Criterion-Referenced Evaluation of Day One Clinical Competencies of Veterinary Students: VOLES–the VMTH (Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital) Online Evaluation System

Abstract

This article describes an extensive online criterion-referenced evaluation system for the assessment of veterinary students' achievement during their final year's Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (or equivalent) clinical education. Data are reported for the 2001 to 2009 University of California at Davis veterinary graduates, for a total of more than 1,100 students. These criterion-referenced evaluations extensively document the level of clinical skills attained and demonstrated during the individual clinical rotations that comprise the fourth-year curriculum. On average, in each of the 17,500 clinical rotations undertaken during this time period, student performance was assessed in at least 11 separate areas of skills, knowledge, and professional attributes. This provided more than 200,000 criterion-referenced judgments of the individual clinical attributes of graduates over nine years. The system is based on a previously detailed and validated definition of the skills, knowledge, and professional attributes that students should have demonstrated before graduation. The extensive database that this system has provided has established that this system, termed VOLES (VMTH [Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital] On-Line Evaluation System), is an effective tool to assess the clinical capabilities of veterinary students and their achievement of the "Day One" skills required for entering clinical practice. These expected proficiencies are balanced according to the differing expectations that each area of veterinary clinical practice demands.