Advancing Veterinary Education Through Simulation

Veterinary education is entering a new phase.

The fundamentals remain the same: students need a strong foundation in anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and clinical medicine. They still need to learn from experienced faculty and develop their skills through meaningful clinical experiences.

What is changing is how those pieces are brought together.

Veterinary programs now have access to a growing range of simulation technologies, task trainers, anatomical models, synthetic tissues, digital tools, and scenario-based learning environments. At the same time, veterinary education is moving toward more clearly defined competencies, developmental milestones, and outcomes-based assessment.

Together, these changes are creating new possibilities for how veterinary students learn.

The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) CBVE 2.0 framework describes competency-based veterinary education as learner-centered and outcomes-based, with competencies, milestones, entrustable professional activities, and assessment forming key components of the educational model.

Simulation is well positioned to support that evolution.

From a Skills Lab to a Learning Strategy

Simulation was once easy to think of as a specific place in a veterinary school – a room containing models where students practiced clinical procedures.

That view is becoming too narrow.

Today, simulation can be integrated throughout a veterinary curriculum.

A student might encounter simulation during an introductory physical examination course, return to simulation for procedural skills, use a patient simulator during an emergency medicine exercise, and later participate in a complex scenario that requires multiple competencies at once.

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine is an example of this approach. Cornell states that simulation training is woven throughout its curriculum, with first-year students using robotic patient simulators for examination skills and second- and third-year students participating in simulated scenarios within core classes.

That shift matters because simulation becomes more than an individual teaching activity.

It becomes part of the way a program structures learning.

Building Education Around Competencies

One of the significant developments in veterinary education is the move toward competency-based veterinary education.

The AAVMC CBVE Competency Framework consists of nine domains and 32 core competencies for veterinary graduates. AAVMC describes the framework as a scaffold for curriculum and assessment, with learners assessed longitudinally as they progress through their programs.

That changes the question educators ask.

Instead of simply asking:

“What content should students cover?”

Programs can increasingly ask:

“What should students be able to demonstrate?”

That distinction has important implications for simulation.

If the desired outcome is for a student to demonstrate a particular clinical skill, simulation can provide an environment in which that performance can be observed.

If the outcome involves integrating multiple skills, a scenario can be designed around that integration.

If the goal involves communication, teamwork, or clinical decision-making, those elements can become part of the simulation rather than being treated as separate from technical skills.

The equipment is therefore only one part of the equation.

The learning outcome comes first.

Simulation Can Connect Individual Skills

Veterinary medicine is not performed one skill at a time.

A veterinarian may need to assess a patient, interpret findings, communicate with a client and veterinary team, determine an appropriate course of action, perform procedures, monitor the patient, and adjust the plan as new information becomes available.

The AAVMC’s framework for Entrustable Professional Activities addresses this integration directly. AAVMC notes that veterinary practice requires the simultaneous integration of multiple competencies and describes EPAs as activities that connect competencies to the professional workplace.

Simulation can help educators make that connection visible.

A learner may first practice auscultation as an individual skill.

Later, that skill can become one component of a simulated patient examination.

Eventually, the learner may need to interpret an abnormal finding, decide what additional information is needed, communicate with a team, and determine an appropriate next step.

The technical skill has not changed.

The context around it has.

That is one of the valuable opportunities simulation provides.

From Low-Fidelity to High-Fidelity Learning

Not every educational objective requires an advanced simulator.

A simple anatomical model can be effective when the goal is understanding structure.

A focused task trainer can provide an appropriate environment for practicing a specific procedure.

A synthetic surgical model may allow students to work through more complex techniques.

A high-fidelity patient simulator can introduce changing physiological findings and require students to respond in real time.

The important question is not which technology is most impressive.

It is which level of simulation is appropriate for the learner and the learning objective.

The AAVMC’s Use of Animals in Veterinary Education Handbook discusses selecting and using models according to educational objectives and learner needs, reinforcing the importance of choosing the appropriate educational approach rather than treating simulation as a one-size-fits-all solution.

Technology Is Expanding the Simulation Environment

Veterinary simulation is also becoming more technologically sophisticated.

At Cornell’s Tetlow and Roy Park Veterinary Innovation Lab, the robotic canine simulator “RoboJerry” can produce simulated heart and lung sounds, breathing, pulses, and changing vital signs. Students can practice CPR, catheter placement, monitoring, and simulated medication administration while the system responds to their actions.

Cornell also uses synthetic canine and feline cadavers for surgical skills training. The school’s SynDaver models are designed to mimic aspects of living tissue and allow students to practice procedures including gastrotomies, gastropexies, and management of hemorrhaging vessels.

Technology can therefore change what happens inside a simulation.

Instead of a static model, the learner can encounter a changing patient.

The student has to observe.

Interpret.

Act.

Then reassess.

Simulation can become a platform for practicing clinical reasoning alongside technical performance.

The Rise of Scenario-Based Learning

The next step beyond individual skills is the simulated clinical scenario.

Scenario-based simulation can require students to bring several abilities together.

An instructor might create a case in which learners need to:

• Obtain and interpret patient information
• Perform an examination
• Identify abnormal findings
• Determine priorities
• Use diagnostic or monitoring equipment
• Communicate with other members of the team
• Perform appropriate procedures
• Reassess the patient
• Explain or justify their decisions

The value of this approach is that students are no longer simply demonstrating whether they can perform a procedure.

They are demonstrating how they use that skill within a larger clinical context.

Cornell’s simulation program incorporates simulated scenarios into core courses, including emergency and clinical skills training, giving students opportunities for deliberate practice and reflection.

