gms | German Medical Science

4th InVeST – International Veterinary Simulation in Teaching Conference

14.09. - 16.09.2015, Hannover

Development and validation of a multi-purpose equine neck model

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Julie Williamson - Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine, Harrogate, TN, United States
  • author John Dascanio - Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine, Harrogate, TN, United States
  • author Undine Christmann - Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine, Harrogate, TN, United States
  • author Jason Johnson - Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine, Harrogate, TN, United States
  • author Bradley Rohleder - Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine, Harrogate, TN, United States
  • author Lydia Titus - Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine, Harrogate, TN, United States

InVeST 2015: International Veterinary Simulation in Teaching Conference. Hannover, 14.-16.09.2015. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2015. Doc15invest09

doi: 10.3205/15invest09, urn:nbn:de:0183-15invest091

Published: September 10, 2015

© 2015 Williamson et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Outline

Text

Simulation allows a low-stakes, humane alternative to practicing clinical skills on live animals. Models facilitate deliberate practice and mastery learning which require students to reach a pre-determined level of competence. Veterinary educators are challenged because only a few commercially models are available for teaching medical and surgical skills in the horse. Models created in-house are an alternative to commercial models and may offer the advantage to be smaller, cheaper, and allow training of a larger number of skills. This poster follows the development of a novel equine neck model that allows students to practice medical tasks such as phlebotomy and intravenous, intramuscular, and subcutaneous injections as well as surgical tasks such as making and suturing skin incisions. Validation testing for phlebotomy and intramuscular (IM) injection was performed by randomly assigning students to one of two educational intervention groups. Both groups viewed a 30-minute multimedia presentation on large animal phlebotomy and injections. Immediately following this presentation, group A participated in a structured, 90-minute laboratory session utilizing the equine neck model (Figure 1 [Fig. 1]) to perform phlebotomy and IM injections while group B simultaneously participated in an identical laboratory session that used equine cadaver necks on which the jugular vein had been filled with artificial blood (Figure 2 [Fig. 2]). One week later students were videotaped performing phlebotomy and IM injection on live horses. Videotapes were reviewed by an expert who was blinded to student identity and group participation. The students’ performance was scored based on the completion of different steps required for each procedure and on their overall ability to complete the procedure. Student performance was compared between the 2 groups and also by taking into account previous experience. In addition, the model was assessed by a group of veterinarians for features including realism, presence of landmarks, and tactile features of the model. The equine neck model shows promise for training veterinary students, and small modifications to the model are planned according to study results.