The Use of Simulators for Teaching Practical Clinical Skills to Veterinary Students — A Review

Abstract

In the context of veterinary education, simulators are devices or sets of conditions aiming to imitate real patients and enable students to practice skills without the need for live animal use. Simulator use in veterinary education has increased significantly in recent years, allowing consistent practical teaching without reliance on clinical cases. This review examines the available literature regarding the use of simulation and simulators for teaching practical day one competences to veterinary students. Scientific databases were searched and 73 relevant articles were reviewed. The reviewed articles revealed that there are a number of simulators currently available to veterinary educators, that simulators can enhance student skills and provide an alternative learning environment without the need for live animal and/or cadaver use, and that they usually receive positive feedback from the students who use them. There appears to be a bias towards small animal simulators — however, some skills that are developed through the use of small animal or table-top models will be transferrable to other species. The majority of large animal simulators focus on bovine rectal palpation and/or pregnancy diagnosis. Further research is required to increase the repertoire of available simulators for use in veterinary education, in order to improve the practical skills of veterinary students and reduce the use of live animals and cadaver material for teaching purposes.

Efficacy validation of a low-cost handmade simulator (SIMCA-COW) in palpation, ultrasonography evaluation, and artificial insemination in cows

“…The majority of large animal simulators are focused on bovine rectal palpation and/or pregnancy diagnosis [ 11 ], while intrauterine insemination in cows usually requires extensive practice in live animals. One study indicated that in more than 50% of the cases analyzed, the veterinarian was not sufficiently trained to deposit semen in the uterine body, leading to frequent intracervical insemination and, therefore, a decrease in fertility [ 27 ].…”

“…A recent study analyzed the results and time of different veterinary simulation techniques showing evident effectiveness in increasing clinical skills with simulator training programs [ 31 ]. Moreover, it is of utmost importance to develop tools such as simulators to help educators to adhere to modern ethical guidelines that aim to protect animal welfare and reduce the need to obtain live animals solely for teaching or pedagogic research purposes [ 11 ].…”

“…Other studies suggest the safety of using live animals for bovine palpation training [ 10 ]. The use of simulators in high education enables practical training by repetition in similar to real-life situations, ensuring the correct performance of the technique before applying it to live animals [ 11 ]. At present, there are numerous real-size simulators and models of different materials that allow veterinary students training to perform basic learning procedures [ 12 ].…”

Von A wie Auskultation bis Z wie Zahnaltersschätzung – Die studentische Ausbildung im Skills Lab

“…Ein Simulator wird definiert als „device or set of conditions that aims to imitate real patients, anatomic regions, or clinical tasks“. Es handelt sich dabei also um eine Vorrichtung, die darauf abzielt, echte Patienten, anatomische Regionen oder klinische Tätigkeiten zu imitieren 4 . Dabei werden die Handgriffe verschiedenster tierärztlicher Tätigkeiten bei unterschiedlichsten Tierarten und Fächern abgebildet.…”

Editorial

“…For this issue’s 50th Anniversary Article, Helen Braid has compiled an overview of many of the currently available non-animal alternatives that can be used for teaching practical clinical skills to veterinary students. 7 There are a number of online databases listing these types of non-animal models and simulators, such as those collated by InterNICHE in the UK, as well as a range of educational platforms that provide alternative resources for teaching; some of these are listed in our Resources Round-up section in this issue.…”