That makes simulation particularly relevant as veterinary education becomes more focused on integrated professional performance.

Simulation and Assessment

Another important opportunity is assessment.

If a competency describes something a graduate should be able to do, educators need meaningful ways to determine whether the learner can actually demonstrate it.

The AAVMC CBVE Assessment Toolkit 2025 compiles information on 21 assessment tools, including their potential uses, strengths, limitations, and available evidence. The toolkit reflects the broader emphasis within CBVE on using assessment to understand learner progress against defined outcomes.

Simulation can provide one environment for observing performance.

An instructor can evaluate specific elements of a procedure.

A structured scenario can assess how a learner responds to a developing situation.

A standardized simulation can give multiple learners a comparable opportunity to demonstrate a defined skill.

That does not mean every simulation should become an exam.

Simulation can also support formative assessment – using performance and feedback to identify what a learner needs to work on before a higher-stakes assessment.

AAVMC’s CBVE core components describe programmatic assessment as frequent collection of information about learner progress against defined standards, with feedback supporting continued development.

That creates an important connection:

Simulation can be a place to learn, a place to practice, and a place to measure progress.

Feedback Becomes Part of the Curriculum

Assessment is most useful when it helps learners understand what to do next.

AAVMC’s CBVE core components emphasize sequenced progression, tailored learning experiences, competency-focused instruction, and programmatic assessment with feedback.

Cornell has taken a similar approach in its clinical curriculum, moving toward a five-point entrustment scale and longitudinal assessment. The college describes this approach as a way to provide more consistent evaluation of student performance and identify areas where additional support may be needed.

Simulation can fit naturally within that process.

A student completes a scenario.

The instructor observes performance.

The learner receives feedback.

The learner identifies areas for improvement.

A subsequent simulation can then provide an opportunity to demonstrate progress.

The result is a more continuous learning process rather than a single pass-or-fail moment.

Simulation Can Support More Personalized Learning

Another advantage of a simulation-based environment is flexibility.

Not every student develops every skill at exactly the same pace.

A learner may need additional practice with one procedure while progressing quickly in another area.

A traditional laboratory can make individualized practice difficult when time, equipment, instructors, and cases are limited.

A clinical skills environment with appropriate simulation resources can create additional opportunities for students to practice specific areas of need.

AAVMC’s CBVE framework includes tailored learning experiences as one of the core components of competency-based veterinary education, recognizing that learning experiences can accommodate individual learner pace and development.

That does not mean every student needs a completely different curriculum.

It means educators can increasingly use information about learner performance to determine where additional practice or support may be useful.

The Simulation Lab Is Becoming More Connected

The future of veterinary simulation is not necessarily a room filled with increasingly complicated mannequins.

It may be a more connected educational environment.

A physical task trainer can teach a technical skill.

A digital platform can provide instructional content.

A simulated patient can create a changing clinical scenario.

An assessment system can record performance.

An instructor can review the results and provide feedback.

The learner can then return to practice.

These pieces can work together.

That creates the potential for simulation to become part of a larger educational ecosystem rather than an isolated laboratory exercise.

What This Means for Veterinary Educators

For educators, the expansion of simulation creates both opportunities and responsibilities.

The availability of new technology does not automatically improve learning.

Programs still need clear objectives, appropriate instructional design, trained faculty, meaningful assessment, and a deliberate understanding of how simulation fits into the broader curriculum.

The question should never simply be:

“What simulator should we buy?”

It should be:

“What do we want our students to learn, demonstrate, and ultimately become capable of doing?”

Once that question is answered, the appropriate technology becomes much easier to identify.

Sometimes the answer may be a simple task trainer.

Sometimes it may be an anatomical model.

Sometimes it may be a high-fidelity patient simulator or an integrated scenario.

And sometimes simulation may not be the right educational method at all.

Good veterinary education is not about using technology everywhere.

It is about using the right educational tools intentionally.

Where Veterinary Education Goes Next

The future of veterinary education will likely involve a broader combination of approaches rather than a single replacement for traditional teaching.

Foundational science will remain essential.

Faculty expertise will remain essential.

Animal-based learning and clinical experiences will remain essential.

Simulation adds another dimension.

It gives educators more ways to create structured learning experiences, connect individual skills to professional activities, observe performance, provide feedback, and progressively increase the complexity of what learners are expected to do.

The direction of competency-based veterinary education makes that particularly relevant. The AAVMC CBVE 2.0 model is organized around competencies, milestones, entrustable professional activities, and assessment to support learner-centered education and targeted outcomes.

Simulation can help bring those concepts into the learning environment.

Advancing Veterinary Education

The most meaningful advancement in veterinary simulation is not simply better technology.

It is better alignment between what students need to learn, how they practice it, how educators assess it, and how that learning progresses toward professional practice.

That is where simulation has the greatest potential.

A task trainer can become a skills station.

A skills station can become part of a course.

A course can contribute to competency development.

A simulation scenario can connect multiple competencies.

Assessment can identify where a learner needs additional support.

And the entire process can become part of a longitudinal educational journey.

Veterinary education is becoming more intentional about defining outcomes and demonstrating progression.

Simulation gives educators another way to make that progression tangible.

At VetiSimLab, we see that as the opportunity ahead: not simply providing more simulation equipment, but supporting the educators who are using those tools to rethink how veterinary students learn.

Because advancing veterinary education is ultimately not about replacing the way veterinary medicine has always been taught.

It is about giving educators better ways to prepare the veterinary professionals of tomorrow.