gms | German Medical Science

4th InVeST – International Veterinary Simulation in Teaching Conference

14.09. - 16.09.2015, Hannover

Engagement, repetition and tracking: Using of a mobile device application to teach anesthesia dose, fluid and infusion calculations

Meeting Abstract

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InVeST 2015: International Veterinary Simulation in Teaching Conference. Hannover, 14.-16.09.2015. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2015. Doc15invest29

doi: 10.3205/15invest29, urn:nbn:de:0183-15invest297

Veröffentlicht: 10. September 2015

© 2015 Keegan et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Gliederung

Text

The ability to accurately and quickly perform anesthetic drug and infusion rate calculations is an essential skill that must be mastered by veterinary students, yet many students view these calculations as being difficult, tedious and unengaging. In response to student requests for practice problems we have created a mobile device-based anesthetic problem generator with the goal of improving student engagement while providing practice problems on demand. The VCalc application combines a dose, fluid rate, and infusion problem generator with a cloud-based database to record student attempts as well as the number of problems of each type that were answered correctly.

One hundred twenty eight veterinary students enrolled in an anesthesia course were studied to evaluate the acceptance and learning efficacy of the application. Students were assigned to install the application onto their personal phone, tablet or PC and complete three problems of each type (9 total). Subsequent to attempting the 9 problems on the app, students completed an examination which included 4 calculation questions (1 Drug, 1 Fluid, 2 Infusion calculations). After completing the examination, students submitted a survey of attitudes and opinions concerning the applicability and usefulness of the app.

All students installed or accessed the app and attempted at least one of the problems. The 128 students enrolled in the class attempted 2337 total problems, averaging 7.4, 7.4 and 6.5 Drug, Fluid and Infusion problems per student respectively. Students correctly answered a total of 1400 problems, averaging 5.0, 4.5, and 3.3 Drug, Fluid and Infusion problems per student answered correctly. The 4 exam calculation questions were all answered correctly by greater than 92% of the students. The survey indicated that a majority of students found that the app was useful or very useful for practicing anesthetic drug calculations and would like to see more apps developed and used within the curriculum. Finally, 77% of students reported that they had used the app to study for the exam.

The VCalc practice app was perceived as a useful and engaging instructional tool and was used by a majority of students to study for the exam. Students wished to see more apps developed and used within the veterinary curriculum. The VCalc application is available for Android, iOS and Windows platforms.

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