Veterinary Dermatology 2003, 14, 75 81

Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The teaching of dermatology in veterinary education

in North America (2002)
GAIL A. KUNKLE and CONSTANCE F. NICKLIN
Blanche Saunders Veterinary Dermatology Laboratory, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences,
College of Veterinary Medicine, Box 100126, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0126, USA
(Received 30 September 2002; accepted 30 November 2002)

Abstract The purpose of this study was to collect and report the current quantity and content of dermatology
taught in the nonclinical and clinical curricula of North American veterinary colleges. This is the first published
record of this information and was gathered from 29/30 colleges. Half of the respondents of the questionnaire
thought that veterinary students currently receive sufficient didactic dermatology course work. A separate didactic dermatology course is required at 16/29 colleges, which provides a mean of 31.31 instructional units. Twentyfour of 29 veterinary colleges offer a separate clinical dermatology rotation. Thirteen schools report that students
who desire a clinical rotation through dermatology usually attain it. However, it is only required for graduation
in seven colleges. This report serves as a tool for veterinary schools assessing their existing curriculum and allows
them to compare the education they provide in this specialty with that of other colleges.
Keywords: colleges of veterinary medicine, education, North America, survey, veterinary dermatology

INTRODUCTION
Dermatological disease is an important and common
presenting complaint of owners concerning their pets.1
It represents a substantial number of outpatient problems, more so in some areas of the country than in others. Recent graduate veterinary practitioners need to
be adequately prepared to diagnose and treat dermatological conditions.
Roundtable discussions focusing on education in
dermatology have occurred in the USA at past meetings of the American Academy of Veterinary Dermatology (AAVD) and American College of Veterinary
Dermatology (ACVD). These workshop notes have
been outlined in newsletters,2,3 but not published elsewhere. For a 1998 roundtable, a survey was conducted
prior to the workshop and shared with the participants.2
Many colleges of veterinary medicine have recently
made changes in their curricula, some to introduce
problem-based or case-based learning. Current trends
have been to reduce didactic teaching down to core or
material deemed essential by instructors or curriculum
revision committees, and then to allow students to
track in specific areas such as small animal, equine or
food animal. Some programmes have replaced heavy
course hour requirements with more electives.
The objective of this study was to survey the colleges
of veterinary medicine in North America to gather

Correspondence: Gail A. Kunkle, DVM, Department of Small

Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University
of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0126, USA. Tel: +1 352 392 4700
(ext. 5746); E-mail: Kunkleg@mail.vetmed.ufl.edu
2003 European Society of Veterinary Dermatology

information regarding current required and elective

teaching in dermatology through lecture, laboratory
and clinical training.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Thirty colleges of veterinary medicine in North America
were sent e-mail surveys in January 2002. Questionnaires were sent to members of the ACVD if a
diplomate was known to teach at the college. When
there was no known affiliation with a board certified
dermatologist or an internist with an interest in dermatology, the survey was sent to the Dean for Students,
Curriculum or Academic Affairs. A request was made
to forward the survey to the appropriate instructor.
Reminders were sent to those who did not respond on
the initial inquiry.
The survey contained 35 questions (available from
the corresponding author upon request) and was
designed to gather useful information in a manner that
responders would find easy to answer in order to collect data from most schools. Two ACVD diplomates
from colleges other than the authors reviewed the
questionnaire prospectively and made suggestions,
which were incorporated into the survey. The survey
asked a variety of questions concerning the types of
instruction, the number of instructional hours,
whether specific topics were taught, and if clinical
instruction in dermatology was required for graduation. Responders were asked to supply a course syllabus or list of lecture titles for courses containing
dermatology lectures. Because some schools are in
transition stages with curriculum, an attempt was
75

