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 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 (Renal) involves independent student review of “concept approach” video presentations connecting physiological principles to scientific concepts of pre-veterinary courses focusing on renal physiology and fluid therapy 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 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 first year of veterinary school. 

Expected time commitment: The content in the course is designed to be reviewed in about one week of the 2-week course, but additional time will be needed to fully engage in the case interactions, with peer and instructor feedback....this is the true Bootcamp experience.   

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.

Registration provides you permanent access to learning resources as long as you are a member of VetMedAcademy.

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, at: https://vmacad.org/course/view.php?id=46

and enroll by paying the registration fee.

Registration Fee: $0

Or to register as part of a 4 topic All Physiology Bootcamp bundle (Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Renal, GI): $50

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