Educational Requirements for Surgical Veterinarians
While every veterinarian must be trained to perform surgery on animals, only those with special training can achieve board certification as veterinary surgeons with the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS), the organization established by the American Veterinary Medicine Association to oversee standards and certification in the field. Part of the mission of the ACVS is to standardize educational requirements for the profession, making the path to becoming a certified veterinary surgeon quite clear.
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Early Education
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Before becoming a certified veterinary surgeon, you must first become a licensed veterinarian with a doctor of veterinary medicine (DVM or VMD) degree from an accredited four-year program. Entry into these programs is very competitive --- only one in three applicants was accepted in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). To enhance your candidacy, you should start accruing preparatory courses as soon as you decide to enter the field. Prospective veterinary surgeons should take advanced courses in math, biology and chemistry in high school.
College Sciences
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While many DVM programs do not require a bachelor's degree to enter, all of them require a certain number of undergraduate credit hours for admission. Moreover, a large percentage of admitted students have completed their degree, making it hard to stand out without one, according to the BLS. College students planning to become veterinary surgeons should take courses similar to those of their premed peers, emphasising the sciences. Specific courses to take include organic and inorganic chemistry, physics, biochemistry, general biology, animal biology, animal nutrition, genetics, vertebrate embryology, cellular biology, microbiology, zoology and systemic physiology, according to the BLS.
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Other College Courses
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Preveterinary surgery students should also take courses in calculus, statistics, algebra and trigonometry. Many schools also look for applicants who have taken courses in English literature, the social sciences and business management, according to the BLS.
Graduate Degree
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Veterinary surgeons must complete the same four-year graduate program as other veterinarians. The typical DVM degree program consists of two years of concentrated coursework in veterinary and biomedical science followed by two years of veterinary hospital rotations, similar to those required of medical students studying to treat human patients. Students who have successfully completed a DVM degree must pass an eight-hour, 360-question test demonstrating their knowledge to earn their general license.
Postgraduate Work
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Future veterinary surgeons face an additional four years of education and practice after they have completed their general veterinary education before they can apply for certification as veterinary surgeons. This specialized education consists of a one-year internship and a three-year surgical residency program. Applicants for certification must prove that their residency met specific curriculum requirements dictating the number and type of procedures they performed. These requirements touch on a broad range of veterinary surgical procedures. Applicants must also complete a research project during their residency and publish the results in an approved journal. Finally, the ACVS tests how well applicants have met its educational requirements with an intensive oral, written and practical exam.
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References
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