Zuzanna Czekaj, Susan Aryal, Paul Wood, Ruth Hudson, Finalist Presentation
Global IVSA SCOVE Challenge Winners Announced
5 months ago 
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The International Veterinary Students Association Standing Committee on Veterinary Education (IVSA SCOVE) and Vetstream have announced the winners of their annual collaboration. Every year the two organisations join forces to set a knowledge-boosting diagnostic challenge for veterinary students from across the globe. This year, the challenge was based on toxicology. The students only had clinical signs to go by, and the history the ‘owner’ provided was deliberately lacking to make the challenge a little harder. The aim of the challenge was to make the veterinary students think differently about the case in front of them.
30 students applied for the challenge, with a multiple-choice round to get them started. Two students got 100% in the multiple-choice round - Prithvi Baral and Kanchan Ghimire, both of IVSA Nepal.
Once this round was completed, all the winners were grouped into teams, ready for the final challenge.
They had two weeks to come up with a definitive diagnosis, treatment and preventative steps for a case study supplied by Vetstream. They would need to collaborate on the clinical case and make their presentation to the judges at an online meeting, including a differential list and the reasons they chose this disease as the final answer.
The IVSA SCOVE And Vetstream chose Ruth Hudson and Paul Hudson as the judges for the challenge.
Ruth qualified as a farm animal vet in 2004 and has worked all over the UK. Although she no longer works in a clinical setting, her passion is with farm animal work, supporting veterinary colleagues and advocating for animal welfare. She is currently Livestock Editor for Vetstream’s Vetlexicon Bovis resources.
Paul qualified in 2015. For the last 15 years, he has worked mainly in vet schools (with a one-year foray into the pharmaceutical industry) as lead farm clinician responsible for developing their farm practices and curricula.
Mohana Marathe, External Relations Officer for the IVSA SCOVE Committee, said,
‘IVSA SCOVE is thrilled with the success of our collaborative Diagnostic Challenge with Vetstream. We received a large number of entries, and positive feedback from the participants about how the competition enabled an invaluable opportunity to research diseases beyond the mainstream curriculum, develop an application-based approach, work in teams with students from different countries and deliver a professional clinical presentation.
She went on to say,
‘Such engaging events are a great way to make learning veterinary medicine fun!’
The overall winning team for the challenge were Susan Aryal and Sujal Paneru, both of IVSA Nepal, Abin Joy of IVSA India and Anggreani Desi of IVSA Indonesia. Everyone on the winning team has received a 12-month Vetlexicon subscription, unlocking a searchable database covering a multitude of animal medicine disciplines.
Susan Aryal said participating in the challenge was a great way of learning. And that it has boosted his ability to make a diagnosis in the field as well as helping him with speaking and communication skills. He said,
‘Being selected in top 20 and winning a diagnostic challenge presentation is really a great job for me. I am really happy that I got this opportunity. Thank you, dear teammates for working together for this diagnosis.’
Judge, Ruth Hudson said she felt privileged to meet so many talented and enthusiastic future vets. She went on to say,
‘I felt truly special to be part of this international collaboration and to listen as they worked together, sharing ideas and perspectives from different parts of the world. I was impressed by the work that had been put into the presentations, not just the clinical ideas, but also the quality of the presentations. This is particularly impressive as the groups had never met in person.
She also praised the IVSA SCOVE committee,
‘They did an admirable job organising such a seamless event, whilst also studying for their own exams. Everyone involved should feel justifiably proud of their achievements.‘
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