76

G. A. Kunkle and C. F. Nicklin

made to standardize the model by asking the survey

responder to provide data representing the dermatology education of students who graduated in the spring
of 2002.
For the summary of data from various schools, each
lecture hour was considered as one instructional unit
(IU) and each laboratory was considered as 1 IU,
regardless of its length (most laboratories were either 2
or 3 h). Data from the questions were summarized and
compiled for comparison purposes.
Schools were divided into five geographical regions,
including Canada (n = 4), western USA (3), Midwestern
USA (10), north-eastern USA (3) and southern USA
(9). The regions were then compared based on the
number of dermatology IUs required for graduation,
regardless of whether it was a separate course or taught
as part of another course, and the number of ACVD
diplomates on staff at each school within the region.
Comparison was performed using a nonparametric
Wilcoxon rank sum test in ( for Windows, version 8.2, SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). A value of
P 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS
Questionnaires were returned from 29 of 30 colleges of
veterinary medicine. All surveys were completed by
either course coordinators or instructors in the dermatology course(s). Twenty-three of the 29 responders
indicated ACVD diplomates teach dermatology. Of
those that reported ACVD diplomates teaching in
clinics, didactic lectures or both, eight schools reported
having one diplomate, twelve schools reported two,
two schools have three, and one school has four diplomates. Twenty-eight colleges had instructors with specific postgraduate training in dermatology. Those who
answered yes to specific postgraduate dermatology
training were asked to reply to five specific questions
(Table 1). Seven colleges reported that they had

instructors who were not ACVD diplomates but had

completed a residency in dermatology, whereas 11
schools reported having instructors who had not completed a dermatology residency. Seventeen colleges
reported that dermatology was taught by instructors
with board certification in other nondermatology
specialties, such as ACVIM. Three colleges reported
having adjunct or occasional lecturers from other locations. Most colleges (23) reported that some or all individuals teaching dermatology are employed full time,
whereas eight schools have part time instructors.
Table 2 reports results by geographical region.
The major emphasis of the survey was divided into
questions about the following.
1 Required and elective didactic course work.
2 Clinical training in dermatology.
Required dermatology education outside the clinic
Sixteen schools recorded that their college has a separate required didactic course in dermatology and 13
have dermatology IUs grouped together within a larger
course. In these 16 schools the number of instructional
units (IUs) for the required dermatology course ranged
from 1150 (mean = 31.31, SD = 12.10, median = 31).
Most schools (18) have some lectures which discuss
dermatology topics contained within other courses
regardless of whether there is a separate required dermatology course. These lectures may be within endocrinology, epidemiology, large animal medicine,
pharmacology or parasitology courses. When data
were pooled to combine required didactic dermatology
IUs from separate dermatology courses and from dermatology as part of another course, the range of total
required dermatology IUs was 1050 (mean = 24.57,
SD = 12.85, median = 21).
Twenty-seven respondents indicated that students
receive didactic lectures on large animal dermatology,
whereas the other two responders were unsure.
Although most schools documented only small amounts

Table 1. Questions and answers regarding dermatology instructors (class of 2002)

No. of
schools

Question
Regarding the instruction of didactic and clinical dermatology to students at
your College of Veterinary Medicine, do(es) the educator(s) have specific
postgraduate training in dermatology?
If yes, please answer the following:
If you have non-ACVD educators with training in dermatology teaching students,
have they completed a residency in dermatology?
Do you have dermatology teachers that are board certified in
other specialties (e.g. ACVIM or ABVP)?
Do you have any diplomates of the American College of
Veterinary Dermatology (ACVD) teaching students?
Do you have adjunct or occasional lecturers in dermatology that
come from other locations?
N/A = not applicable or no answer.
2003 European Society of Veterinary Dermatology, Veterinary Dermatology, 14, 75 81

YES
NO

28
1

YES
NO
N/A
YES
NO
N/A
YES
NO
N/A
YES
NO
N/A

7
11
11
17
10
2
23
5
1
3
24
2

Dermatology education in North America

Table 2. Summary of dermatology instruction by region (class of
2002)

School

No. of
ACVD
diplomates

Total no.
of dermatology
IUs required*

Is a dermatology
clinic rotation
required?

