Integrated, Scaffolded, and Mandatory Community and Shelter Medicine Curriculum: Best Practices for Transformational Learning on Access to Veterinary Care

Within veterinary medical education, there is increasing focus on equity and cultural competency/humility, especially within service learning in community and shelter medicine. This article reviews the current literature and draws from the experience of the Ontario Veterinary College Community Healthcare Partnership Program's development of a community and shelter medicine curriculum. We propose that to graduate veterinarians with the knowledge and skills to address inequities in access to veterinary care, a best practice is to integrate mandatory in-class and experiential learning activities, scaffolded across the curriculum. This is a best practice as it creates the best chance for transformational learning for students and is part of our responsibility to the communities we partner with to move toward cultural safety. This Best Practices report addresses the following questions: (a) What foundation of knowledge in community and shelter medicine is needed? (Five curricular pillars: animal welfare, vulnerable animals, spectrum of care, well-being, and cultural humility); (b) How should programs be structured? (Mandatory, integrated, and scaffolded curriculum); and (c) What are the pedagogical goals? (Transformational learning). It is our hope that this synthesis is of value to other veterinary colleges seeking to develop programs and/or curricula in community and shelter medicine to address barriers to veterinary care access.