Adopting Simulation Technology to Adopting Simulation Technology to Teach Veterinary Emergency Teach Veterinary Emergency
ResponseResponse
By Angela ClendeninBy Angela ClendeninALEC 640 – Theory of ChangeALEC 640 – Theory of ChangeOctober 20, 2015October 20, 2015
The InnovatorsCommunity Connections – Veterinary Emergency Response
Wesley Bissett, DVM, PhDDirectorTexas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team
Deb Zoran, DVM, PhD, DACVIM-SAIMMedical Operations OfficerTexas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team
The Situation
• Ever since Hurricane Katrina, animal issues have become an important component of emergency response
• Veterinarians must assume the lead role, but most are not prepared to provide care in a disaster situation
• How do you provide a disaster experience for veterinary students so they can enter the profession prepared to address animal issues?
Other Questions
• In a treatment situation with live animals, students are often not the decision-makers for the team
• No ownership for decisions made• Teaching to the seven core competencies:
communication, collaboration, management (self, team, system), lifelong learning, leadership, diversity, adapting to change – all within the context of veterinary emergency response
The Innovation
• Second Life® virtual environment• Social media platform• Participants are represented by avatars
they can then use to interact with others and the simulated environment
• Currently using two “islands” that are closed to outsiders (one hurricane, one tornado)
• Students as a deployed veterinary team
• Triage and treatment decisions
• Large and small animals
• Instructors play different roles (residents, owners, difficult people, reporters)
• Evaluation mechanisms to track performance
In Life
Knowledge and Persuasion
• Recommendation from an instructor on the teaching team (peer)
• Discussions with opinion leaders already using the platform
• Considerations• Potential to “deploy” students to a disaster
without putting then in harm’s way• Interactivity
Decision: Relative Advantage
• Engagement and interactivity• Ability to include seven core competencies• Students can “practice” veterinary medicine
and make triage and treatment decisions as a practitioner would (no faculty input)
• Students own their decisions including mistakes and the ability to recover from them.
Decision: Compatibility
• 4th year of veterinary medical education is based on experiential learning approaches
• Serves as a means to extend clinical learning beyond what is possible in a hospital setting
• Students are very familiar with using computer technology in classrooms and in their personal lives
Decision: Complexity
• Effective teaching using this platform requires a significant amount of man power to play the different roles
• For some actions, the platform is not very intuitive
• We have actually “pushed” the programmers to develop new tools to enhance the experience and evaluation we need
• Even though highly technical, it was easily picked up by instructors who were not particularly adept at technology
Decision: Observability
• Visited with opinion leaders and watched as their students used the platform
• Did not actually participate until after first used with students
• Observing others use the platform fostered visions for future re-invention
Decision: Trialability
• After first use, recognized it would need to be re-invented for our more specific use
• Before adoption, we were able to work with programmers to familiarize ourselves with moving and communicating with each other in the simulated environment
Implementation: Re-Invention
• Learning each time the simulation is used• Only two scenarios created, but essentially
every experience is different because of the different students
• What they say and what they do feeds how we continually develop the simulation
• Each use provides an opportunity to improve evaluation tools
Implementation: Challenges
• Every change in the simulation requires programming
• New ideas require funds, some of which are not always readily available
• Setting a realistic budget for future development
• Finding enough actors to challenge the students on the learning objectives
Confirmation: Evaluation
• Student buy-in of the scenario is vastly superior to a tabletop exercise
• Observation of engagement by students• Regular post-rotation surveys and
comments
Summary of Adoption
• Perceived attributes were favorable for adoption
• The decision was both optional and collective
• Adoption was through interpersonal channels
• The nature of the social system was very homogenous making adoption optimal
• Change agent’s promotion efforts were significant
Any Questions?Any Questions?