Canada
1
2
3
4

2
1
0
0

47
12
10
11

no
no
no
no

Midwestern USA
1
2
2
0
3
1
4
2
5
2
6
0
7
3
8
1
9
1
10
2

12
12
33
26
30
12
50
18
11
15

no
no
no
no
small & other
no
all
no
no
small & other

North-eastern USA
1
2
2
3
3
1

32
21
41

all
small & other
no

South-eastern USA
1
2
2
4
3
1
4
2
5
0
6
2
7
2
8
2
9
1

38
21
30
32
17
10
42
20
47

all
all
all
small & other
all
no
all
no
all

Western USA
1
2
2
1
3
0

34
13
15

small
no
no

*Total required IUs gathered from supplied answers and course syllabi.
If clinics are required for graduation, are they required for all students
(all), small animal tracking students (small) and / or students in other
tracks (other)?

of large animal dermatology, one college (in the west)

requires 15 h of equine and 5 h of food animal dermatology in a large animal medicine course.
Responders were asked if they thought that the
number of hours available for lecture in dermatology
was adequate to cover basic dermatology. Clearly,
individuals were quite divided on this issue, with 15
responding yes, adequate, and 15 responding no.
One school recorded that although small animal
dermatology was adequate, equine dermatology was
not.
There was no statistically significant difference among
the geographical regions in the number of IUs required
for graduation. Similarly, when the number of ACVD
diplomates on the staff at each college was compared,
there was no statistically significant difference among
regions.
Only four schools require a textbook for dermatology;
all of these require the sixth edition of Small Animal
Dermatology.4 One school uses solely computer-based

77

Table 3. Do students receive lecture material on the following as

required for graduation?
Lecture topic

Yes

No

N/A

Pyoderma
Dermatophytosis
Yeast dermatoses
Systemic fungal diseases
Ectoparasites
Allergies affecting the skin
Feline skin diseases
Nodules
Antimicrobial therapy for the skin
Parasiticide therapy for the skin
Steroid therapy
Cutaneous neoplasias

28
28
29
23
29
29
29
21
27
29
29
24

1
1

6
2

N/A = no answer.

course work. Twenty-five colleges use class handouts

or dermatology notes to supplement lectures.
One survey question asked if specific lecture topics
were given as requirements (core) for graduation.
These topics and their respective answers are listed in
Table 3. These topics were chosen by the surveys
author as likely to be considered essential by ACVD
diplomates for practising veterinarians.
Case- and problem-based learning was not defined
in the questionnaire. When asked to state what percentage of the course material was taught as case-based, 10
schools responded none, 6 indicated 510%, 10 noted
1130%, and 1 indicated 50%; additionally, 1 school
noted 5 case-based laboratories. When asked about the
percentage of problem-based learning, 11 schools
reported none, 6 schools reported 510%, 3 reported
1130%, and 6 recorded 50% or greater.
Elective dermatology education outside the clinic
Fourteen schools offered elective didactic course work
and had one or more ACVD diplomates on their staff.
Interestingly, of the 15 schools where no elective work
was offered, 9 had two ACVD diplomates on the staff.
Of the 29 responders, 14 schools indicated that
dermatology in lecture, case-based or problem-based
learning was available as an elective to students and 15
responded that didactic dermatology was not available
as an elective. Instructional units available for electives
ranged from 1 IU to a 30 IU course (mean = 12.82,
SD = 7.77, median = 15).
Clinical training
Regarding clinical training in dermatology, several
questions were asked in the survey.
First, recipients were asked to comment on whether
a separate rotation through dermatology was available
to students in a clinical setting. Twenty-four of the 29
responders indicated this was possible. However, it is
only required for graduation of all students at 7 of 29
colleges. Of the seven colleges that require clinical dermatology training for graduation, five have two ACVD
diplomates, one had one diplomate and one school
does not have a diplomate. Some schools require
specialty rotations but a lottery system is used to

