INSTRUCTIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND APPROACH

This year VetMedAcademy is offering a Bootcamp topic suitable for any current veterinary student looking for a leg-up preview to pharmacology or anyone seeking to learn how to structure their approach to the pharmacotherapy of cases.

We have observed that entering veterinary students often have difficulty adjusting away from a rote learning style that may have led to short-term learning success in pre-veterinary courses. Considering the sheer volume, changing nature, and interdependence of medical content, we would encourage a more integrated long-term strategy to your learning. You have sought to be a veterinarian to solve clinical problems!  Veterinarians use critical thinking to work through clinical problems when the diagnosis is not immediately apparent … they do not rely as much on the memorization of facts, particularly in the digital information age.

OUTLINE

The Vet School Bootcamp: Pharmacology involves independent student review of “concept approach” video presentations connecting pharmacological principles to prior studies of chemistry, biochemistry and physiology. Taught by instructors board-certified in veterinary clinical pharmacology and veterinary toxicology, this Bootcamp will focus on the general principles of drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and understanding how to classify drugs by their molecular targets (pharmacodynamics), and, as an example of type of therapeutic problem, management of pain and inflammation. Formative self-review quizzes with video feedback hints support each lesson, as do full slidesets and full quiz explanations. All learning materials and course interactions occur in the dedicated (Moodle) learning management system on VetMedAcademy. The second stage of each lesson includes introduction of related case scenarios including critical clinical thinking questions and an invitation to submit your responses anonymously for interchanges between fellow participants and private feedback from course faculty, or you can privately compare your responses to those prepared by faculty in a case summary video. All resources will be available for your further benefit during your next academic year. 

Expected time commitment: The content is designed to be reviewable within one week of the 2-week course, but engagement and  analysis, and collective asynchronous discussion is expected to occur throughout the course. Instructors will provide individual and summarized (video) feedback on the case analyses.  Although no expected effort is stated, of course, for the full “Boot Camp” experience, we recommend attempting the clinical case analyses. Instructors will continue to review and provide periodic feedback even after the course has completed.

Free e-texts: VetMedAcademy, through its partnership with Vet-Library, provides a variety of electronic textbooks through its online database to all members.  Suggested veterinary pharmacology e-texts and formularies will be available at no additional charge through our partnership with Vet-Library.com. Participants are also encouraged to access and familiarize themselves with a,complete veterinary drug formulary to become skilled at using these resources.

HOW TO REGISTER

If you are not already registered, create a free VetMedAcademy account at https://vmacad.org/login/index.php. Once your account is approved, you can set a password, and go to the following link at:

https://vmacad.org/course/view.php?id=45

and enroll by paying the registration fee with credit or debit card via the Paypal link.

Registration Fees: $0

The educational resources of the Pharm Bootcamp are available to learners and faculty in 2 parts on CG Scholar at this LINK.