1st VetEd Asia
12th September 2023

21ST ANNUAL MEETING OF ASIANASSOCIATION OF VETERINARYSCHOOLS
11-13TH SEPTEMBER 2023
HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY, SAPPORO,JAPAN

EDITED BY

PROFESSOR DR HAFSA ZANEB, CHAIR OF AAVS VER WORKING GROUP&
DR MAHO URABE, AAVS OFFICE&DR KA-LONG LAO, WOAH

Table of Contents
Message from the President of AAVS
Message from the Working Group Chair
Acknowledgments

2
3
4

No.

Study Title

Page

1

Prior exposure to the ‘world-of-work’ inspires Sri Lankan veterinary undergraduates tofollow the BVSc. Degree Programme
Lalanthi De Silva, Suranji Wijekoon, Thilini AN Mahakapuge, Indrajee de Zoysa, Nayana
Wijayawardhane, Anil Pushpakumara

52Clinical Exposure from Day-1: Time to transform existing DVM curriculum from Flexner
Model to an integrated one
Ahsan Elahi, Haroon Akbar, Muhammad I Rashid

63Effects of a digitally enhanced class environment on students’ learning experience inproblem-based learningÁkos Kenéz, Brett MacKinnon, Francesca Rizzo, Peter J Schiff, Manuel Vizcaino Serrano,
Cheuk Ming Li, Rebecca SV Parkes

74

The enhancement of veterinary classroom participation by active learning models
Sirirat Rattanapuchpong, Sonthaya Tiawsirisup, Chenphop Sawangmake

85

Gendered professional identity conceptions held by final year veterinary students ofPakistanHafsa Zaneb, Elizabeth Armitage-Chan

96Student views on interprofessional education during clinical skills teaching for veterinary
and veterinary nurse students
Susanna N Taylor, Tierney Kinnison, and Rebecca SV Parkes

107

Veterinary student’s perspectives on the effectiveness of case-based learning
Waraporn Aumarm, Sahatsa Mhundee, Cherdsak Iramaneerat, Suchart Wattanachai

118Impact of medium of instruction, schooling, gender, and academic grades on sensory
modalities of veterinary undergraduate students in Pakistan
Khalid A Majeed, Imtiaz Rabbani, Habib Rehman, Hafsa Zaneb, Abdullah A Saeed

129Development of a low-fidelity sheep caesarean model for veterinary education
Kate J Flay, Susanna N Taylor, Rebecca SV Parkes, Gareth L Fitch, Santiago A Sousa

1301

Message from the President of AAVS
Congratulations to AAVS Veterinary Education
Research (AAVS VER-WG) Working Group, The
Chair Professor Dr Hafsa Zaneb and all
members of VER-WG for the In-Augural
meeting of currently the 1st Regional
Veterinary Education Research Meeting (1st
VetEd Asia). AAVS is very proud for the
excellent achievement of VER-WG through theyear since it was founded in year 2022. We arevery proud to record the rapid expansion ofmembership from 31 in 2022 and now 82
members, including 15 Core Group members.
We hope more representatives from otherveterinary schools will be joining AAVS VERWG to contribute, sharing their knowledge andtogether to make significant advancement inveterinary research and education.
AAVS believes in collaboration, fostering interdisciplinary approaches, andsupporting the integration of cutting-edge technologies for the continual progressin the field of Veterinary Research and Education. Numbers of efforts have been
conducted by VER-WG including regular committee meetings, regular CPD-driven
programs, establishment of Journal Club to review anddiscuss pertinent publishedjournal articles on monthly basis and currently the 1st VetEd Asia event. The
central goal of the event is to promote open dialogue and knowledge-sharing within
the AAVS community.
AAVS is convinced that such great effort will accelerate breakthroughs inveterinary education and teaching innovation, and I am sure members anticipatedthere would be more innovative programs will be held in the near future. Let’s
acknowledge the significance of leadership of members of AAVS who are inspiring
the many, promoting streamline process, and fostering innovation with undivided
dedication to field. Together we can collectively push the boundaries of knowledge
and improve the veterinary profession.
All the best to everyone.
With profound regards,
Professor Mohd Azmi Mohd Lila
President of AAVS
Dean of Universiti Putra Malaysia

