Companion Animal Decision-Making Cases
Specialty: Clinical Reasoning & Personal Development
Species: Canine, Feline
AAVMC Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 7.3, 7.5
Institutional Licensing Available: $500/unlimited users
Strengthen clinical reasoning and emotional resilience with this immersive course. Explore four interactive, companion animal case scenarios that mirror real-world challenges in diagnosis, treatment, and client expectations. Each case offers branching decision-making exercises with varied outcomes—from recovery to euthanasia—highlighting the complexity and unpredictability of veterinary medicine.
Video reflections on the emotional toll of clinical decisions follow each scenario. Licensed counselors address the grief, guilt, and moral distress that often accompany veterinary decision-making, and provide strategies for healthy emotional processing, peer support, and maintaining a growth mindset.
This course prepares future veterinarians not only to make sound medical decisions but also to navigate the emotional realities of their profession with empathy and resilience.
Case Studies
With an approximate contact time of 4 hours, Companion Animal Decision-Making Cases includes the following scenario-based case studies:
- Buster Brown – an 8-year-old, castrated Schnauzer who presents for lethargy.
- Gretel – a 7-year-old, spayed miniature schnauzer who presents for vomiting.
- Spunky – a 4-year-old, castrated male miniature bull terrier presented for evaluation after ingesting chocolate.
- Betty – a 12-year-old, spayed female chihuahua, presented for evaluation of an ear mass.
Instructor Tools
- A Course Welcome page guides learners on how to navigate through the adaptive case studies and explains how mastery of key concepts is evaluated.
