Enhancing the Recruitment and Retention of Food Supply Veterinarians

Changes in Knowledge After the Food Animal Production Tour at Texas A&M University

Abstract

The importance of recruiting and retaining new food animal veterinarians is well known, and many groups are working on recruitment tools and programs. One of the recognized barriers to interest in food supply veterinary medicine is students' lack of experience and concomitant discomfort with food animal practice. Therefore, in 2008, we began offering an elective to first and second-year veterinary students, the Food Animal Production Tour, to provide students with little experience an opportunity to learn about large state-of-the-art food animal production units. We also wanted to provide students with demonstrated interest and more experience an opportunity to solidify and advance their career goals. The objective of this study was to assess the learning outcomes of the course by administering pre- and post-surveys of students' self-evaluation of learning as well as pre- and post-tests of knowledge of food animal production and veterinary roles.