02

Message from the Chair of AAVS VER
Working GroupWe founded AAVS Working Group on Veterinary
Education Research back in first quarter of 2022.
Veterinary
educational
research
beingarelatively newer discipline for most of us working
with AAVS member institutions, our foremost
aim was to impart awareness surrounding
advancementsinveterinary
educational
research and to establish a network of veterinary
educational researchers in the region.
We started with 31 members in 2022, out of which 15 were designated as Core Group
members representative of different member institutions. This year, we are proud to have82 members associated with our working group thus contributing to the diversity within thegroup.
As a group, we organize four quarterly meetings a year, each of which comprises ofprogress review by the Core Group members and a CPD event for the general members. We
carefully curated the CPD calendar keeping in view the development needs of the groupmembers particularly in terms of building their capacity in the discipline of veterinary
educational research. For this purpose, the group also established a Journal Club where themembers meet online on monthly basis and review and discuss a published research article
in the field of veterinary educational research.
Today, we take pride in the fact that our efforts bore fruit and VER-WG is today hosting thefirst regional Veterinary Education Research meeting under the name of 1st VetEd Asia. The
researchers and VER-WG members from the AAVS member institutions have contributed
original research findings and teaching innovations to make the program of this session
rich, diverse, educational and thought provoking. For this, we are grateful to each one ofthem. We aim to learn from this experience and continue this tradition in the years to come.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the leadership of AAVS and the colleagues at AAVS
secretariat without whom establishment of VER-WG and organization of 1st VetEd Asia
would not have materialized. I am also proud of the members of VER-WG who will be
remembers as pioneers for their sustained efforts and contributions which enabled thegroup to host this event today.
With profound regards,
Professor Dr Hafsa Zaneb
Chair VER-WG
Chairperson Department of Anatomy and Histology
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore
Pakistan03

Acknowledgments
We
gratefully acknowledge the support provided
by Ms
Takako Hasegawa, Administrative Officer, WOAH Regional
Representation for Asia and the Pacific and Ms Pondpan
Suwanthada, WOAH Intern, for their administrative support
during the abstract submission, review, and acceptanceprocess.
We also thank all the reviewers for their time and effors.
We are also grateful for the support provided by colleagues
from School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, fororganizing the event.
Professor Dr Hafsa Zaneb
Chair of AAVS VER-WG

Dr Maho Urabe
AAVS Office/ WOAH

04

Prior Exposure to the ‘World-of-work’ Inspires Sri Lankan
Veterinary Undergraduates to Follow the BVSc. Degree
Programme
Lalanthi De Silvaᵃ*, Suranji Wijekoonᵃ, Thilini AN Mahakapugeᵃ, Indrajee de Zoysaᵇ,Nayana
Wijayawardhaneᵃ, Anil Pushpakumaraᵃᵃ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lankaᵇ Department of English Language Teaching, Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya, Sri
Lanka* lalanthidesilva@vet.pdn.ac.lk
In veterinary education, exposing students to the ‘world-of-work’ prior to following aveterinary degree is practiced in the west, though it’s not common in South Asia. Therefore,
the Pre-vet Exposure Programme was organized for the first time by the only Sri Lankan
veterinary school to expose students to the professional world before commencement of thedegree, in 2022. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of this program in
motivating students to follow the BVSc. Degree program based-on students’ perception.
A survey was conducted via a Google form with the participation of students at the end ofone-month exposure program. The response rate was 80.95% (85/105). Twenty-nine percent
had never been to a veterinary practice and 61% had visited a veterinarian for their pet’s
treatments. Only 6% has discussed with a veterinarian before selecting the degree. Distancefrom home to the assigned station varied among students. Only 19% had travel-relateddifficulties. Further, 21.17% felt that it was risky to attend the programme to which thecommonest reason was not being vaccinated against Rabies. Irrespective of those concerns,>95% stated that they were motivated to attend the programme because it provided them aninsight into their future career. Overall, all the students were satisfied with the programme
and the majority (94.11%) stated that they were motivated to become a veterinarian after the
exposure programme, though their first choice earlier was not veterinary medicine. The
opportunity given to realize the diverse role played by a veterinarian in contributing to thenational economy and commitment towards healing voiceless animals was the crucial
inspiration.
Therefore, prior exposure to the ‘world of work’ was an effective strategy to motivate
veterinary undergraduates. Further, measures must be taken to fine-tune the programme
and to make it mandatory for students who wish to follow a veterinary degree at the
University of Peradeniya.

