This grant will support a student-focused course designed to hone primary practice skills prior to a student's graduation from veterinary school. 

Many elective courses are offered in the spring of each program year, but few offer hands on surgical training. Additionally, elective course access is limited by the number of student participants that can be accommodated. A live, large animal focused, two-week surgical course, as well as a small animal minimally invasive surgery course, offer opportunities for students to practice simulated, live-animal or cadaver procedures. There is a curricular gap in access to and time between pre-clinical surgical training and skill advancement in clinics.

The proposed course will bridge student pre-clinical training to clinical rotations. The timing, content and format of the course are designed to expand student surgical training by promoting skill retention, assessing clinical reasoning and increasing the breadth of procedure exposure. We will facilitate independent, repeated surgical skill practice and directed practice with constructive feedback, which are documented to improve student skill retention. Focusing the course on small animal emergency and surgical procedures aims to deliver engaging material for a large portion of Cornell’s veterinary class. The breadth of primary care procedures covered is intended to promote new graduate confidence and early career implementation of competent surgical skills.