Phase length:

1.5 semesters (24 weeks)

Phase Description:

Students start their journey to becoming a practice ready veterinary professional with the foundations of health and wellness. The Phase 1 curriculum includes clinical and professional skill development and early clinical experience but is focused largely on the foundational sciences within multidisciplinary courses. Infusing foundational and clinical sciences, students begin to accumulate and organize (cognitively integrate) knowledge and skills in the context of health, wellness, and preventive care from conception to production to the geriatric patient.

Phase Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to…

1. Explain how to maintain health and support development across life stages.
2. Describe regulations & management practices to promote the health & safety of the public and environment
3. Describe homeostatic balance and how it relates to preventative care & development across species & life stages.
4. Perform a basic & specialty head-to-tail physical exam with attention anatomic structures & animal behavior across select species & life stages.
5. Demonstrate client-centered interview skills by asking appropriate questions to gather a complete, accurate, and organized history.
6. Identify scientific literature from various sources & appraise information based on credibility & applicability to wellness & preventative care.
7. Integrate scientific knowledge, patient history, and physical exam findings to formulate a wellness & preventative care plan that is responsive to clinic, client, and patient needs.
8. Recognize imaging techniques to identify relevant anatomic structures, describe basic surgical approaches, and demonstrate proper surgical preparation & instrument handling.
9. Document initial patient assessment and client communication in the medical record.
10. Recognize sources of stress and collaborate as part of a team manage conflict & expectations while demonstrating empathy & cultural humility.
11. Demonstrate professional responsibility by developing time management strategies and plans to achieve career and personal goals.

Phase length:

2.5 semesters (40 weeks)

Phase Description:

Students continue their journey by scaffolding pathophysiology of disease onto the foundations of wellness with a focus on common disease presentations. Students learn to utilize their knowledge of pathophysiology of disease in an analytical problem-solving approach to clinical cases. In synthesizing foundational and pathophysiological knowledge and skills, students begin to integrate their knowledge in the context of diagnosis and treatment of common causes of disease and apply skills in performance of routine medical and surgical procedures.

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Phase Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to…

• Explain the pathophysiology of common disease processes and recognize immune and behavioral responses to disease across life stages & body systems.
• Recognize and explain solutions to regulation violations & develop recommendations to promote the health & safety of the public, environment, and animal populations.
• Classify common agents of disease and explain transmission potential and how they relate to disease processes & development across body systems.
• Classify general drug types and explain the mechanisms for how they relate to the management & prevention of common diseases.
• Identify common signs of disease while performing a basic and specialty physical exam and communicate findings.
• Integrate information from patient history & physical exam to formulate problem and differentials lists for common clinical signs and recognize when referral is warranted.
• Select, perform, and interpret appropriate diagnostics for common clinical presentations and communicate rationale.
• Describe appropriate treatments for common signs of disease and explain the effects of treatment on disease processes.
• Integrate information from problem and differential lists to formulate and adapt diagnostic & treatment plans for common diseases and develop appropriate monitoring and follow-up protocols to manage treatment.
• Recognize impact of time management on patient care and prioritize tasks according to importance and urgency.
• Explain the principles of anesthetic drugs and perform & monitor routine anesthetic procedures.
• Apply imaging techniques, anatomic knowledge, and instrumentation handling to describe and perform routine medical & surgical procedures.
• Access, analyze, and apply scientific literature and justify clinical decisions based on credibility & applicability of the information.
• Create financial estimates for diagnostics & treatments that are responsive to clinic, client, & patient needs.
• Adapt communication strategies and use cultural humility to navigate basic conversations around clinical, financial, ethical, and personal decisions.
• Document a detailed patient assessment, necessary interventions, possible diagnoses and management plan, and client communication in the medical record
• Discuss and analyze common ethical dilemmas in veterinary medicine.

Phase length:

1.5 semesters (24 weeks)

Phase Description:

Students in Phase 3 will hone their analytical problem-solving skills and knowledge and apply them to more complex presentations and co-morbid cases. Students will have more hands-on opportunities to practice medical and surgical procedures that will develop their clinical, diagnostic, and professional skills. Within Phase 3, students will declare an area of emphasis and delve deeper into their chosen area of veterinary practice to further expand knowledge and skills prior to clinical clerkships.

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Phase Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to…

1. Respond to potential biosecurity and public health risks by reporting risks, formulating protocols, & communicating client recommendations and mitigation plans.
2. Explain the pathophysiology of complex & comorbid disease processes & recognize immune & behavioral responses across life stages, body systems, & species.
3. Identify signs of complex & comorbid diseases while performing a basic and specialty physical exam and communicate findings.
4. Integrate history, physical exam, and scholarly information to formulate a problem & differential lists for complex & comorbid clinical signs.
5. Prioritize problem and differential lists to formulate and adapt diagnostic & treatment plans for complex & comorbid diseases including complications of treatment.
6. Select, perform, and interpret appropriate diagnostics for complex clinical presentations and document & communicate rationale.
7. Evaluate patient status to determine urgent problems and effectively triage multiple patients based on the severity of conditions and own limitations.
8. Describe appropriate treatments for signs of complex & comorbid diseases & explain the effects of treatment on disease processes.
9. Perform, monitor, and safely recover patients from common anesthetic procedures, maintain anesthetic records, and collaborate with team to adapt plans as needed.
10. Apply imaging techniques, anatomic knowledge, and instrumentation handling to perform routine medical & surgical procedures and recognize own limitations and when referral is necessary.
11. Access, analyze, and apply literature and justify clinical decisions based on credibility & applicability of the information.
12. Adapt communication strategies to navigate difficult conversations around clinical, financial, ethical, and personal decisions and document communications.
13. Implement and adapt plans for achieving professional, career, and personal goals.
14. Discuss and analyze complex ethical dilemmas in veterinary medicine and justify ethical decision-making.
15. Communicate patient priorities and adapt their responsibilities as a team member to support timely & effective patient care.

Phase length:

3.5 semesters (60 weeks)

Phase Description:

Students enter the final phase of their veterinary training where they will apply their knowledge and skills in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients in UWVC and private practice settings. This is an immersive experience where students transition to the role of student doctor on the clinic floor with primary responsibility for both patient care and client communications. Throughout 55 weeks of clerkship experiences, students apply clinical judgment in the design and implementation of patient care plans. Students also demonstrate increasing responsibility within their areas of emphasis to make sound evidence-based, ethical, and responsive decisions. 

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Phase Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to…

1. Gather a history, perform an examination, and create a prioritized differential diagnosis list
2. Develop a diagnostic plan and interpret results
3. Develop and implement a management/treatment plan
4. Recognize a patient requiring urgent or emergent care and initiate evaluation and management
5. Formulate relevant questions and retrieve evidence to advance care
6. Perform a common surgical procedure on a stable patient, including pre-operative and post-operative management
7. Perform general anesthesia and recovery of a stable patient including monitoring and support
8. Formulate recommendations for preventive healthcare

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