05

Clinical Exposure from Day-1: Time to transform existing
DVM curriculum from Flexner Model to an integrated one
Ahsan Elahi, Haroon Akbar, Muhammad I Rashid*
Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore,
Pakistan*Imran.rashid@uvas.edu.pk
With an aim to assess the need of an evidence-based education with more practical skills forour veterinary graduates to work in a challenging environment, a study was designed
through a google survey form with 23 questions. This study was also intended to have aperception about the existing DVM curriculum which is designed based on Flexner Model¹ of
medical education in which clinical activities start from 3rd year. The survey covers various
aspects of knowledge, skills and values, keeping in view the existing facilities. Currently
enrolled DVM students of UVAS were focused in our study.
Out of 800 students from 1st year to 5th year, 325 (251 male and 74 female) students
participated willingly in the current survey. Data was analyzed through SPSS for descriptive
statistics and Chi Square analysis. Seventy two percent of respondents belong to cities vsvillages background which was found significant in males as compared to females. Half ofthe students expressed their satisfaction with the quality of the existing education. Morethan 90% of students belong to middle class families earning <500 US$. Five percent ofrespondents were aware of the value of entrepreneurship related to the veterinary field, how
to deal with their clients, how to handle emergency cases and how to work with exotic
animals. More than 50% students consider UVAS curriculum, a balanced mix of theory andpractical and they are also being trained for animal welfare and ethics. Only <10% of thestudents are involved in clinical aspect owing to their activities voluntarily from the
beginning of their studies, while the curriculum does not support it and >50% participantsemphasized for the need of more practical work.
In conclusion, there is a need of evidence-based educational learning² in the curriculum forcontinuous improvement in the quality of veterinary graduates. It is suggested to transformthe curriculum to integrate basic sciences and clinical skills from the very beginning of the
DVM courses.
References
1.
Singh B. Do we have the courage needed to pursue structural reform of the veterinary medical
degree curriculum? Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 2017; 251(7):780-1.
2. Janicke H, Johnson MA, Baillie S, Warman S, Stone D, Paparo S, Debnath NC. Creating the next
generation of evidence-based veterinary practitioners and researchers: What are the options for
globally diverse veterinary curricula? Journal of veterinary medical education. 2020; 47(5):647-58.

06

Effects of a digitally enhanced class environment on students’learning experience in problem-based learningÁkos Kenéz*, Brett MacKinnon, Francesca Rizzo, Peter J Schiff, Manuel V Serrano, Cheuk M
Li, Rebecca SV Parkes
Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong
Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China*akos.kenez@cityu.edu.hk
In traditional problem-based learning (PBL), students process a clinical case using
whiteboards or paper to organise their learning progress. During the COVID-19 pandemic, weused virtual tools such as cloud-based documents instead, however, after discontinuing online
teaching it is unclear whether digital tools integrated into face-to-face PBL tutorials canenhance students’ learning experience. We hypothesised that a digitally enhanced classenvironment can improve the learning experience of our ‘digital native’ students byaccentuating typical Gen Z strengths related to online affinity.
The class of our third-year Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine students (n=23) were split into
four groups and randomly assigned to either a traditional or a digitally enhanced PBL learning
environment. The two traditional groups used a ‘paper and pen’-based approach, processing
the case by handwriting on a physical whiteboard, while the two digitally enhanced groups
used a ‘screen and software’-based approach, processing the case in shared online apps
displayed on a large screen. The groups swapped learning environments after six weeks andcontinued using the alternative environment for another six weeks. An online survey of 15
questions with a 5-point Likert scale was filled in by all students at the end of the 6th and the12th week. The questions asked for self-reflection focused on learning motivation, success,efficiency and satisfaction.
Comparing the answer scores by Mann-Whitney test revealed little difference between the twoenvironments, except for significantly reduced convenience (P=0.02) and perceived
usefulness (P=0.08) of drawing figures in the digitally enhanced group.
Our findings indicate that finding a convenient way of drawing is important for both learningsatisfaction and perceiving drawing as a useful exercise. In contrast to our initial hypothesis,
other aspects of PBL remained unaffected by the type of environment, suggesting that the useof digital tools did not enhance our students’ learning experience overall.

