Curriculum Development for Postgraduate UK Veterinary General Practice Training: A Rapid Review and Documentary Analysis

ABSTRACT Background There is currently a shortage of United Kingdom (UK) veterinary practitioners. Retention issues may be worsened by the lack of career development. Worldwide, veterinary general practice at the specialty postgraduate level lacks a clear education pathway. The overall aim of this review is to establish what is known on specialty training and postgraduate education in primary healthcare to help identify ways to develop UK veterinary general practice training. Methods A rapid literature review and documentary analysis was completed. Relevant electronic sources were searched for studies including: Scopus, MEDLINE, EMBASE and PSYCInfo. Documents were reviewed from relevant websites plus additional resources. Findings A total of 2583 papers were identified and screened for the literature review. Subsequently, 14 papers were included. For the documentary analysis, 18 documents were reviewed: nine veterinary postgraduate programmes and nine medical postgraduate and general practice programme documents. Collectively, the findings identified effective approaches to learning and teaching, assessment, trainee satisfaction and self‐efficacy, career and professional development. There was limited data regarding selection and entry requirements. Implications To our knowledge, this is the first study to review what is known in relation to veterinary general practice specialty training. Whilst the medical profession provides many useful examples, there is a lack of specific guidance for the veterinary profession in regard to identifying student support, aligning learning to individual needs and clearly defining learning outcomes. The implications of the work may help develop further research and training to facilitate veterinary general practice specialty training.