Ohio State opens unique primary care veterinary training clinic

By: 
Press Staff Writer

        The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine recently opened the doors to its new Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic.
        The innovative 35,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building provides a unique opportunity to advance clinical training for Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine students.
        The clinic is one of the first primary care clinics operated by a college of veterinary medicine to embrace a spectrum of care model to educate and prepare students while serving as a new home to the existing community practice service.
        The goal of this educational approach is to ensure that veterinary graduates entering private practice have the competence and confidence to provide more in-clinic treatment and to offer a variety of treatments for pets that belong to pet parents across a wide-ranging socioeconomic spectrum.
        Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine students will gain knowledge and mastery of a broad array of diagnostic, therapeutic, business, and communication skills. This change to the college’s educational model was driven by input and feedback from faculty, students, practitioners and alumni.
        Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine has engaged veterinary partners across the state and beyond in the development of this concept since planning began and those partners will also be actively involved in the coaching of students. This is another way the college hopes to provide a much broader private practice experience for students, ultimately producing practice-ready graduates who are highly sought after by employers upon graduation.
        Traditionally, veterinary students at Ohio State have received much of their clinical training primarily by observing complex medical and surgical cases evaluated and treated in The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center by specialists who employ sophisticated and extensive diagnostic tests, imaging studies, and treatment procedures. Although this traditional educational model is vitally important and contributes significantly to a student’s knowledge of how to manage cases, practitioners and recent graduates of Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine have emphasized the need for a shift in the curriculum that emphasizes hands-on clinical opportunities across a broad spectrum of cases, including more training in business, effective communication skills and other non-technical competencies. The college is shifting to meet those needs by weaving the Spectrum of Care philosophy into each phase of the students’ four-year DVM curriculum.
        Because approximately 80 percent of Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine graduates enter general practice, the merging of these two components, combined with a redesigned curriculum ensures that Ohio State veterinary students will be even more competent and confident upon graduation.
        The Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic provides an opportunity for every student to gain a breadth of experience in a realistic general practice setting starting in their first semester and culminating in their capstone clinical training during their fourth year. Students will be involved in all aspects of patient care and client service at the new facility and will be coached by faculty who are experienced private practitioners.
        “The spectrum of care concept aims to address the growing problem of affordability of veterinary care by providing a continuum of acceptable care that considers available evidence-based medicine while remaining responsive to client expectations and financial limitations, thereby successfully serving an economically diverse clientele,” said Rustin Moore, DVM, PhD, DACVS, dean, College of Veterinary Medicine, and Ruth Stanton Chair in Veterinary Medicine.
        The Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic is funded by a gift from the Stanton Foundation. A transformational gift in 2016 made it possible for the college to construct a state-of-the-art veterinary clinical and professional skills center, expand summer student externships and hire additional faculty and staff.
        “Frank Stanton was the long-time president of CBS, creator of the Kennedy-Nixon debates, lifelong dog lover and a proud alumnus of The Ohio State University. After his Corgi, Foxo, received critical care at a prominent East Coast veterinary hospital, he realized that many pet owners could never afford the care that Foxo had received,” said Steve Kidder, spokesperson for the Stanton Foundation.
        “As an astute businessman, he also recognized that philanthropy alone could not solve this problem. He thus began a search for a more imaginative and sustainable approach that would help millions, not thousands, of animals,” Kidder said. “The Stanton Foundation is gratified that it has found in The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, a partner to begin translating his vision into reality.”
        “The Stanton Foundation has joined us along this path in almost every step, because visions and dreams aligned. This would not have happened without that alignment,” said Roger B. Fingland, DVM, MS, MBA, DACVS, professor and executive associate dean, executive director and chief medical officer of the Veterinary Health System, and the Frank Stanton Chair.
        “We cannot even begin to adequately express our gratitude for what the Stanton Foundation has done to change the lives of so many pets and people – but what we can say with great humility, the utmost confidence, and with profound appreciation to the Stanton Foundation, is that Frank Stanton changed the world,” Fingland said.

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