Practical Tips for Clinical Teaching: Teach Smarter Not Harder

Presentation Description / Summary: At some point in their training, all DVM students enter “clinics”. These clinical training environments include traditional teaching hospitals and private practice settings. Regardless of setting, clinical teaching comes with challenges such as differences in student skill level, variability in caseload, management of team dynamics and competing clinician priorities. Clinical teaching also comes with significant rewards. Studies show that veterinary clinician and technician educators enjoy training the next generation of veterinarians. They also value the relationships formed with students and credit students for helping them keep their knowledge current. So how can we make sure the benefits of clinical teaching outweigh the potential drawbacks. In this presentation we will empower attendees to teach “smarter not harder”. We will begin with a discussion of the similarities and differences in clinical training models, including traditional “hospital” rotations, distributed rotation “clerkships” and externships. We will explain the common expectations for clinical training, including requirements to meet accreditation standards, as well as newer models such as competency-based veterinary education. Finally, we will present practical tips for case-based teaching and giving students meaningful feedback.