Veterinary Medical Students' Retention of and Attitudes Toward the Biomedical Sciences: A Comparison Between Students in the Legacy and in the New Integrated Curriculum

Most North American veterinary schools have undergone, are currently engaged in, or plan to redesign their curriculum. In 2022, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine launched a new pre-clinical curriculum with an integrated systems framework. Similar to human undergraduate medical training, there are concerns about the impact of shifting from discipline-based biomedical education to integrated coursework on student learning. This study investigates the performance in and attitudes toward the biomedical sciences of students enrolled in the legacy and redesigned curricula as the transition occurred. Biomedical science retention was assessed by comparing the performance of students in the legacy curriculum (LC) and new curriculum (NC) on the standardized Veterinary Educational Assessment examination. In the subcomponent analysis, the LC students performed significantly better than the NC students in pharmacology and pathology ( p ≤ .01) but not in anatomy, physiology, or microbiology. Survey results and open text responses provided insight into students’ perceptions of the relevance and effectiveness of their pre-clinical educational experience. NC students responded significantly more favorably than LC students did to four of eight survey questions related to the perceived effectiveness of the biomedical education they received and its importance for their future veterinary careers ( p < .01). Qualitative analysis of two open text responses demonstrated shared themes between the cohorts. This study, as part of program evaluation of the new curriculum, identified possible areas for improvement and refinement in the pre-clinical curriculum and revealed that students in the NC had more favorable attitudes toward the biomedical sciences.