Recipient Organization
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
LUBBOCK,TX 79409
Performing Department
Veterinary Medicine
Non Technical Summary
Attrition of food animal veterinarians is occurring at an alarming rate.Reasons for attrition that are often cited - other than retirement - include rural location, personal finances, lack of mentorship, challenges of effective communication with producers and colleagues, and work-life balance. Preliminary data collected from a local focus group of recent food animal graduates revealed that professional skills were an area in which further training could improve job satisfaction and retention.This project aims toimprove the sustainability of veterinary servicesin food animal industries, and contribute torelieving veterinary shortage situations,by offering continuing education that closes the professional skills gaps that are leading to job dissatisfaction in food animal medicine.A lack of veterinary coverage in rural areas negatively impacts the health and welfare of livestock and the community. This is particularly concerning because the absence of veterinarians diminishes the ability to ensure a safe food supply and reduces economic viability ofcommunities which these industries support. In that vein,Professional Skills Boot Camp (PSBC)aligns with the USDA Strategic Goals offacilitating rural prosperity and economic developmentandproviding Americans with access to a safe, nutritious, and secure food supply. The target population of PSBC isearly career veterinarians working in food animal medicine.The goal of PSBC is to strategically develop and enhance professional skills of early career food animal veterinarians to enrich job satisfaction before they consider departure from their rural communities.The success of PSBC, while accomplishing the previously stated goals, will have much broader implications. Maintaining a robust progressive network of food animal veterinarians will foster best practices of antimicrobial stewardship, facilitate accurate identification and control of food-borne and potentially zoonotic disease, and develop professional community leaders in One Health. Essentially, the rural veterinarian working in food animal medicine is pivotal to both local and global One Health.The bootcamp will consist of an in person training seession that involves training in communication skills, allowing for participants to practice those skills learned with a simulated client/producer. During the in person training, other sessions will cover financial and personal wellbeing, mentorship and teamwork skills. Following the in person training, there will be 8 further remotely delivered sessions. There will also be the opportunity for participants to network beyond the end of the course.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
Theobjectiveof Professional Skills Boot Camp is todevelop and delivera sustainableprofessional skills continuing education programtargetingrecent veterinary graduatesworking inrural communities.PSBC will primarily focus onfood animal medicineto improve retention of veterinarians in this discipline, to encourage movement of veterinarians into this area of practice, torelieve veterinary shortagesin rural communities, and toimprove sustainability of veterinary servicesin these areas.
Project Methods
The development of the continuing education program is informed by the results of a focus groupheld by the research team at the beginning of March 2022 which consistedof recently graduated veterinarians working in rural, food animal medicine practices. This stakeholder involvement is derived from the unique relationship that the faculty at the Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine (TTUSVM)have with clinical practice partners - those practitioners who will be providing clinical experiences and training for the Clinical Year veterinary students. As individuals observing and experiencing the effects of rural food animal veterinarian shortages, these food animal veterinarians are uniquely positioned to have aided in the design of the program and to offer ongoing feedback to improve it into the future.The target audience for the PSBC will be veterinarians with a focus in food animal medicine of any sector (dairy cattle, beef cow calf, stocker, feedlot, swine, or poultry) 1-5 years post-graduation. Participants will be recruited through the TTUSVM clinical practice partner network, and relevant veterinary organizations (e.g., American Association of Bovine PractitionersAmerican Association of Swine Veterinarians) and veterinary medical associations (e.g., Texas Veterinary Medical Association, High Plains Veterinary Medical Association).Participants of this course will initially meet for a three day in-person training. This will consist of an initial communication scenario between the veterinarian with a simulated client.The simulated client will portray a food animal producer. The session will be recorded and viewed by faculty who are skilled in communication training. Participants will receive feedback from their session. Workshops covering the Calgary-Cambridge communication modules, delivering, and receiving feedback, leadership, mentoring, and teamwork will be delivered in the initial training. The sessions will emphasize issues and challenges experienced by recent graduates in food animal medicine, informed by findings from the focus group. There will be a second simulated client interaction with feedback at the end of the session. The two simulated client sessions will be recorded, and the scores will be utilized as part of the data for publication (a proposed protocol is under review by the TTU Institutional Review Board).Participants will receive credit for 12 hours of RACE approved continuing education for the in-person training sessions.Following the intensive, in-person training, there will be 8 distance-based sessions delivered one per month over 8 months. These sessions will consist of one pre-recorded hour of material followed by a synchronous discussion amongst participants and content experts. Sessions will cover aspects of wellbeing, rural community culture, professional identity, and personal finance. Online material will be delivered via a dedicated website that will also facilitate the required questions for RACE approval and online discussion. By having the in-person training as the initial event, participants will be able to develop initial networking relationships with other participants to enable continuous peer support throughout the duration of the program, and perhaps their career.