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78

G. A. Kunkle and C. F. Nicklin

determine the specialty rotation students take. At 13

schools, students who desired a rotation through dermatology were generally able to do so.
When dermatology was a defined separate clinical
rotation, it varied in length from one to five weeks (a
shared rotation). Most schools (25/29) indicated that
dermatology patients would also be seen by students
rotating through other services. Services commonly
mentioned were the community practice (or equivalent), internal medicine, ophthalmology, large animal
medicine, paediatrics and oncology. Twenty schools
indicated that students could take repeat clinic rotations through dermatology.
Survey responders were asked to estimate the percentage of students graduating in 2002 without rotating through clinical dermatology. It is interesting to
note that only six schools noted that no students would
graduate without clinical dermatology whereas, seven
responders indicated that dermatology was required
for graduation. This discrepancy cannot be explained
by the respondents.

DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study was to collect and record current data on the quantity, subject matter and type (clinical or didactic) of dermatology taught to veterinary
students throughout schools in North America.
Although education studies have been published for
other specialties in colleges of veterinary medicine,510
this is the first such publication regarding veterinary
dermatology. The information reported herein should
be useful for those schools undergoing curriculum revision and for colleges to view how the dermatology education their students receive compares with those
throughout North America.
The use of e-mail allowed the questionnaire to be
sent, completed and returned in a timely manner and
likely resulted in the very high response rate. All veterinary colleges but one completed and returned the
questionnaire. This is an excellent compliance rate and
makes the data more meaningful.
There is some inherent error in gathering data in this
manner. The individual completing the survey may not
be aware of the complete curriculum or whether students are receiving dermatology topics in large animal
courses or within pathology, parasitology, microbiology or other areas. One might wonder if completing an
on-line questionnaire might also allow for more first
thought responses. However, most responders to this
survey also sent copies of the dermatology course syllabus, so responses could be compared and laboratory
IUs calculated. Not surprisingly, half of the respondents indicated that they did not think the number of
IUs available for dermatology lectures in their college
was adequate to cover basic dermatology. This is definitely a subjective opinion question but course coordinators, in general, answered the questionnaire. It is
possible that other instructors at the same college

(ACVD diplomates or other) may have disagreed and

responded that the time was adequate. However, these
results provided overview data on the quantity of dermatology currently being taught.
In an earlier (1996) survey,3 the number of IUs in
dermatology from various colleges ranged from 3 to
30, with these being either part of another course or as
a separate course. In the current survey, when the data
from separate dermatology courses at 16 colleges were
combined with dermatology lecture hours within
larger courses (13 colleges), the range of lecture IUs
varied from 10 to 50 IUs (mean 24.57). The mean
IUs for the 16 schools with separate dermatology
courses was clearly higher (31.31), indicating that
separate courses in dermatology provide more didactic
dermatology.
A more recent roundtable discussion in 1998,2 was
centred around the results of a questionnaire returned
from 29 institutions in the USA, Canada, UK, continental Europe and Australia. Again, a direct comparison cannot be made because the same questions were
not asked, and the survey involved schools throughout
the world, in locations in which veterinary education
can be taught somewhat differently than is traditional
in North America. This survey found that dermatology
was taught as a separate course in 16 institutions. In 23
schools dermatology lectures were required, whereas
they were elective in 6. The mean number of IUs taught
was 18 (median = 15 h, range = 762 h). Reports from
these workshops are an accumulation of some anecdotal information and some survey data and for those
reasons may be flawed. Though a direct comparison
cannot be made with the current survey, it appears that
there has been an increase in the amount of dermatology
taught since these earlier workshops.
From the 1998 survey and roundtable summary2
attendees considered 30 IUs of lectures to be an ideal
number of contact hours and 15 IUs as a minimum
necessary to educate students about cutaneous diseases among the species. Although this was just an
opinion of the participants at that time, it is of interest
to note that the current survey found 31.31 IUs to be
the average number taught at colleges in which dermatology is a separate, required course.
In the 1998 workshop summary,2 it was stated that
schools in flea-endemic warm climates had the most
core lecture hours in dermatology. There did not seem
to be this trend from the results of this survey, as there
was no statistically significant difference between geographical regions in the number of dermatology IUs
required for graduation.
In the 1998 survey,2 respondents were asked to rank
lecture topics in order of importance. There was agreement among the respondents on the top 10 topics
which were: allergy, diagnostic testing, bacterial diseases, parasitic diseases, fungal diseases, structure and
function, ear disease, therapy, endocrine diseases and
autoimmune disease. Other diseases such as keratinization disorders, alopecias, nutritional problems, congenital diseases, pigmentary disorders, environmental

