Systematic Development of an Equine Surgical Competency Assessment Framework for Veterinary Postgraduate Programs in Nigeria

Ensuring postgraduate veterinary surgical competency in equine procedures requires assessment frameworks grounded in evidence, professional consensus, and contextual validity. The absence of such a framework tailored to Nigerian postgraduate programs represents a critical gap that limits the quality and consistency of surgical specialist training. This doctoral study systematically develops and validates an equine surgical competency assessment framework for veterinary postgraduate programs across Nigeria using a modified Delphi methodology and curriculum analysis approach. Three iterative Delphi rounds were conducted with a panel of 41 equine and veterinary surgery experts drawn from six universities and seven government veterinary research institutions spanning all geopolitical zones between 2021 and 2024. Consensus thresholds of 75% agreement were applied for inclusion of competency items. The resulting framework comprises 78 competency items organized into five performance domains: clinical reasoning and case assessment, procedural technical skill, patient safety and anesthetic management, professional communication, and postoperative care planning. Item-level content validity ratios were computed for all framework items, with the final version retaining only items achieving content validity ratios above 0.62. Pilot application at three postgraduate veterinary programs confirmed feasibility and assessor reliability coefficients exceeding 0.80. This framework constitutes an original theoretical and applied contribution to Nigerian veterinary postgraduate education, providing the first evidence-based assessment structure for equine surgical training that is contextualized to national training resources, species distributions, and professional workforce needs. Keywords: equine surgical competency, Delphi method, postgraduate veterinary training, assessment framework, Nigeria.