07

The enhancement of veterinary classroom participation by active
learning models
Sirirat Rattanapuchpongᵃ, Sonthaya Tiawsirisupᵃᵇ, Chenphop Sawangmakeᵃᶜ*ᵃ Academic Affairs, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
ᵇ Veterinary Parasitology Unit, Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary
Science, Chulalongkorn
University, Thailandᶜ Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University,
Thailand*chenphop.s@chula.ac.th
Learning is a process to acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes¹. The classroom experienceis crucial to create attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. Effective learning
including engagement, reflection, feedback, and practice in the classroom will result inenhanced knowledge and skills, developed problem-solving ability, and intensified
emotional well-being². Therefore, active learning, two-way communication between
students, has been introduced to emphasize learners actively participating in theclassroom. In this regard, this study aims to investigate active learning models for theveterinary classroom.
The learning process was divided into two parts. In the first part, eight graduate students
learned basic knowledge of stem cells by using the think pair share method and collected
the score compared to individual testing. In the second part, simultaneous round table andbrainstorming were integrated for advanced stem cell learning. At the end of class, theevaluations of the effective level of class appreciation from think pair share, simultaneous
round table, and brainstorming were performed by questionnaire.
The result showed 50% of the students in the classroom were never trained by threelearning models. The results from think pair share increased testing scores, improved
percentage of accuracy, and decreased time per question compared to individual results byusing the Mann-Whitney U test. The response level of class appreciation from think pairshare was 62.5% excellent, and 37.5% good, respectively. Moreover, the level of classappreciation result of simultaneous round table presented 75% excellent, and 25% good.
Interestingly, brainstorming indicated the highest percentage of level class appreciation
presenting 87.5% excellent, and 12.5% good with positive feedback from learners.
In summary, active learning including think pair share, simultaneous round table, andbrainstorming indicated to be potential learning processes to provide opportunities for
teamwork, student engagement, and motivation to prepare veterinary students for their
future profession.
References
1.Baartman LK, De Bruijn E. Integrating knowledge, skills and attitudes: Conceptualising learning
processes towards vocational competence. Educ. Res. Rev. 6(2):125-34, 2011.
2.Darling-Hammond L, Flook L, Cook-Harvey C, Barron B, Osher D. Implications for educational
practice of the science of learning and development. Appl. Dev. Sci. 24(2):97-140, 2020.

