Neil Forrest

Teaching bovine abdominal anatomy: use of a haptic simulator.

Traditional methods of teaching anatomy to undergraduate medical and veterinary students are being challenged and need to adapt to modern concerns and requirements. There is a move away from the use of cadavers to new technologies as a way of complementing the traditional approaches and addressing resource and ethical problems. Haptic (touch) technology, which allows the student to feel a 3D computer‐generated virtual environment, provides a novel way to address some of these challenges. To evaluate the practicalities and usefulness of a haptic simulator, first year veterinary students at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, were taught basic bovine abdominal anatomy using a rectal palpation simulator: “The Haptic Cow.” Over two days, 186 students were taught in small groups and 184 provided feedback via a questionnaire. The results were positive; the majority of students considered that the simulator had been useful for appreciating both the feel and location of key internal anatomical structures, had helped with their understanding of bovine abdominal anatomy and 3D visualization, and the tutorial had been enjoyable. The students were mostly in favor of the small group tutorial format, but some requested more time on the simulator. The findings indicate that the haptic simulator is an engaging way of teaching bovine abdominal anatomy to a large number of students in an efficient manner without using cadavers, thereby addressing some of the current challenges in anatomy teaching. Anat Sci Educ 2: 280–285, 2009.

A Comparative Study of Haptic Stiffness Identification by Veterinarians and Students

Palpation is an important clinical skill in both veterinary and medical health professions. The present study compares the ability of practicing veterinarians and veterinary students to identify the stiffness of virtual surfaces through palpation. An absolute identification paradigm was used where a force-feedback haptic device rendered virtual surfaces with five levels of stiffness within a “clinically relevant” range (0.2-0.5 N/mm). The mean information transfer was 0.97 bits (almost two perfectly identifiable stiffness levels) for 12 veterinarians and 0.58 bits (one correctly identified level) for 14 veterinary students. Although the difference between the two groups was significant (p <; 0.001), neither group was able to reliably identify more than two levels of stiffness, indicating that the success of veterinarians in clinical practice probably relies on additional properties such as size, shape, and texture. Analyses of force versus time and displacement versus time recordings suggest that the superior performance of the veterinarians may be partially attributable to motor strategy. Specifically, veterinarians used a greater mean maximum force (2.0 N) compared to students (1.6 N) (p <; 0.05). However, further studies are required to investigate motor strategy in more detail. The implications of our findings for veterinary education and quantitative skill assessment are discussed.

Haptic stiffness identification by veterinarians and novices: A comparison

Palpation is important in both veterinary and medical health professions. It is however difficult to learn, teach and assess. More must be understood about the skills involved in palpation. The present study compares the ability of practicing veterinarians and veterinary students to identify stiffness values. An absolute identification paradigm was used where a force-feedback device rendered virtual surfaces with 5 levels of stiffness within a “clinically relevant” range of 0.2 − 0.5 N/mm. The results from 12 veterinarians and 14 veterinary students show that the veterinarians performed significantly better than the students (p ≪ 0.001). The mean information transfer was 0.97 bits (almost 2 perfectly-identifiable stiffness levels) for the veterinarians and 0.58 bits (1 correctly-identified stiffness level) for the students. However, neither group was able to reliably identify more than 2 levels of stiffness, indicating that the success of veterinarians in clinical practice probably relies on additional properties such as size, shape and texture. Our findings suggest that stiffness perception in the context of veterinary medicine is a learned clinical skill. Quantifying expert ability will help inform teaching methods and set targets for students. Similar psychophysical methods can also be used to monitor student performance throughout the learning process. Future work will examine the contributions of other object properties as well as motor strategies to palpation performance.

Developing an Online Professional Network for Veterinary Education: The NOVICE Project

An online professional network for veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary educationalists, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) educationalists is being developed under the EU (European Union) Lifelong Learning Programme. The network uses Web 2.0, a term used to describe the new, more interactive version of the Internet, and includes tools such as wikis, blogs, and discussion boards. Focus groups conducted with qualified and student veterinarians within the projects five founding countries (The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania) demonstrated that online professional communities can be valuable for accessing information and establishing contacts. Online networks have the potential to overcome common challenges to face-to-face communities-such as distance, cost, and timing-but they have their own drawbacks, such as security and professionalism issues. The Network Of Veterinary ICt in Education (NOVICE) was developed using Elgg, an open-source, free social networking platform, after several software options had been considered. NOVICE aims to promote the understanding of Web 2.0, confidence to use social software tools, and participation in an online community. Therefore, the Web site contains help sections, Frequently Asked Questions, and access to support from ICT experts. Five months after the networks launch (and just over one year into the project) 515 members from 28 countries had registered. Further research will include analysis of a core groups activities, which will inform ongoing support for and development of informal, lifelong learning in a veterinary context.

How do German veterinarians use social networks? A study, using the example of the 'NOVICE' veterinary medicine network.

Objective: NOVICE (Network Of Veterinary ICT in Education, http://www.noviceproject.eu/), is a professional online social network for veterinarians, lecturers and students of veterinary medicine as well as for e-Learning advisers and others working in establishments that teach veterinary medicine. This study sets out to investigate to what extent German veterinarians, lecturers, students of veterinary medicine and e-Learning representatives would accept a specialist network, what requirements would have to be met by an online social network, how to use web 2.0 tools [21], [30] and what advantages a specialist network could offer. Methodology: The investigation was carried out by analysing data from the Elgg platform database as well as using Google Analytics. Annual focus group surveys and individual interviews were carried out in order to perform an analysis of acceptance among network users. Results: 1961 users from 73 different countries registered on the NOVICE site between 1 September 2010 and 21 March 2012. Germany represents the biggest user group, with 565 users (28.81%). During this period, most individual hits on the website came from Germany too. In total, 24.83% of all members are active, while 19.22% of German members participate actively. In terms of gender, there are significantly more female members than male members, both in the NOVICE network as a whole as well as in Germany. The most used web 2.0 tools are chat and email messaging services as well as writing wikis and contributing to forum discussions. The focus group surveys showed that respondents generally make use of other online communities too. Active members generally use more web 2.0 tools than in other networks, while passive members are generally more reluctant in all networks. All participants of the survey welcomed the idea of having a network specifically set up for the profession and believe that it could be very useful for veterinary medicine. Conclusions: The network and its membership figures developed very positively during the assessed time period. Until now, the focus of the content of contributions in NOVICE (Network of Veterinary ICT in Education) has been on veterinary medicine teaching supported by e-Learning. An increase in the number of members would, however, be beneficial in order to further develop the network so that valuable exchange of information and informal learning can also take place in other specialist areas of veterinary medicine.