Student Experiences in Practice-Based Small Animal Clerkships

Practice-based clerkships provide a way for students to experience the types of cases, clients, and procedures that they can expect to see in a general practice setting. These clerkships are typically quite different from those offered in teaching hospitals. Forty-seven (65.28%) of the 72 invited veterinary medicine students from three cohorts participated in pre- and post-test surveys designed to compare their expectations to their actual experiences. Students reported significant positive changes in terms of adequate supervision, approachability of practitioner, and comfort level when asking questions, as well as seeing different cases than they see at the teaching hospital. Students reported significant negative changes in terms of their ability to interact with clients as much as they expected with respect to the practice of communication skills, history-taking skills, preventative therapy discussions with clients, and treatment. These findings were supported by written survey comments regarding the most and least helpful portions of the clerkship. We suggest further research to study student experiences over time and to survey practitioners before and following placement with veterinary students; the aim would be to obtain more information about the expectations and success of practice-based clerkships.