Global Perspective on Veterinary
Education based on the findings of
OIE PVS Evaluations
Dr Sarah Kahn
Consultant to the OIE
[email protected]
2
Contents
Background
Analysis of PVS findings relating to
veterinary education
Discussion
Conclusions
2
3
Background (1)
The quality of veterinary education
underpins the quality of veterinary services (public and
private sector veterinarians) in countries and regions.
It is relevant to governments, employers (public and private
sector), universities and other scientific research institutes,
the veterinary profession, VSB’s ..
and to students : undergraduate, postgraduate and future.
The general public may not be interested in the quality of
veterinary education per se but society is very interested in
the outcomes that the veterinary profession helps to deliver
i.e. protection of public health from zoonotic diseases and
the assurance of food safety, animal health and animal
welfare – which all depend on an acceptable quality of
veterinary education – initial and continuing.
3
Background (2)
At a Member country´s request, the OIE evaluates the quality
of national Veterinary Services (VS) using the OIE PVS Tool.
The PVS Tool contains 46 Critical Competencies (CC), of which
those most relevant to veterinary education are in the first
Fundamental component of the PVS Tool : ´Human, Physical
and Financial resources of the VS´.
Critical Competency I.2.A
The capability of the VS to efficiently carry out their veterinary and
technical functions; measured by the qualifications of the personnel in
veterinary and technical positions and
Critical Competency I.3
The capability of the VS to maintain and improve the competence of their
personnel in terms of relevant information and understanding; measured
in terms of the implementation of a relevant training programme.
4
4
Background (3)
The critical competencies in the PVS Tool are based on the
OIE quality standards for VS in Terrestrial Code Section 3.
I.2.A
I.2.B
I.3
5
 Article 3.2.5. on Evaluation criteria for human resources.
 Article 3.2.12. on Evaluation of the veterinary statutory body.
 Points 1-2 and 5 of Article 3.2.14. on Organisation and structure of Veterinary Services /
National information on human resources / Laboratory services.
 Points 1, 7 and 14 of Article 3.1.2. on Fundamental principles of quality: Professional
judgement / General organisation / Human and financial resources.
 Article 3.2.5. on Evaluation criteria for human resources.
 Sub-point d) of Point 4 of Article 3.2.10. on Veterinary Services administration: In-service
training and development programme for staff.
 Point 9 of Article 3.2.14. on Performance assessment and audit programmes.
5
6
Background (3)
More than 250 evaluations, in 117 countries, have been
carried out under the PVS Pathway, including initial and
follow-up missions, Gap Analysis and Veterinary Legislation
Identification missions.
In 2013, the OIE carried out an analysis of the results of 112
PVS reports with respect to the levels of advancement noted
by the evaluators. The results for each region were
statistically analysed (non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test) to
determine if they shared similar distributions.
These findings provide a global and regional perspective on
veterinary education in the countries that have undergone a
PVS Evaluation.
6
7
Analysis of findings in PVS reports (1)
Global results : competence of veterinarians
75% fall into levels 1 – 3 inclusive (55% fall into level 3 – 5).
7
Level of Advancement
AFRICA
1
2
ASIA AND
THE PACIFIC
3
2
3
4
5
TOTAL
13
13
7
0
35
5
1
3
0
12
1
MIDDLE
EAST
1
5
6
6
0
18
3
2
0
0
6
AMERICA
EUROPE
GLOBAL
1
8 (10%)
2
3
3
0
9
28 (35%)
25 (31%)
19 (24%)
0 (0%)
80 (100%)
Level 1. The veterinarians’ practices, knowledge and attitudes are of a variable
standard that usually allow for elementary clinical and administrative
activities of the VS.
Level 2. The veterinarians’ practices, knowledge and attitudes are of a uniform
standard that usually allow for accurate and appropriate clinical and
administrative activities of the VS.
Level 3. The veterinarians’ practices, knowledge and attitudes usually allow
undertaking all professional/technical activities of the VS (e.g.
epidemiological surveillance, early warning, public health, etc.).
