Certification
The American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) is the AVMA-recognized veterinary specialty organization™ for certification of veterinarians in large animal surgery and small animal surgery. AVMA is the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Residency Training Standards and Requirements
Surgery residents must complete the requirements as outlined in the ACVS Residency Training Standards and Requirements in effect at the start of their residency. New veterinary surgery residents should review instructions to register themselves with ACVS on the Your Veterinary Surgery Residency page.
2025-2026 ACVS Residency Training Standards and Requirements (Standards)
Residency Training Standards and Requirements (July 2025-June 2026)
Summary of changes:
- Training program definitions have been revised from traditional and collaborative to:
- Independent single-site (formerly traditional)
- Independent multisite
- Collaborative
- The revised program definitions impact requirements for affiliated (secondary) sites for independent multisite training programs:
- ACVIM (Internal Medicine) Diplomates
- Additional allied specialty Diplomates
- Required equipment and facilities
- Activity weeks are now defined as 40 hours of activity in a continuous seven (7) day period where only one major activity can be logged.
- Additional items were added to the list of nonoperative or minor procedures
- Published June 2024. Updated May 2025 to include information about the planned governance update announced in January 2025. See page 6.
