Profession ponders supply shortfall: Foreign schools fail to adequately bolster U.S. needs, experts say

NATIONAL REPORT — Hurdles barring U.S. veterinary schools from upping enrollment to meet the nation's public health and food safety demands have bolstered a global trend toward foreign accreditation.

The analysis comes from a handful of leaders entrenched in veterinary medicine's 40-year shift from an agriculture-rich profession to one armed mainly with small animal DVMs. As the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) accrediting body OKs a record number of foreign institutions, insiders note dwindling numbers of veterinarians in public health, rural and government sectors despite increased publicity highlighting U.S. demands.

Staying on Schedule

Such deficiencies are illustrated within agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, revealing openings for 200 DVMs positions in the next few years, and the American Association of Federal Veterinarians, which reports 2006 membership numbers fell below 1,000, largely due to retiring baby boomers. Such workforce demands recently prompted the National Academies to accept the concept for a study of the U.S. veterinary labor force and future societal needs. Details on the comprehensive project and its estimated $608,000 price tag were limited at presstime.

The supply and demand stress begs the questions: "How many veterinarians are really needed to address foreign animal diseases that may get into our livestock and poultry populations? How many veterinarians should be playing a major role in assuring the safety and quality of food products?" asks, Dr. Bennie Osburn, dean of the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

As a consequence, offshore and foreign schools view the demand as an opportunity to take on more students, Osburn adds. "A number of foreign veterinary schools are accredited and another six more are in line to be looked at. This is because our 27 schools have not been graduating enough students," he says.

Great expansion need

Graduates of those 27 schools totaled roughly 2,306 in 2005, with 2,359 expected to earn DVM diplomas this year, reports Dr. Andrew Maccabe, assistant director of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. A spike to 2,500 is projected for 2007, he says, when Western University of Health Sciences, offering the nation's 28th veterinary program, graduates its first class and institutions like Louisiana State University up their veterinary school's capacity.

"But beyond that we'll stay consistent," Maccabe says. "This represents what we believe is the current capacity of the U.S. schools in the four-year professional program."

DVM Newsbreak

It's a statistical setback Dr. Richard Dierks can detail. As a consultant for AAVMC, the former University of Florida veterinary school dean compared growth in DVM numbers to U.S. Census Bureau and labor figures. His findings: There are roughly 8.7 veterinarians per million people, and the gap is widening. While the analysis has prompted veterinarian Sen. Wayne Allard's push for the National Veterinary Workforce Expansion Act of 2005, calling for $1.3 billion in federal aid to beef up veterinary education's infrastructure, Dierks contends that won't be enough: "We asked the deans if you could get money to expand your physical plant, how many additional students could you enroll? The answer was 400. If you run that against population growth in 10-year increments from now to 2050, we lose ground every year. We need about 900 new graduates annually, which at 100 per class means nine new veterinary institutions."

Opening the door

That projected reality leaves room for foreign and offshore schools to step in, leaders say. According to Dr. Don Simmons, head of the AVMA's Council on Education (COE), institutions in Dublin, Ireland and Leon, France are in line for accreditation, joining seven foreign schools in Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, England and the United Kingdom where graduates earn licenses that fully translate to the United States.

South of the U.S. border, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México has requested a COE evaluative site visit following the completion of its new teaching hospital, built by America's largest corporate player in veterinary medicine, Banfield, The Pet Hospital. Ross University's veterinary school on St. Kitts in the West Indies also is taking a stab at earning U.S. accreditation. COE officials are scheduled for a consultative site visit in September.

These visits represent the most action U.S. officials have seen on the accreditation front in modern times, Simmons says. While AVMA doesn't track numbers of U.S. students enrolled in these programs, he suspects most come back to the states to practice.

Drivers toward change

The resulting influx of veterinarians into the U.S. is a viable option to alleviating shortages, but it's not ideal, Dierks contends. "The best solution is to expand the program in this country to take care of our needs. Our needs are not the same as offshore schools. We need to gain funds to build bigger physical plants, teaching, resources and faculty. That's better and less expensive for the student who would otherwise have to go overseas to earn a degree."

Osburn contends numbers of veterinarians in livestock and poultry as well as within the federal workforce are at a 75-year low. Yet foreign and offshore schools aren't the answer, he says.

"We're not diverse enough in our own profession; we need more Spanish-speaking veterinarians," he says. "On the other hand, we have many diverse needs in the country that aren't going to be met off-shore and at foreign schools. How many other countries are focusing on public health and food safety in the same manner that we need it?"

Cracking the job shortage calls for revolutionizing veterinary education, Osburn says. His proposal: Move from current comprehensive program to a tiered licensure system that offers students training for various levels of DVM expertise.

"When you look at veterinarians serving industries and commodities, they're not performing surgery on animals," Osburn says. "There's no way to stick animal welfare, pre-harvest food safety, environmental issues and qualities in addition to animal health-related topics into a four-year veterinary education. Corporate practices would be at an advantage if they had veterinarians who were only licensed to perform vaccinations."

NAS report

It's an issue likely to appear in the proposed National Academies project, should it receive the go-ahead. Tentatively titled "Assessing the Current and Future Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine," the National Academies' Board on Higher Education and Workforce was considering its implementation. AAVMC is seeking financial support to fund the more than half-million-dollar examination.

"This is huge. This report could change the way we address academia and veterinary medicine's future," Maccabe says.