2003 European Society of Veterinary Dermatology, Veterinary Dermatology, 14, 75 81

Dermatology education in North America

diseases, neoplastic disease and psychogenic disorders
were given less importance by workshop participants.
For the purposes of our survey, a list of essential
areas for education in dermatology was selected prospectively. The topic list in Table 3 was formulated
after consideration of the earlier ranking of importance of the top 10 topics as noted in 1998. The list in
our study excludes endocrine diseases because in some
schools endocrinology is a separate course or included
as a part of a larger medicine course. Likewise, structure and function of the skin are not usually contained
within dermatology courses per se, unless the entire
organ is taught as a system. Most educators, especially
clinicians, would initially exclude pathology/structure/
function of the skin from dermatology courses, assuming that students receive this information earlier in the
curriculum as foundation course work. Understanding
dermatological diagnostic testing is a necessary clinical
skill for dermatology, but it would be unlikely for a clinician to spontaneously record its importance, specifically as a separate topic; he/she is more likely to assume
that it is part of diagnosing specific diseases. Therefore,
the topics asked in the current survey were not all part
of the top 10 list from 1998.
Because feline patients have become increasingly
important in small animal practice,11 we asked questions to determine if feline dermatology was specifically taught. It was rewarding to see that all 29 colleges
give some lecture material to students on feline skin
diseases (Table 3).
Parasiticides, antimicrobials and steroids are among
the most commonly used drugs, both correctly and
incorrectly, in veterinary practices in the management
of skin disease, and thus, it was of interest to determine
whether students were taught about these specific types
of treatment. It is disappointing to note that two colleges recorded that students do not receive training in
the selection of antimicrobial therapy for the treatment
of skin diseases. However, parasiticides and steroids
appear to receive some attention in the curricula at
most schools.
Lecture material, which was not required for graduation, included pyoderma (one college), dermatophytosis (one college), systemic fungal diseases (four
colleges), nodules (six colleges) and cutaneous neoplasias (three colleges). It is likely that, at least in some
cases, the responders were not aware that these topics
were being taught elsewhere in the curriculum. For
example, nodules and cutaneous neoplasias may be
taught in pathology or infectious disease courses. Certainly, it is important for veterinarians to have knowledge in these areas. The absence of lectures about
pyoderma and dermatophytosis at one college is unfortunate, as most veterinarians, especially in small animal practice would deem this information essential.
In spite of the importance of dermatology in small
animal practice, elective dermatology as didactic,
problem- or case-based learning was available at only
14/29 colleges. Several of the schools not offering
didactic elective dermatology employ ACVD diplomates.

