS. Attendance and participation were also considered.

The class learned comparative disease states, how to counsel on common pet prescriptions, where to access informatics about specific veterinary drugs, and how to create their own CIS.

As pharmacists, these students may have improved their training in veterinary comparative pharmacy.