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Jennifer Hodgson1, Elrien Scheepers2, and Sarah Baillie3

1 Virginia‐Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

2 Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, RSA

3 Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

The same principles of general curricular design should be adhered to when designing or evaluating a clinical skills curriculum

A six‐step model developed by David Kern provides fundamental, yet flexible, principles of curricular design

Student, societal, professional, and accreditation needs should be considered

A backward design process, with initial attention to the desired outcomes, will focus curricular design

A prioritized Day‐One Competencies list and identified core Entrustable Professional Activities will further drive the design process

Learning objectives for clinical skills must be as specific and measurable as possible

A variety of educational methods may be used to teach clinical skills, which are not restricted to clinical skills laboratories or clinical settings

Implementation of a clinical curriculum will depend on available resources, buy‐in from stakeholders, and a properly planned management and roll‐out plan

Evaluation of the implemented clinical curriculum must be done early and repeated as needed

The goal of veterinary curricula is to educate students to be optimally prepared to enter the veterinary profession with entry‐level medical knowledge and appropriate mastery of an array of clinical skills (Read and Hecker, 2013; Dilly et al., 2017; Thomson et al., 2019; Duijn et al., 2020). Not only will the qualified veterinary professional be expected to display knowledge and mastery of skills, but he or she will also have to function as part of the veterinary team, working with veterinary nursing professionals where both the veterinarian and veterinary nurse (or “vet tech”) have input into patient care and treatment (Kinnison et al., 2011). Good veterinary interprofessional practice may have benefits for the practice, the individual team members, the client, and the patient (Kinnison et al., 2014). It can, and should, be argued that this relationship between members of the professional team should be nurtured and developed from an early stage, ideally at the level of educating students. While published studies in interprofessional education interventions are sparse, it must be acknowledged that at teaching institutions where the two groups of students are educated together, opportunities for integrated curriculum design are ample and should be fostered. Even if these opportunities do not exist because of physical separation of teaching facilities, it must be kept in mind that there are many more similarities in designing clinical skills curriculum for veterinary and veterinary nursing/veterinary technology students, than there are differences. This chapter will discuss processes in the design of clinical curricula that are similar for veterinary and veterinary nursing (or veterinary technology, as called in Australia and United States) students.