Perception of Veterinary Practitioners and Animal Owners on Professional Competencies in Veterinary Practice: An Essential Component for Curricula Design in Cameroon

Veterinary schools are responsible for defining their curricula in accordance with societal needs. For this input, listening to stakeholders from outside academia is essential. In Cameroon, the idea of veterinary professionalism and competence has been raised in a couple of informal situations. The general objective was to investigate the perception of Cameroonian veterinarians, pet owners and farmers on attributes constituting a good veterinarian. This study was carried out in 5 regions from August 2022 to January 2023. Study was conducted with semi structured questionnaires. During data collection, ethical issues related with human subjects were faithfully considered. Sphinx Plus² was used to design questionnaire. Data was collected in Microsoft Excel 2013 and analysed with SPSS Version23. Of the 571, participants 220 (38.5%) were veterinarians and 351 (61.5%) clients. The overall level of satisfaction was 34.67% (198/571) for both groups. Amongst the client (351), 35.04% (130/351) were satisfied. Of the evaluated attributes, only the attribute “Good at explaining technical terms” (P = 0.001), “Compassion with animals” (P = 0.005) and “Good at practical skills” (P = 0.02) were significantly different in the group of clients. Amongst the veterinarians, 30% (68/220) of the respondents were satisfied and only the attribute “Patience” (P = 0.02) had a significant difference with respect to the level of satisfaction. Among clients, “Good at explaining technical terms”, “Cleanliness”, and a “Likeable personality” were the most important attributes while: “Clear about cost of treatment”, “Decisiveness”, and “Knowledgeable about veterinary medicine and surgery” were among the veterinarian. These results are useful in addressing training, curriculum and graduate capacity.