8
Analysis of findings in PVS reports (2)
Global results: Continuing education
90% fall into levels 1 - 3 inclusive
1
4
ASIA AND
THE PACIFIC
2
2
3
4
5
TOTAL
36
5
3
0
48
10
3
3
0
18
Level of advancement
AFRICA
3
MIDDLE
EAST
0
11
7
1
0
22
7
1
2
0
10
AMERICA
EUROPE
GLOBAL
1
10 (9%)
8
3
2
0
14
72 (64%)
19 (17%)
11 (10%)
0 (0%)
112 (100%)
Level 1: The VS have no access to continuing veterinary, professional or technical CE.
Level 2: The VS have access to CE (internal and/or external programmes) on an irregular
basis but it does not take into account needs, or new information or understanding.
Level 3: The VS have access to CE that is reviewed annually and updated as necessary, but
it is implemented only for some categories of the relevant personnel.
8
9
Analysis of findings in PVS reports (3)
The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed no significant
differences between regions in the results (p > 0.05).
Kruskal-Wallis analysis
CC
I.2A
1.3
9
value of H
3.24
2.9
degrees of freedom p
4
0.52
4
0.57
10
Analysis of findings in PVS reports (4)
In assigning a level of advancement, the PVS Evaluator takes
into account various indicators and sources of verification,
including the veterinary curriculum, the numbers of
graduates/year and of veterinarians with post graduate
education, interviews with private and public practice
veterinarians, field assessment of veterinary faculties,
consideration of VSB requirements and involvement in
veterinary education, as well as the presence of
internationally recognised veterinary faculties and
benchmarking programs in the country.
10
Discussion (1)
For the purpose of this discussion, the goal of the OIE is to
strengthen national VS by promoting standards for
infrastructure and regulatory framework with respect to
veterinary education and good veterinary governance
• In countries that train veterinarians, the establishment of
educational requirements to hold a license to practice veterinary
medicine is an important aspect
Many countries either do not train veterinarians or have
difficulty in achieving an acceptable quality of veterinary
education.
In this situation, the OIE also aims to improve the capacity of
veterinarians to move between countries. This implies:
11
• arrangements for mutual recognition of veterinary qualifications
• harmonised approaches to basic veterinary competencies and
• harmonised approaches to the evaluation of VEEs.
11
Discussion (2)
What are the impediments to achieving these goals?
Variable quality of veterinary education establishments, e.g.
• Inadequate facilities (clinics, necropsy, ..)
• Inadequate biosafety procedures
• Inadequate case load and teaching in some species
• Inadequate hands-on teaching (group size…)
Veterinary education is expensive!
The access of VEEs to the needed resources reflects, to
some extent, government priorities (veterinary education,
professional education, education in general) and to some
extent policies regarding private sector involvement (e.g. full
cost recovery).
12
12
Discussion (3)
The national veterinary authority (VA) is often the biggest
single employer of veterinarians in the country (especially in
developing countries)
In addition to playing a key role in specifying the
competencies required for veterinarians to work in the
public sector, the VA should also consider the arrangements
for delegation of tasks to veterinarians in the private sector.
• e.g. diagnostic testing and vaccination in animal health programmes,
livestock identification, meat inspection and export certification.
Holders of delegations should be accredited, preferably on
the basis of specific education and tested competence,
which is checked and confirmed periodically.
13
13
Discussion (4)
What are the impediments to achieving these goals?
Gaps in the relationship between the educators and the
´Users´ of veterinarians apart from the VS: other employers
in public and private sector; scientific research
organisations, regulated industries, the general public.
Good communication helps to identify trends and future
needs, enabling educators to modify the training
programme to ensure that the future competencies of
veterinarians can be properly addressed.
e.g. the work of the Federación Panamericana de Facultades y Escuelas
de Ciencias Veterinarias (PANVET) and Consejo Panamericano de
Educación en las Ciencias Veterinarias (COPEVET): ´Perfil Profesional del
Medico Veterinario en Latinoamérica Visión al 2030´.
14
14
Discussion (5)
What are the impediments to achieving these goals?
Gaps in the relationship between the Veterinary Statutory
Body (VSB) and those responsible for the delivery of
veterinary education: VEEs and government agencies.
