Skills Group Process & Findings

The primary objective of the Skills Working Group in Stage 1 was to recommend an educational framework for producing veterinarians who can make higher order connections across domains and contexts, and act upon their knowledge. They reviewed many studies of critical skill sets for early career veterinarians; considered feedback from stakeholder interviews, surveys, and round table discussions; and compared existing systems.

Skills Group Recommendation

The Competency Based Veterinary Education guidelines and associated Entrustable Professional Activities are recommended as an organizational starting point for skills required in a DVM curriculum. As a foundation, EPA-type tasks can be divided into smaller activities and competencies and then built into the more complex activities.

Importantly, it is considered critical that Skills Outcomes will be driven by Backwards Design of the curriculum. The skill set we expect of our graduating students will inform the organization and composition of knowledge and skills they should acquire during their program.

We must identify transferable, cross-species relevant core skills and then identify skills important to, and specific to, focus areas. External stakeholder input is recommended to identify specific skills needed for different practice/employment settings.