Prior Years’ Residency Training Standards

2025–2026 Residency Training Standards and Requirements

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.

2024–2025 Residency Training Standards and Requirements

Residency Training Standards and Requirements (July 2024-June 2025) 

Summary of changes:

• Diplomates certified by the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC) who completed training in small animal may be counted towards program registration personnel requirements for ACVIM (Small Animal Internal Medicine) Diplomates. Some additional information may be required in the registration application.  
• Diplomates certified by the following international counterpart Colleges may be counted toward minimum additional allied specialist requirements for program registration: European College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia (ECVAA), European College of Veterinary Pathologists (ECVCP), and European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging (ECVDI). 

2023–2024 Residency Training Standards and Requirements 

Residency Training Standards and Requirements (July 2023–June 2024)

Summary of changes:

These Standards were reissued on August 1, 2023, to reflect necessary process and terminology changes with the introduction of CERT, the new certification record tracker. No requirements were changed. 

• Terminology change: To eliminate confusion between program registration requirements and resident supervision requirements, “core ACVS Diplomate” replaces “Supervising ACVS Diplomate.” The definition and requirements of a core ACVS Diplomate remain the same. 

• An expanded list of accepted additional educational events has been included. 

• Clarification: Educational events should occur on average a minimum of every two weeks throughout the residency. 

• Supervision of residents on specialty service rotations by Diplomates from international specialty counterpart colleges may now be accepted. The list of recognized reciprocal specialty colleges is on the ACVS website. 

• Clarification: The criteria for acceptance of a publication specifies the applicant must be first or sole author. Co-first authorship of a publication is not accepted for credentialing. 

• The process for matriculating new residents has moved into CERT. 

ACVS launched CERT, a new certification management system, in December 2022. The requirements included in this document are final, although there may be changes in how requirements are logged. For assistance using the new system to track requirements, visit the CERT help page.

2022–2023 Residency Training Standards and Requirements

Residency Training Standards and Requirements (July 2022–June 2023)

Summary of changes:

• Requests for additions to the Approved Journals List will now be reviewed twice a year by the Resident Credentialing Committee. Petitions must be submitted by February 1 and August 1.

ACVS launched CERT, a new certification management system, in December 2022. The requirements included in this document are final, although there may be changes in how requirements are logged. For assistance using the new system to track requirements, visit the CERT help page.

2021–2022 Residency Training Standards and Requirements

Residency Training Standards and Requirements (July 2021–June 2022)

Summary of changes

• The External Surgical Rotation form is required for all cases logged from a site that is not part of the registered residency training program.
• Seminars may be completed via live, interactive teleconference modalities.
• Educational events may be completed via live webinars or live, interactive teleconference modalities.
• Eligibility for the Phase I Surgical Knowledge Examination will be determined by the program and the resident through attestations completed during the examination registration process.
• “Good standing” was defined for Phase I eligibility.