A variety of teaching interventions to improve bovine transrectal palpation training

Abstract

Pregnancy diagnosis by transrectal palpation (TRP) is a frequently performed procedure in bovine practice and an important competency for veterinary graduates. Student training for these skills has been identified as challenging, and reported training outcomes highlighted that students’ pregnancy diagnosis accuracy was an area that needed improvement. This led to a series of investigations evaluating specific teaching approaches aimed at optimizing TRP training and improving learning outcomes while decreasing the number of palpations needed to become competent, or in other words to ‘fast-track’ the transrectal palpation skill learning process. Gathered data were used to develop and implement research-based innovative teaching ideas, including optimized simulator training, in-training assessment methods, additional training opportunities linked to or not directly linked to the TRP skill itself, and the use of technology to improve skills training. This paper is a summary of these teaching interventions and elaborates on the background of those and why implementation is expected to improve student competence. Furthermore, even though the investigations described here are specific to bovine TRP and pregnancy diagnosis skills, they highlight an approach that can be applied to other clinical hands-on skills.