What to teach

Erin Malone

1 What to teach

Deciding what skills to teach

Each area has a list of skills that are considered important in that field. However, simple checklists tend to inspire “one and done” attitudes rather than creating motivation to master the skill. Be careful with the lists and create a program that works toward performance rather than exposure to those skills. Because motor skills learning takes time, programs typically need to focus on foundational skills and work to obtain mastery of those skills. Focusing means a greater likelihood of mastery and long term retention, not to mention improved performance and confidence.

Motor skills are learned differently from knowledge skills. The ultimate goal is retention and retention is best obtained by reaching consolidation and automaticity (mastery). Skill learning is accompanied by protein changes, synapse formation and various other changes in the brain. These changes only occur with repetitive practice. The brain is taking in new input all the time; anything that isn’t repeated or associated with some other emotion is quickly lost. While you are driving down the highway, you see many other cars of various makes and models. However, unless the car is unusual, you would be hard pressed to name more than one or two you saw. It wasn’t reinforced or repeated and was forgotten.

Backwards design your lists. What are the common procedures used by your graduates? Which of those are useful regardless of the type of practice or job? Are any of them foundational for other skills? Are any of them difficult to obtain later? Focus on those. Skills that are commonly addressed in continued education/professional development and/or skills that can be learned independently may be safe to leave until later. Prioritize your list to ensure the essential skills are mastered.

UMN CVM Clinical skills program

Skills at the UMN CVM are divided into 1) common skills performed similarly across species (e.g. venipuncture) and 2) skills performed commonly in certain species or performed significantly differently across species (e.g. ovariohysterectomy). The former skills are taught in our clinical skills program while the latter are taught in species specific courses.

DIAGNOSTICS	THERAPEUTICS
Physical examination	Provide hemostasis (ligatures, pedicle ties, other)
Body condition and muscle condition scoring	Clean, flush and debride wounds (with assistance)
Animal body language	Lance abscesses
Animal restraint	Place iv catheter
Draw blood	Set up and administer fluids
PCV/TPP	Calculate doses and rates
Obtain urine – urinary catheter	Patient prep for surgery
Obtain urine – cystocentesis	Perform local block
Obtain urine – ultrasound guided cystocentesis	Perform sterile hand scrub
Perform urine specific gravity	Open glove
Perform skin scraping	Gown and glove
Perform skin biopsy	Make an incision
Perform chest or abdominal tap	Maintain sterile technique (drape while sterile)
Perform joint tap (with assistance)	Perform basic mass removal (fusiform incision, sq dissection)
Perform FAST exams (with assistance)	Place drain
Perform FNA and make smear	Suture skin, subcuticular layer
Perform blood glucose	Bandage limb (with assistance)
	Administer medications po
	Administer medications topically
	Administer medications sq (includes vaccines)
	Administer medications im
	Administer medications iv (includes euthanasia)