Just as a data point, AVC runs a community practice service that operates like a private practice and as far as I know, it doesn't hugely impact the private clinics in the area (including the one across the street). I would think if somewhere as small and as economically depressed as Charlottetown can manage this, just about anywhere could.
Stillwater's OSU has a community practice program, and there are *pauses to think* eight clinics (I think) that also do small animal service in town, one of which just opened last year. So that's a town with 44k people, counting the college students that cycle in and out (and probably don't have nearly as many pets as the general population). So I'd say it doesn't impact the totals as much as one would think.
Sure the place can support it. But would they want to if they didn't have to? That's the point.
I think it's more nuanced than whether a place can economically support a certain number of practices and goes more to the effect on that clinic (and their bottom line). The city is large enough that I think it would be able to handle it, however they wanted the community's buy-in and when it was first debated, the veterinary community didn't want to compete with a teaching hospital, whether that was for primary care or referral. A teaching hospital would affect their businesses, some more than others. We have a strong equine community here as well with many, many specialty equine clinics for example. I don't necessarily believe the community felt as though the city couldn't handle it, but that they would be impacted by it and it would likely affect their bottom line, particularly those in referral practice, and would better get behind a school where this was not a factor. I don't believe this to be the sole factor in deciding to build a veterinary school with this teaching model, but it was a major one. Another strong belief held was that they wanted students exposed to a higher caseload and more everyday cases and fewer zebras. I believe the philosophy behind every place that has built a non-traditional school will be different.
In regards to AVC and OSU, they were established many years ago before this model was a consideration and there was only 1 correct way to build a veterinary school. If they were establishing them now, would both models have been considered?
Also I feel like that many clinics in Stillwater is an oversaturation of the SA market for a town of 44,000. But what place isn't oversaturated with SA clinics nowadays?
I feel like this model has merit when done properly and I was given this confidence from my professors that all graduated from a teaching hospital school. Of course, we all have biases based on where we attended, but I don't think this is a question of which one is better (which I'm not trying to argue, I think both have drawbacks) or whether a teaching hospital should have been built (I support the innovation in veterinary education - if it works), but whether this model can deliver an equal level of quality of veterinary education.
Hopefully I can get some answers on inspection, but I don't see shutting down a veterinary school based on its possession of a teaching hospital on grounds of quality to be an honest endeavour.