79

It seems likely that in these schools the educators

time is devoted to applied learning in the clinic where
the ACVD instructor may be heavily committed to
patient care and clinical teaching. Another explanation
may be the focus of the institution, e.g. an emphasis
on research productivity. It is difficult to draw any
conclusions from the data about problem-based and
case-based learning. These words have various meanings to different individuals. Problem- or case-based
learning requires several trained facilitators and significant blocks of time in the curriculum and many
schools do not have the resources. Also, some schools
are using computer-based case software and others are
using take home problem cases as part of the training
programme. It appears that more schools are starting
to incorporate these alternative methods of teaching
into their curriculum, and that is commendable.
Future outcome assessments may help us to interpret
the value of these changes.
It is interesting to note that specific clinical rotations
in dermatology are offered in 24 schools but only
required for graduation in one quarter (7/29) of the
surveyed colleges of veterinary medicine. A critical
finding from this survey is the fact that only 13/24
schools with specific clinical dermatology rotations
indicated that students who desire a clinical rotation in
dermatology can obtain it. Although some students
with the financial resources to seek dermatology clinic
rotations at other schools may, those less fortunate
cannot gain valuable clinical experience and this may
result in deficiencies in knowledge and experience.
Some dermatology instructors restrict their clinic rotations to elective students, reasoning that this allows
them to teach the more motivated students.
It is not clear why one respondent estimated a percentage of students could actually graduate without
rotating through clinical dermatology when it was noted
earlier that the school required the rotation for graduation. One can only surmise that because estimates were
low, instructors may believe that a student or two, due
to illness or other extenuating circumstances, can avoid
this requirement. These types of conflicting answers
are not uncommon with questionnaires. This did not
seem to be a common problem with this survey.
As with most questionnaire data, regardless of the
effort put into composing the survey, hindsight illuminates areas in which the questionnaire could have been
improved. If this survey were repeated in the future,
specific queries about the total number of instructors
teaching dermatology and a clear definition of postgraduate training would be useful. In the current survey, it was assumed that postgraduate training meant
current residents or those who had completed residencies
but had not taken boards. However, in hindsight, it
was obvious that this may also have included interns
and graduate students. Although educators may have
found information about the quantity of assigned
clinical faculty teaching commitments useful, these
questions were purposefully omitted because of the
anticipated complexity of the data.

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G. A. Kunkle and C. F. Nicklin

In summary, results of this survey demonstrate the

broad range of dermatology education, both didactic
and clinical, provided (or not) to veterinary students
throughout North America. Half of the questionnaire
respondents thought that students were provided
enough didactic dermatology course work. Twentyfour veterinary colleges offer a clinical rotation
through dermatology, and half of the students (from
those 24 schools) who desire a clinical dermatology
rotation attain it. However, it is only required for graduation at seven colleges. It appears that more dermatology could be added to the average curriculum, both
in the auditorium and in the clinic, especially given the
large percentage of dermatology cases in a general
small animal practice.1 It seems likely that more caseor problem-based learning may be merged with didactic lecturing in the future. This report will serve as a
benchmark for schools examining their current curriculum and considering changes, which might provide
students with improved education in dermatology.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank all of the survey
responders for replying so promptly to the survey and
providing a syllabus of course material.

REFERENCES
1. Mason, I. Approach to the animal with skin disease. In:
Moriello, K., Mason, I. eds. Handbook of Small Animal
Dermatology. Oxford: Elsevier Science, 1995: 11.

2. Moriello, K.A. Education of professional student in

dermatology: what is being taught as core. Roundtable
summaries from AAVD/ACVD 1998 Annual Meeting.
Derm Dialogue, A Newsletter of the AAVD 1999; Winter:
78.
3. Lewis, D.T. Education of professional students in dermatology. Roundtable discussion from 1996 AAVD/
ACVD Annual Meeting. Derm Dialogue, a Newsletter of
the AAVD 1996; Fall, 67.
4. Scott, D.W., Miller, W.H., Griffin, C.E. eds. Small Animal
Dermatology, 6th edn. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 2001.
5. Bataller, N., Thatcher, C.D., Pelzer, K.D. et al. Nutritional education at veterinary colleges of North America. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 1991; 18:
1116.
6. Hartmann, E.P. Survey of the surgical curricula of veterinary colleges. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education
1990; 17: 810.
7. Gauthier, J., Schillhorn van Veen, T.W. Survey of tropical animal health programs in U.S. veterinary colleges.
Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 1991; 18 (1):
312.
8. Prescott, J.F. Survey of teaching veterinary bacteriology
and mycology. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education;
1988; 15 (2): 546.
9. Schoen, A.M. Results of a survey on educational and
research programs in complementary and alternative
veterinary medicine at veterinary medical schools in the
United States. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical
Association; 2000; 216: 5029.
10. Strain, G.M. Survey of neuroscience instruction in
North American veterinary curricula. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education; 1989; 16 (2): 479.
11. Gehrke, B.C. Results of the 1997 AVMA survey of US
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Veterinary Medical Association; 1997; 211: 41718.