The OIE recommends that the VSB license or register for the
purpose of practicing veterinary medicine/science only
veterinarians who have graduated from high-quality
educational programmes i.e. programmes accredited by a
recognised accreditation body and/or those that comply
with the OIE recommended day one competencies and
veterinary education core curriculum.
15
15
Discussion (6)
What tools are at hand to help to achieve these goals?
Since 2009 the OIE has provided global leadership with the
goal of improving the quality of veterinary education and
good veterinary governance globally.
Key elements of the OIE initiative:
• PVS Pathway
• Standards on the quality of VS, including Veterinary
Statutory Bodies and Veterinary Legislation
• Competencies of graduating (´Day 1´) veterinarians
• Guidelines for a Veterinary Education Core Curriculum
• Twinning arrangements for VEE (and for VSB).
16
The recommendations of this conference will help to guide
the ongoing work of the OIE in this area.
16
Discussion (7)
What tools are at hand to help to achieve these goals?
In many countries, the national VS have strategic
plans and/or the VS are important elements within
national strategic plans for improving food security
through more efficient animal production.
As recommended in many PVS reports, improving
the quality of Veterinary education should be a key
component of any plan to strengthen VS
• Including attention to the relationship between
the VS, the VSB and veterinary education
establishments.
17
17
Discussion (8)
What tools are at hand to help to achieve these goals?
The Internet is a powerful tool, offering flexible, low cost,
real time access to high quality education.
Educational modules can have various levels of interactivity,
starting with a series of basic Powerpoint slides, passing to
online tutorials, webinars on specialised topics, access to
mentors, informal chat rooms..)
Internet learning can be used with many different
modalities, making it accessible to all (e.g. the busy private
practitioner, the constantly travelling veterinary official ..)
The OIE has not to date involved itself in online learning but
many OIE Collaborating Centres offer this facility and there
is scope for the OIE to become more actively involved.
18
18
Conclusions (1)
The global database of OIE PVS reports is a rich source of
data relevant to performance of national veterinary
services, providing that confidentiality between the country
and the OIE must always be respected.
Analysis of selected critical competencies can provide
insight into the relationship between levels of technical
competence and underlying/horizontal factors, such as
veterinary education and governance.
This information can be used by governments and donors,
to help benchmark the performance of VS in a specific
country against regional and global performance. This can
be useful to highlight strengths and weaknesses and to
identify needs in countries and regions.
19
19
Conclusions (2)
20
The OIE will continue advocating on behalf of Veterinary
Services and the veterinary profession globally:
Veterinary Services’ activities are a Global Public Good
Veterinary education and related issues of good governance
are fundamental to efficient and effective veterinary
services. The need for more support to OIE Member
countries in improving performance in these areas is well
recognised.
In addition to establishing democratically adopted standards
for quality VS, the OIE offers the PVS Pathway for helping
countries to apply these and other standards in the Code.
Engagement in the PVS Pathway can help to convince
governments and donors to make sustainable investments
in VS and in national Animal Health Programmes.
20
21
Conclusions (3)
The OIE collaborates with national governments,
international organisations and donors to help support
countries seeking to improve compliance with OIE quality
standards, including the quality of veterinary education.
Private sector veterinary associations also make an
important contribution to the constant improvement of the
veterinary profession.
Recognising this, the OIE has established official cooperation
agreements with several key organisations (e.g. WVA,
WSAVA, FVE..) and actively collaborates in relevant activities
of these organisations.
21
Conclusions (4)
Relevant regional organisations have an important role to
play, especially with respect to harmonisation of veterinary
education and registration requirements
The OIE supports relevant regional initiatives, including
through its Regional and sub-Regional Representations.
There is a need for more collaboration between regional
associations of Veterinary education establishments and
accrediting bodies on standards of veterinary education.
The OIE collaborates with REEV-Med, the Mediterranean
Network of Veterinary Education establishments, and
encourages the development of similar initiatives in other
regions.
22
22
Thank you for your attention
Organisation mondiale
de la santé animale
World Organisation
for Animal Health
Organización Mundial
de Sanidad Animal
23
23