Enhancing Veterinary Student Engagement in Public Health and Epidemiology Coursework through a Client-Focused Risk Communication Assignment

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the important role veterinarians play as public health communicators and emphasized the importance of engaging veterinary students in epidemiology and public health curriculum, the majority of whom have a clinical focus and struggle to see their relevance in relation to future career plans. To enhance student engagement, second-year DVM students were asked to create a one-page risk communication handout centered on a zoonotic disease and organized with public health message mapping. Informed by the distribution of students’ self-declared career plans at admission to the DVM program, students were asked to choose from a list of zoonotic pathogens previously covered in the DVM curriculum and to select a relevant focus species and expected lay audience member. This assignment was scaffolded with previous infectious disease and communication coursework and provided an opportunity for all students to engage with public health material regardless of prior interest or knowledge. Students chose 13 of 15 zoonotic diseases provided, and their species and audience focuses were distributed across previously stated career focuses, including companion animals, food producing animals, exotic animals, and wildlife. Providing options relevant to diverse student experiences and connecting the assignment to clinical competencies supported student autonomy and engagement in public health content outside clinically focused core classes. Students’ successful delivery of constructive peer feedback indicated their engagement with the public health course material, integration of learning from other parts of the curriculum, and perceived relevance of the assignment to their future career focus.