Veterinary students’ views on surgical EPAs and the impact of COVID-19 on clinical competence development

Jamie-Leigh Thompson*, Jill R D MacKay, Kelly Blacklock

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Background: The primary purpose of this study was to understand veterinary students’ views on the described key surgical entrustable professional activities (EPAs) and to understand how COVID-19 restrictions have impacted their clinical skill and competence development. Methods: Final-year veterinary students at a single institute completed a web-based survey distributed by email. The survey aimed to characterise five constructs regarding EPAs, and a specific five-point Likert-like scale was created asking explicitly worded questions for each construct. Results: One hundred and ten students responded. The cohort agreed that the previously described key surgical EPAs were clinically important and relevant, but over 50% of the respondents felt that they had no substantial experience with them and were not confident or comfortable performing them. Additionally, most students (95%) felt their clinical development was negatively impacted by COVID-19. Conclusions: The results of this study show that the key EPAs proposed are considered important skills by the undergraduate cohort described and that experience levels when entering the final year are lacking, potentially due to reduced exposure to clinical cases influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1978
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalVeterinary Record
Volume191
Issue number9
Early online date2 Aug 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2022

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Animals
  • COVID-19/epidemiology
  • Clinical Competence
  • Competency-Based Education
  • Educational Measurement
  • Humans
  • Internship and Residency
  • Pandemics/prevention & control
  • Students, Medical

Cite this