VETM815B

042200

The Advanced Professional Skills coursework (VETM 815A and 815B) represents two consecutive semesters of scaffolded learning that builds upon an introductory longitudinal series (VETM 802A, 802B, 802C, and 802D) to prepare students for their final clinical (clerkship) year. Students will be provided with the next layer of communication skills as they further their journey towards:

professional growth
inquisitive and lifelong learning
perspective-taking and seeking
interactive processing of information
engagement in dialogue
evidence-based decision-making
delivery and receipt of feedback
individual and collective reflection

VETM 815B has been designed to introduce content within the context of other material that is being presented simultaneously throughout the rest of the curriculum. This course runs concurrent with VETM 814B (Anesthesia and Surgery II) and VETM 817 (Selectives). Because each student has designed there own curricular plan for Selectives, there are fewer opportunities for VETM 815B to integrate fully with other curricular content. However, what VETM 815B sets out to achieve is to tie all preceding coursework together by revisiting and reinforcing key themes that students will be asked to consider (and reconsider!) throughout their veterinary careers.

This class meets in-person, on-site to allow for face-to-face sharing of thoughts and perspectives within a safe and supportive environment. Students will be tasked with building upon the following thematic content from previous semesters as they continue to explore the profession that they are entering:

how they see themselves and each other
how they establish and build onto their evolving professional identities
how they define their roles in the profession as individuals and as colleagues
how they communicate as team-members and as clinicians
how they bolster connectivity within the veterinary team and practice relationship-centered care


VETM 815A introduced challenging conversations about death and dying, anticipatory grief, unexpected grief, and loss. VETM 815A encouraged you to consider the impact of these clinical scenarios on you and other veterinary team members. VETM 815A asked you to consider how to \"reset\" after mental, physical, and/or emotional exhaustion to continue your role as healthcare providers.

VETM 815B will add additional layers of complexity as we individually and collectively explore the following content areas as they relate to our growing professional identities:

Communication surrounding emergency/critical care and sudden death
Coping strategies to manage the impact that poor patient outcomes has on the
team
The relationship between veterinary mental health and client satisfaction
Depression and suicide among veterinary practitioners
Burnout and compassion fatigue in veterinary practitioners
Substance abuse in the workplace: a culture of denial
Vet-shopping and prescription misuse by our clients
Animal neglect and mandatory reporting
The link between animal cruelty and violence by humans towards other humans
Confronting differences of opinion:
What to do when you disagree with a colleagues approach or standard of care
What to do when your client disagrees with a colleagues approach or standard
of care
What to do when your client disagrees with your approach or standard of care
Facing board complaints and litigation
Our responsibility as lifelong learners: the role of research and continuing
education in veterinary practice
Work-life balance
Revisiting and addressing boundaries
What do you value most and need to negotiate for when contracting with employers?
You are enough: resiliency and overcoming imposter syndrome


Emphasis will be placed on building onto challenging conversations in clinical practice as learners continue their transition from students to clinicians. The role of clinician is one that we are continuously growing into. As students prepare for clinical rotations in their final (clerkship) year, they increasingly feel the responsibility of what it means to be a DVM. That responsibility requires us to make evidence-based decisions about patient care and to explain those choices to other members of the veterinary team.

Not all cases have positive patient outcomes; not all cases are curable. This semester revisits case management from the perspective of emergency/critical care, sudden death, death notification, animal neglect, and animal cruelty. These topics are heavy and require us to consider the impact of having to face these clinical scenarios head-on. As we consider their impact, we will open ourselves up to very real concerns within our profession depression, burnout, compassion fatigue, substance abuse, and suicide.

We will discuss what to do when caring hurts and who to seek out to help us on challenging days so that we can re-invest in the human-animal bond, revisit work-life balance, practice boundary-setting, and overcome obstacles as resilient professionals.

PNP - Pass/Fail

Veterinary Medicine