Clinical skills laboratories (CSLs) are educational environments that afford students experiential learning opportunities that are student-centred, safe and sustainable. Widely used in a wide variety of health sciences disciplines, these spaces allow students to practice skills in authentic ways before applying those skills in real clinical practice. For veterinary science students CSL spaces are especially valuable due to the added consideration of animal welfare. Activities designed for clinical skills laboratories enable students to engage with credible and varied case-based scenarios where they can pause, reflect, and repeat. These activities may be self-directed or structured with peer and academic feedback embedded. Scheduling and designing CSL sessions need scrutiny, and alignment with other elements in full and demanding programs, such as veterinary science, is a challenge.

Non-technical or professional competencies, such as effective communication, are vital for success as a veterinary professional. Veterinarians are required to communicate effectively with their professional colleagues, their clients and the public. Contributing to client satisfaction, client adherence, and veterinary practice success, effective communication is an essential competency required of veterinary graduates at Day One and is reflected globally in accreditation standards for veterinary degree programs.

Educators use various frameworks to structure the teaching of communication skills with emphasis given to the clinical consultation using case-based scenarios. Simulated scenarios and use of actors playing the role of client are widely used to scaffold skill development. To add complexity and context to cases, a session for Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) students at The University of Sydney was designed for the clinical skills laboratory. In this session students were encouraged to engage with a range of simulated skills commonly performed whilst communicating with a client, for example, restraining a cat, auscultating a chest, and medicating an animal. Since the introduction of these sessions 8 years ago, student and facilitator feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Challenges associated with a dedicated communication workshop in the skills laboratory exist. These are associated with ensuring vertical and horizontal alignment with the curriculum – specifically learning outcomes associated with communication, facilitator training and gaining access to a clinical skills laboratory for teaching and learning non-technical skills. By consideration of current challenges alongside student and facilitator feedback, we have enhanced communication sessions in the clinical skills hub – refining facilitator guides, developing targeted checklists and aligning scenarios more effectively with curriculum stage.

Keywords: Clinical skills laboratories, communication skills, curriculum review, experiential learning, veterinary education.