METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with veterinary students at Massey University in November 2017 after completion of their final clinical year. The questions included career plans after graduation, number of assisted and unassisted desexing procedures performed, approximate time to complete desexing surgeries, level of confidence with different aspects of desexing surgeries, what aspects of their desexing surgery training were most helpful, and what could be done to improve training in desexing surgical skills in veterinary school.

RESULTS: The survey was completed by 70/95 (74%) students in their final clinical year. Among respondents, 55/70 (70%) had performed >2 unassisted feline neuters before graduation. However 38/70 (54%) students had never performed an unassisted feline spay, 31/70 (44%) had never performed an unassisted canine neuter, and 44/70 (63%) students had never performed an unassisted canine spay. The median reported times to complete a feline neuter, feline spay, canine neuter, and canine spay were 9, 40, 30 and 60 minutes, respectively. The median level of confidence for these procedures were 9, 6, 7 and 5 (on a scale from 1=least confident to 10=most confident), respectively. The reported time to complete procedures and the confidence in performing procedures did not change markedly with increasing total number of procedures performed. Students were most concerned about their ability to perform the desexing procedures in a reasonable amount of time and to prevent post-operative bleeding from occurring. Students were least concerned with their ability to manage post-operative pain in patients and to select the appropriate suture material. Free-text comments revealed that 62/70 (89%) students wanted more hands-on surgical experience prior to graduation.

CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVENCE: Many students are currently completing veterinary school with limited experience and low confidence with performing routine canine and feline desexing procedures. Further research is needed to identify the most effective ways for addressing this issue within the constraints of the veterinary curriculum and teaching hospital resources.