Clinical conditions encountered and clinical skills performed by veterinary students during their final year clinical rotations in a fully distributed workplace-based model of clinical training at the University of Surrey.

The aim of this study was to profile the clinical caseload, and the clinical skills veterinary students had direct involvement with during their final year clinical rotations in a fully distributed workplace-based model of clinical training. The case log and skills log data from 20 students were analysed. The mean case encounters per student were, cattle 468, dogs 172, horses 85, cats 49, sheep 47, non-traditional and exotics 11, rabbits 5, goats 1, donkeys 1 and South American camelids 1. The 30 most common conditions encountered within each species by students are presented. In dogs and cats, the three categories of skills with highest levels of engagement were: physical examination (80.0%), anaesthesia (71.0%) and diagnostic imaging and other diagnostics (61.0%). The three categorise with the lowest levels of engagement were surgery (40.0%) collection of laboratory samples (31.0%) and reproduction and obstetrics (8.0%). In horses the three categories of skills with highest levels of engagement were: physical examination (66.0%), administer treatment and prophylaxis (41.0%) and diagnostic imaging and other diagnostics (32.0%). The three categorise with the lowest levels of engagement were: collection of laboratory samples (15.0%), performance and interpretation of diagnostic pathology (15.0%) and reproduction and obstetrics (0.0%). In ruminants the three categories of skills with highest levels of engagement were: physical examination (73.0%), reproduction and obstetrics (59.0%), performance and interpretation of diagnostic pathology (54.0%). The three categorise with the lowest levels of engagement were: surgery (39.0%), population medicine (35.0%), collection of laboratory samples (28.0%). This study provides strong evidence that the student encounters and experiences in a dispersed model of workplace-based clinical training provides ample opportunities to gain appropriate competencies aligned to general practice. This study also provides useful insights and benchmarks for educators.