Is Antimicrobial Stewardship Being Taught in Veterinary Schools?

Larry Granger, DVM, senior leader at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, discusses the educational modules available through the veterinary accreditation program.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“Antimicrobial stewardship is the topic du jour, I guess, in veterinary schools and one of the things that we’ve done at USDA that’s really important is that we have a veterinary accreditation program. It’s been around for a long time but part of the requirement is for continuing education. Veterinarians that are licensed to practice in the state, [and those who] are licensed to practice in the state, can become accredited to do, for certain duties that are associated with their accreditation, things like writing interstate health certificates [and] examining animals for health status; those sorts of activities that are regulatory activities, they can act as agents of the US government.

What happens with accreditation is that, because of the continuing education requirement, there [are] some 25+ modules that are available online for educational purposes, and as veterinarians take these modules, they can become re-accredited.

One of those modules is on antibiotic-use and antibiotic stewardship is the topic of that module. Now, it isn’t required that they take that module, but it’s available to them, and all of these modules are available in all veterinary schools all across the country.”