MPH Programs for Veterinary Medical Students (VMS) Co-authors: Marieke Rosenbaum and Miranda Hillyard 1
MPH Programs for VMS have increased! First one established in 1994; in 2010 there were 21 in US, 2 in Canada, 1 in the Caribbean 2
AAVMC wants to know Roles and input of veterinary medical profession into MPH programs. Vision and Design Program Organization and Implementation (administrative home, recruitment, study body, program, curriculum, capstone project, relationship to public health agencies, logistics, funding support and career services) Outputs, outcomes and impact Opinions regarding the program 3
Project approved! by the AAVMC Executive Board and the Tufts-New England Medical Center IRB 4
How we did it Phone call to identify Program Directors, then an hour-long structured interview 5
Project Highlights Colleges of Veterinary Medical (CVM) served as the administrative home for 2/12 programs (16.7%) Veterinarians had input into candidate selection in 10/12 programs but only one CVM was solely responsible for the selection DVM students took MPH courses concurrently in 8/12 (66.7%) programs VMS had options to pursue their own interests in all required and elective courses but in only 6/9 (66.7%) core courses 6
Project Highlights Veterinarians taught in all elective courses, 5/8 (62.5%) required courses, and in 6/11 (54.5%) core courses Among 7 MPH programs, VMS spent no time on the veterinary school campus at one CVM, <-25% time at three CVMs, and 100% of their time at three CVMs On a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (all the time), the average score for VMS collaborations with other students = 4.0, for collaboration on capstone projects = 1.6, and for research = 1.8 7
Project Highlights Career services were offered formally by two CVMs, informally by six, and not at all by three programs 7/12 (58.3%) had not conducted a survey of graduates Students were formally tracked at first post-graduate placement in 4/9 programs, informally in 4 programs, and not at all in one program 8
Project Highlights On a scale of 1 (disagree completely) to 5 (agree completely), the average score for the statement Public health faculty who are not veterinarians have a good understanding of the roles of veterinarians in public health = 2.4 For the statement Veterinary medical graduates of the program find it easy to get a job in public health = 3.5 For the statement Veterinarian graduates find it difficult to combine a career in public health with a career in practice = 2.6 For the statement The Program takes a One Health approach = 4.5 9
Project Highlights The nature of the capstone project varied from being all research in some to all practical application in others and various combinations in between All reported good relationships with local, state, regional and national public health agencies Very little funding was available through the universities; the most common sources cited were scholarships Nearly all Directors expected that graduates would bring a public health perspective to practice and a veterinary medical perspective to public health 10
Conclusions MPH programs for veterinary medical students vary widely There should be more veterinary medical input into core MPH courses There should be more opportunities for VMS to collaborate with nondvm students on capstone projects and research Career services, surveys of recent graduates and tracking graduates could be improved Directors opined that public health faculty did not understand well the roles of veterinarians in public health nor was it easy to combine clinical practice with public health, but all believed their programs took a One Health approach We need to unearth creative ways to fund students in MPH programs 11