Rsum Le but de cette tude tait de collecter et de rapporter la quantit et la qualit de lenseignement dermatologique dans les Ecoles Vtrinaires en Amrique du Nord. Il sagit de la premire tude de ce type, obtenue
grce la collaboration de 29/30 coles. La moiti des rponses suggrent que les tudiants vtrinaires reoivent
lheure actuelle suffisamment desneignement dermatologique didactique. Un enseignement spar de la
dermatologie est ncessaire pour 16/29 coles. 24 des 29 coles offrent une rotation clinique dermatologique
spare. 13 coles ont rpondu que les tudiants souhaitant une rotation clinique en dermatologie leffectuent
gnralement. Cependant, cette tape nest ncessaire que dans 7 coles. Ce rapport servira comme lment
permettant aux coles vtrinaires dvaluer leur curriculum et permettra de comparer le systme propos par
rapport aux autres coles.
Resumen El objetivo de este estudio fue recoger y documentar la cantidad y el contenido de dermatologa en
la enseanza acadmica no-clnica y clnica en los colegios (facultades) de veterinaria de Norte Amrica. Esta
es la primera publicacin sobre este tipo de informacin y fue recogida de 29/30 colegios. La mitad de los que
contestaron al cuestionario pensaban que actualmente los estudiantes de veterinaria reciben una cantidad didctica en dermatologa suficiente. En 16/29 colegios se requiere un curso didctico separado en dermatologa, lo
cual proporciona una media de 31.31 unidades de enseanza. Veinticuatro de 29 colegios de veterinaria ofrecen
una rotacin clnica separada de dermatologa. Trece colegios informaron que estudiantes que desean una
rotacin clnica en dermatologa normalmente la obtienen. Sin embargo, esto slo es requerido para la graduacin en siete colegios. Este documento servir de herramienta para los colegios veterinarios que estn evaluando su currculum actual y les permitir comparar la educacin que ellos proporcionan en esta especialidad
con otros colegios.

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Dermatology education in North America

81

Zusammenfassung Das Ziel dieser Studie war, momentane Quantitt und Inhalte der Dermatologie im Lehrplan von nordamerikanischen tiermedizinischen Hochschulen zu erfassen und zu berichten. Diese Information
wurde zum ersten Mal verffentlicht, 29/30 Fakultten trugen dazu bei. Die Hlfte der Antwortenden waren
der Meinung, dass Tiermedizinstudenten momentan ausreichende didaktische Dermatologiekurse erhalten. Ein
eigenstndiger didaktischer Dermatologiekurs wird von 16/29 tiermedizinischen Hochschulen vorgeschrieben,
und enthlt im Durchschnitt 31.31 Lehreinheiten. Vierundzwanzig der 29 tiermedizinischen Hochschulen bieten
eine separate klinische Dermatologierotation an. Dreizehn Schulen berichten, dass Studenten, die eine klinische
Dermatologierotation wnschen, diese blicherweise auch erhalten. Allerdings wird eine solche Rotation nur in
sieben Hochschulen zum erfolgreichen Abschluss des Studiums vorausgesetzt. Dieser Bericht wird den tiermedizinischen Hochschulen dazu dienen, ihren existierenden Lehrplan zu berprfen und ihnen erlauben, die
in diesem Fachgebiet von ihnen angebotene Ausbildung mit der anderer Fakultten zu vergleichen.

2003 European Society of Veterinary Dermatology, Veterinary Dermatology, 14, 7581