“Don’t Over Do It” is an abstract, universal skills training device which focuses the learner on the universal skill of force control needed for a variety of clinical procedures using various instruments. The tool is supplied and can be supplemented with multiple targets demonstrating variation in thickness, density, and elasticity; this variation is intended to provide the learner with a broad range of psychomotor experiences leading to improved force control through physical problem solving (i.e., what happens if I push this way, brace my hand that way, move at this angle, etc.). Equipped with audible buzzer feedback, the tool indicates to the learner whenever they have pushed an instrument too far beyond a predetermined tissue “pop” point. The tool may be clamped to a table allowing the target surface to be oriented in any number of positions relative to the learner (horizontal up, horizontal down, vertical), thereby challenging the learner’s skill while operating in the multiple body positions necessary for different clinical procedures.
This tool has utility in the development of the force control skill needed to perform multiple procedures in multiple species, such as vascular access, percutaneous body cavity access, surgical dissection, and physical exam. For example, the device could be set to teach a student critical instrument handling, fine motor control, and force control parameters required in such procedures as venipuncture, IV catheterization, abdominocentesis, thoracocentesis, cystocentesis, biopsy techniques, chest tube placement, aural exam, aural foreign body removal, soft and hard tissue palpation, and surgical dissection and clamping techniques. By abstractly addressing critical psychomotor skills needed in multiple procedures, this tool, in combination with others, offers an alternative to the use of animals that might be employed by educators training students about individual procedures alone.
This device is one of many devices derived from a pedagogical concept that emphasizes physical problem solving abilities and universal skills (as components of procedures) development rather than literal procedure rehearsal. It is part of the Universal Skills-Based (USB) approach to learning veterinary procedures. The theory of USB learning is that there is a finite group of skills (categorized as psychomotor, perceptual, behavioral, and cognitive) that can be initially learned, trained, and practiced in an isolated manner; the student is then better prepared to begin assimilating these skills in a graduated manner with various learning tools until they finally interact with the patient as a learning tool — and do so in a highly successful manner.
If you are interested in joining an Internet discussion group about educational issues, as well as gaining information regarding this pedagogical design and other learning tools derived from it, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/USBRandD/. Specific inquiries for “Don’t Over Do It” may be directed to Ben Kitchen, DVM at the following email address: alternavitae@wowway.com .
