Comparison of Two Clinical Teaching Models for Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Instruction

Abstract

Standards to oversee the implementation and assessment of clinical teaching of emergency and critical care for veterinary students do not exist. The purpose of this study was to assess differences in the learning environment between two veterinary emergency and critical care clinical rotations (one required, one elective) with respect to caseload, technical/procedural opportunities, direct faculty contact time, client communication opportunities, and students' perception of practice readiness. The authors designed a 22-item survey to assess differences in the learning environment between the two rotations. It was sent electronically to 35 third- and fourth-year veterinary medicine students. Bivariate analysis, including the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the t-test, were used to compare differences between pre-test and post-test scores among students. Twenty-six students' responses were included from the required rotation and nine from the elective rotation. Findings showed that students preferred the elective community emergency department setting to the required academic setting and that there were statistically significantly more positive experiences related to the variables of interest. Students saw significantly more cases at the community emergency department setting. Findings from this study offer guidance to assess students' emergency department rotations, suggest how teaching interactions can be modified for optimal learning experiences, and ensure that students receive maximal opportunities to treat patients that are representative of what they would encounter in practice.

Interventions Designed to Improve the Learning Environment in the Health Professions: A Scoping Review

“…Since the strength of the interventions displayed in Table 5 were not assesses, the list should be viewed as potential opportunities for improving the LE. (Sundler et al, 2014), Hunter (2004) (Hunter et al, 2004), Conner (2016) (Conner, Behar-Horenstein and Su, 2016), Edgren (2010) (Edgren et al, 2010), Finn (2014) (Finn, Avalos and Dunne, 2014), Kaufman (1996) (Kaufman and Mann, 1996), Moore-West (1986) (Moore-West et al, 1988, Schauber (2015) (Schauber et al, 2015), Zawawi (2012) (Zawawi and Elzubeir, 2012), Cottingham (2008) (Cottingham et al, 2008), Faculty/Staff Development • Conduct faculty/staff development workshops on learning climate, setting expectations, providing feedback, promoting well-being, serving as a positive role model, preparing for teamwork Edafe (2013) (Edafe, Mistry and Chan, 2013), Henderson (2010) (Henderson et al, 2010), Moystad (2014) (Moystad et al, 2015), Rubak (2008) (Rubak et al, 2008), Spickard (1996) (Spickard, Corbett Jr and Schorling, 1996) (Lau et al, 2017), Moutier (2016) (Moutier et al, 2016), Wallin (2015) (Wallin et al, 2015), Carlson (2014) (Carlson and Idvall, 2014),…”

Effective Veterinary Clinical Teaching in a Variety of Teaching Settings

“…Clinical teaching should be structured in a way that ensures effective teaching and stimulates deep-learning [10,12,[27][28][29] (Table 3). The number of cases seen appears to be less important than the opportunity to be involved [3,14,17,30]. A real involvement of the learner would provide opportunity for development of clinical reasoning skills.…”

“…Exposure to practice (experiential learning) is aimed at assisting veterinary learners to develop veterinary medical and professional attributes within the specific clinical context of the work. Typically, experiential learning is delivered by rotations through a variety of clinical settings and sub-specialties, either at university or community veterinary service providers [3][4][5]. Some universities have developed university-based primary practices, e.g., in collaboration with technical high schools [6].…”

“…Therefore, we felt that this review could facilitate discussion and/or research in this area. Cited literature [3][4][5][12][13][14][15][16] Clinical teaching can be delivered in a variety of settings [3,11,[16][17][18] with successful clinical teaching depending on a variety of factors, including the complex interplay between personalities, beliefs and teaching settings [17,19]. Achieving the learning objectives and attaining the graduate attributes of veterinary learners are less affected by the setting where the clinical encounter occurs but more important are the skills of the clinical instructor to deliver the clinical teaching using a multidimensional approach [12,17].…”

Using the Five-Microskills Method in Veterinary Medicine Clinical Teaching

“…Fourth, the model does not provide solutions for poorly collected data and requires the instructor to be present. Fifth, although used in human emergency medicine settings [ 53 , 54 , 55 ], it may not be suited for all situations (e.g., life-threatening emergencies).…”