Clinical‐year veterinary students are most likely to be confident and competent in calving procedures after blending simulator practicals with videos

Background Veterinary students require safer practice of calving scenarios; however, the effects of a high‐fidelity calving simulator (SIM) practical and/or videos (computer‐assisted learning [CAL]) on student calving confidence (CONF) and competence (COMP) are unknown. Methods Fourth‐year veterinary students received no teaching beyond previous lectures (LEC, n = 60), CAL ( n = 59), SIM ( n = 96) or CAL&SIM ( n = 85). Students scored their CONF in 13 individual calving tasks before and after teaching delivery and were subsequently skill tested by internal (faculty) or external/peer/technical OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) assessors (non‐faculty). Results Higher cumulative CONF scores required practical exposure (SIM 42.3 [95% confidence interval, CI 40.9–43.8], CAL&SIM 44.3 [95% CI 42.8–45.7] vs. LEC 33.3 [95% CI 31.2–35.5] and CAL 35.4 [95% CI 33.5–37.4]; p < 0.05), while videos already improved the OSCE pass rate (CAL 73%, SIM 84%, CAL&SIM 87% vs. LEC 40%; p < 0.05). Blending CAL&SIM achieved the highest odds of students being ‘confident/very confident’ (odds ratio [OR] 18.5, p < 0.001) and passing the OSCE (OR 11.8, p < 0.001) with smaller positive effects of experience and baseline confidence on CONF or non‐faculty assessors on COMP (OR 2‒4, p < 0.01). Limitations Benefits of improved student CONF and COMP in real‐life calving scenarios are likely but unknown. Conclusions Best preparation for managing calving scenarios is blending simulator videos with the practical.