INSTRUCTIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND APPROACH

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.

In this course, using primarily cardiovascular and renal physiology concepts, widely considered by first-year students as the most difficult to master, we will introduce you to strategies for connecting these concepts to your pre-veterinary education, to each other, and ultimately to critical thinking about real-life clinical problems, i.e. cases.

OUTLINE

The Vet School Bootcamp: Approach to Physiology (Cardiovascular) involves independent student review of “concept approach” video presentations connecting physiological principles to scientific concepts of pre-veterinary courses focusing on cardiovascular concepts. 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 for private feedback from course faculty, or you can privately compare your responses to those prepared by faculty in a case summary video. 

Expected time commitment: Content is provided in a series of short videos. These lessons are supplemented by formative multiple choice questions each with video feedback, and separate written explanations. Included in the 3 lessons are 4 clinical case scenarios with guiding critical clinical thinking questions are included.  Follow-up videos describe the case outcome, and an explanation to the questions.

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 physiology and veterinary terminology e-texts will be available at no additional charge through our partnership with Vet-Library.com.

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 for the course,

https://vmacad.org/course/view.php?id=30

and enroll by paying the registration fee.

Registration Fee: $20 for permanent access to all learning resources. 

Or to register as part of an additional 3 topic Physiology Bootcamp bundle (Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Renal, GI): $50

If you have any questions or difficulties registering, please contact vma@vetmedacademy.org.