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Posted: 15th November 2022

Final year vet students 'not confident' in surgical EPAs
Survey shows over 50 per cent of the 2021/22 cohort felt they had no substantial experience with key surgical EPAs.
Research reveals negative impact of COVID-19 on student experience.

A study published in Veterinary Record has found that many final-year veterinary students do not feel fully competent to perform key surgical skills, owing to a lack of hands-on experience.

The purpose of the study was to understand how veterinary students viewed key surgical entrustable professional activities (EPAs), and how they felt about their clinical skills and competencies.

Final-year veterinary students were sent a web-based survey to complete, which asked explicitly worded questions on five constructs regarding EPAs.

While the cohort agreed that the key surgical EPAs were clinically important and relevant, over 50 per cent of the students who responded said that they felt they had no substantial experience with them, and did not feel confident or comfortable performing them.

One reason for this is likely to be the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EMS placements, with 95 per cent of respondents reporting concern that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on their surgical skill development.

The survey also revealed that the veterinary students were not confident in their ability to perform any procedural skills, however, 60 per cent of respondents reported that they felt comfortable performing granular skills.

Discussing the survey results, researchers suggested that surgical training models could be a beneficial response to improve the proposed surgical skills, allowing for repeated exposure to key surgical EPAs. 

Researchers also suggested the possibility of exploring a competency-based assessment framework to allow for assurance of basic competence for both patients. This may also have a positive effect on students' performance ability and emotions.




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