141 How Do You Spell Liver? – Instructor guide
How do you spell liver?
Instructional guide
This activity is designed to reinforce principles of liver structure and function as part of a veterinary physiology course.
It could be adapted for human liver structure and function or for an introduction to clinical pathology discussions.
Intended grade level
Veterinary students
This unit is designed to follow introductory material on
- liver function and dysfunction
- focus on nutrient and drug metabolism, energy levels, protein production
- tests of dysfunction
- aminotransferase release
- changes in liver production of proteins, clotting factors, etc as well as upregulation of enzymes due to cholestasis
- clinical signs related to low protein, changes in toxin metabolism and decreased clotting factors
Student learning objectives
- List clinically important functions of the liver
- Identify and explain signs of liver dysfunction
- Interpret liver diagnostic tests
- Predict liver function test results
- Shock and amaze later instructors with ability to utilize test results
Lesson Format
This activity is designed to be done in a classroom with students in small groups. It can be done via online conferencing tool or in a standard classroom as long as students can talk in a small group. This lesson is estimated to take 60-90 minutes.
This session starts with a general review and then moves into case interpretation. The general review is designed to retrieve the basic information. More cases are presented than can be reviewed in an hour; students can pick the cases that most appeal to their small group.
Lesson Background
Utilize this GI Physiology textbook page for lesson background on liver testing.
Activities
Students will work through liver cases, learning about a patient and determining what different liver tests may look like due to their presentation.
Common misconceptions and challenge points
- Sorting through the multiple functions of the liver is challenging
- Sorting through the multitude of tests and acronyms is challenging
- Students struggle with ALP being upregulated and produced rather than released
- Many clinical disease terms are new (ascites, edema, etc) but can be readily explored
Assessment
Students will have the option to follow a link to a Vet Med Applied GI Physiology textbook for challenging multiple choice questions to test out what they have learned over the course of this unit.
