New syllabus tool supports animal welfare education

Ensuring animals’ good welfare is a critical part of the work we all do as veterinarians, and that makes it an important focus for veterinary education. A new AVMA tool will make it easier for educators to bring animal welfare information into the classroom.

The animal welfare course syllabus serves as a guide for meeting the core competencies students need to protect animals’ welfare in any segment of veterinary medicine. It’s a template that can be modified and customized for a variety of uses:

• individual lectures
• sections of existing courses
• standalone courses of varying credit hours
• focus on one or many species

The syllabus is designed as a practical tool for professors at the university level, and it also can be used in other settings, including for veterinary continuing education (CE) courses.

The new tool was developed by the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee with the assistance of AVMA staff. The template includes sample course materials developed by the AVMA and others.