Winter 2020 V.4:1
Update on Brisbane Meeting
The core (and several alternate) council members of CIVME were present in Brisbane during early November 2019 for a face-to-face meeting to develop and implement strategic initiatives for the upcoming year. We were graciously hosted by Professor Paul Mills, core council representative for Australia and New Zealand. We visited the University of Queensland School of Veterinary Sciences campus at Gatton and were privileged to be provided with a tour of the wonderful facilities by Professor Mills and his faculty team. AAVMC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Andrew T. Maccabe also joined the group for meetings, bringing perspective from the Board of Directors about the future vision and development of CIVME.
Strategic Plan for CIVME Developed
CIVME is one of the first groups of its kind to be working at the grassroots level to connect the global community of veterinary medical educators. The council is working to raise the profile of veterinary education and scholarship amongst educators, and providing them with a platform to engage and share with one another. CIVME members have identified four main goals to develop during the coming year:

  1. Strengthening of an international group (CIVME) dedicated to improving veterinary educational outcomes across the globe
  2. Creating and maintaining an international community of practice for educators
  3. Promoting and advancing collaborative international educational research
  4. Facilitating the development and establishment of international accreditation systems across the globe

Project leads have been identified to focus on each goal. Keep an eye on the newsletter for updates and new initiatives coming soon. Our next group meeting will be held at the March 2020 AAVMC meeting in Washington D.C.
CIVME Bids Farewell to Founding Members
CIVME says goodbye and thank you to several valued committee members this March as new core and alternate members rotate onto the council. Professor Stephen May (UK & Ireland) and Dr. Emma Read (North America) were founding members of CIVME and they will step down, along with Professor Paul Mills, core council member for Australia & New Zealand, and Dr. Francisco Trigo, core council representative for Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean. All four have been instrumental in the development of CIVME initiatives and passionate advocates for the importance of developing the veterinarians and the veterinary educators of the future. Harold Bok (Europe) will step down as CIVME Chair in March, and will stay on the committee to support new Chair Martin Cake (Australia & New Zealand).
Conferences and Continuing Education
What a busy summer it is going to be for veterinary educators! There are so many meetings this summer for veterinary educators that you are going to be spoiled for choice…we wanted to list some of them here so that everyone can find something to expand their teaching skills.

March 6-8 at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, D.C.

CIVME will be holding a grant application workshop to help AAVMC members transform an idea into a fully developed project that may be suitable for funding CIVME grants available for up to $10,000 in funding over a 24-month period of time with proposals being evaluated based on relevance, impact, fit with CIVME goals, feasibility, and risk analysis. Want to learn more about veterinary education research? This workshop is for you!

INVEST (Grenada) 2020

St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies will be hosting the INVEST (International Veterinary Simulation in Teaching) conference from May 1-3, 2020. The theme is “Taking technology and educational simulation into the next decennium.” The conference will feature keynote speakers, short presentations, workshops, poster presentations, and opportunities for networking and establishing future collaborations.

Veterinary Educator’s Collaborative (VEC) 2020

The summer meeting hosted by AAVMC for all its member institutions and international colleagues is going to be held at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas from June 21 – 23. This year’s theme is “ It Takes a Village.”

Veterinary School Council’s VetEd (UK) 2020

This comprehensive veterinary education meeting will be held at the University of Surrey School of Veterinary Medicine in Guilford, Surrey from July 8-10th. The theme this year is partnership. In recent years, VetEd has grown to be an international meeting that emphasizes sharing of ideas and connections between colleagues.

ICBME (International Competency-Based Medical Education) Collaborators World Summit 2020

This pre-conference activity to AMEE 2020 will be held September 4-5, 2020 in Glasgow, Scotland. It will provide an opportunity for health professionals working at all levels of CBME implementation to share information and innovations from around the world. The 3rd international summit will offer networking opportunities, four plenary sessions, eight sessions with multiple learning tracks including poster presentations. The conference theme is “From Theory to Practice: Making CBME Real.” Click here to learn more about International Competency-Based Medical Education Collaborators. To access AAVMC’s Competency-Based Veterinary Education resources please click here.

AMEE (Association of Medical Education in Europe) 2020

This key meeting for all involved in medical and healthcare professions education including teachers, educationists, researchers, administrators and students will take place in Glasgow, Scotland from September 4-9, 2020. New features this year will include virtual and augmented reality, as well as a holographic demonstration. It is expected more than 3000 delegates will attend.

And Don’t Forget the JVME!

Finally, we just want to put in a plug for the AAVMC’s own Journal of Veterinary Medical Education (JVME). If you can’t make it to any of these fine educators’ conferences this summer, then please take advantage of reading the latest wherever you are! Or even better, consider contributing your own fine work!
Updates from the UK and Ireland
A New Approach to Life-long Learning from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS)

From 2020, veterinarians registered with the RCVS will move to a new outcomes based approach to continuing professional development.

Reflection is a key element of the new outcomes-based CPD model, which was introduced by the RCVS in January 2020 and becomes mandatory in 2022. The changes encourage veterinary professionals to reflect on the quality, relevance and impact of the CPD they undertake.

To support the transition to the new model, the RCVS has published new resources looking at how best to integrate learning into everyday practice and how to engage in meaningful reflection. See the RCVS website for further details of the open access resources.

Mind Matters: Helping Educators Understand the Evidence Around Mental Health and Wellbeing

The Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of those on the veterinary team, including students, veterinary nurses, veterinary surgeons and practice managers. MMI was launched in 2015 and is funded and run by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the regulatory body for veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses in the UK. In September 2019 the second veterinary mental health research symposium was held at Church House (London), entitled “Veterinary mental health: the evidence base.” Many of the topics covered are of relevance to those designing and delivering veterinary curricular to promote wellbeing and resilience in the veterinarians of the future. You can watch the plenary and other conference sessions using the links on this page.

Mutual Recognition Agreement Between the UK and Ireland Veterinary Regulators

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI), the UK and Ireland veterinary regulators have established an historic mutual recognition agreement (MRA) to facilitate recognition of each other’s accredited veterinary degrees. This means that, through collaborative review and visitation opportunities, the veterinary degree from University College Dublin can be recognised by the RCVS and the current eight UK veterinary degrees (including the recently approved University of Surrey degree) can be recognised by the VCI. The MRA means that, whatever the outcome of the UK leaving the European Union, following successful accreditation visits, University College Dublin graduates can join the Register of Veterinary Surgeons in the UK, and UK graduates can join the VCI’s equivalent register.
New Focus on Sustainability and Climate Crisis in the Veterinary Curriculum

VetSustain.org is a voluntary group of veterinarians (and related professionals) that was set up in September last year with the aim of engaging a substantial number of practitioners in the organisation and embedding sustainability within the curriculum of UK veterinary schools. In this context, sustainability encompasses 5 broad categories:

  • Environmental impact of veterinary practices
  • Environmental impact of animal ownership
  • Responsible medicine prescribing
  • Wildlife biodiversity
  • Animal welfare

The group is actively engaging with veterinary educators in the UK and Ireland – to get involved or find out more, information is available at: https://www.vetsustain.org/
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