title: A coordinated teaching program for future dairy practitioners at the university of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Veterinary Medicine.
abstract: The University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine (UW-SVM) has implemented a variety of strategies to optimize teaching in dairy herd medicine. These include the provision of opportunities for dairy cow handling and management using a dairy teaching herd for veterinary students throughout the four-year curriculum, exposure for all students in their final year to a substantial first-opinion dairy case load using a private practice-based ambulatory clinic rotation, and, finally, the teaching of dairy herd health management and problem solving in a group of four final-year elective production medicine clinical rotations. On average, since 1986, 32.6% of each graduating class attended at least one elective production medicine rotation, with a range from 19.0% to 43.4%. For those University of Wisconsin students who could be traced, 65% were still actively involved in some aspect of dairy practice, representing a range of between seven and 17 students per year since the start of the program. The advantages and disadvantages of operating a "regional center of excellence" for training students from out-of-state institutions are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin, 2015 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA. nbcook@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Nigel B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Christian O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Eisele
authors.forename: Rachel F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Klos
authors.forename: Thomas B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: Sheila M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: McGuirk
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Goodger
authors.forename: Garrett R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Oetzel
authors.forename: Kenneth V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Nordlund
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003612:Dairying / Q000193:education*; D004520:Education, Veterinary / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012582:Schools, Veterinary; D013663:Teaching; D014922:Wisconsin