Confidence among Veterinary Students to Perform Canine Orchiectomy: The Impact of Live Animal Surgical Clinical Training

Abstract

Canine orchiectomy (COE) is one of the most commonly performed procedures in small animal veterinary surgery. The aim of this study was to assess veterinary students’ confidence in performing this surgery in relation to their previous surgical experience of the procedure. The hypothesis was that confidence to perform canine orchiectomies among recent veterinary graduates increased when having participated in the procedure as part of practical surgical training. A cross-sectional survey was conducted and included 65 fifth-year veterinary graduate students at the Swedish University of Agriculture in Uppsala, Sweden. The survey investigated how differences in experience of COE affected students’ confidence to perform the procedure. Of the responding students, 24.6% had performed the procedure, 47.7% had observed the procedure live, and 27.7% had not seen nor performed the procedure. They were asked how confident they were to perform the procedure both with and without assistance. Data were compared using a non-parametric test (Mann–Whitney U test). The results showed a statistically significant increase in confidence to perform COEs in the group that had previously performed or observed COE compared with the group that had neither performed nor observed the procedure. In conclusion, veterinary students’ participation in COEs significantly contributed to their clinical confidence to perform the procedure.