08

Gendered professional identity conceptions held by final year
veterinary students of Pakistan
Hafsa Zanebᵃ*, Elizabeth Armitage-Chanᵇᵃ Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences,Lahore Pakistan,ᵇ Department of Clinical Science and Services, Royal Veterinary College, University of
London, United Kingdom*hafsa.zaneb@uvas.edu.pk
Among other factors, cultural influences considerably affect development of professional
identity¹. In Pakistan, veterinary profession is male-dominated and is socially stigmatized².
Considering that in Eastern cultures like that of Pakistan societal values may takeprecedence over individual ones, we assumed that being minority members of thestigmatized veterinary profession might affect the professional identity of girl veterinary
students.
To understand this, we selected five final-year DVM students (2 girls, 3 boys; representing
gender, academic achievement and residential status) for in-depth interviews about theirconceptions of professional identity and experiences. We transcribed the interviews andperformed qualitative analysis informed by principles of social phenomenology andnarrative analysis. The girl students identified gender as a significant negative influence on
their professional identity. They identified the feedback from society, faculty and peers as
defining and reported perceptions of limited career options available to them, such as thoseof research, laboratory work or faculty positions. They reported stereotyping of women by
their peers and the society as weak, less knowledgeable and incapable of handling animals
or communicating with the clients. They faced marginalization by male peers, and attributed
the gender-based discrimination to be feeding into women veterinarian’s poor career
progression and attrition. They carried heightened perception of stigma, which might berooted in their minority status in a male-dominated profession. The latter assigns them acounter-stereotypical professional status, which is reported to exacerbate perceptions of
stigma and further intensify the identity threat³.
Though the sample size in this case is too small to propose a cause and effect relationshipbetween competent identity work and response to stereotyping, the findings still carry
implications for identity enactment by the girl students and thus for their emotional andmental well-being. They further necessitate development and implementation of
institutional diversity strategy to address systemic stereotyping of women veterinary
students and professionals.
R eferences
1.H elm ich E, Yeh HM, Kalet A , et al. Bec om ing a doc t or i n di ffer ent c ult ure s : Tow ard a c ros s -c ultural
appr oach to supporting profess ional ident it y for mat i on i n medi c i ne . A c ad M e d. 2017;9 2( 1):58-6 2 .
htt ps://doi: 10. 1097/A CM. 00 00 00 0000001432 .
2.ZanebH,
A rm itage-Chan
E.
Professi onal
Ident i tyofPakis t ani
V e t e rinary
St ude nt s :C onceptualization and Negotiation. J Vet M ed Edu. 2022. ht t ps: //doi. org/10. 3 13 8/j vme -2 0 22 -0 064 .
3.A shforth BE, Kreiner GE. Contextualiz ing di r ty wor k: The neglec t ed role of c ult ural, his t oric al, anddemographic context . J Manag O rgan. 2014;20: 423-40 . ht t ps: //doi: 10. 1017/j m o. 20 14. 3 8.

09

Student views on interprofessional education during clinicalskills teaching for veterinary and veterinary nurse students
Susanna N Taylorᵃ*, Tierney Kinnisonᵇ, and Rebecca SV Parkesᶜᵃ Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong
Kong, Hong Kong SAR
ᵇ Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hertfordshire AL9 7TA UKᶜ Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
SAR
*sntaylor@cityu.edu.hk
Inter-professional education (IPE) allows students from two or more related professional
programs to learn with, about and from each other. We identified clinical skills that are
taught within both the Advanced Diploma of Veterinary Nursing (ADVN) and the Bachelor of
Veterinary Medicine (BVM) courses at our institution and piloted an IPE session tounderstand if it impacts students’ inter-professional views and confidence performing
clinical skills.
We ran a two-hour IPE lab for 17 ADVN and 23 BVM students. Students were taught a newskill together and then students taught the other cohort skills they had previously learnt.
Student’s views were gathered using the validated SPVIEWS survey pre- and post-lab¹, withadditional questions regarding their confidence in performing the skills on a 5-point Likert
scale.
13 ADVN and 11 BVM completed both pre- and post-lab surveys. Results showed positivechanges in mean scores post-lab for benefits of learning with the other profession (ADVN(mean±SD) 3.71±0.31 to 4.03±0.27 and BVM 4.48±0.1 to 4.75±0.16), leadership and speaking
up (ADVN 3.0±0.33 to 3.6±0.21 and BVM 3.7 ±0.45 to 4.18±0.37), benefits of teamwork(ADVN 3.75±0.23 to 3.62±0.29 and BVM 4.65±0.16 to 4.8±0.08), and confidence in clinicalskills (ADVN 3.08±0.72 to 3.97±0.22, and BVM 3.96±0.79 to 4.51±0.44). Following the lab,
67% and 91% of ADVN and BVM respectively felt the learning objectives had been achieved.
IPE offers benefits to professionals, clients and patients as it fosters strengthened
teamwork and communication, and better understanding of each profession’s roles.
Challenges to IPE include logistical constraints, staff and student buy-in². Our session
overcame these to create a successful learning experience for both student cohorts withstudents gaining confidence as well as improved inter-professional communication andclinical skills.
IPE sessions can successfully incorporate clinical skills for veterinary and veterinary
nursing students allowing for broader learning outcomes compared to traditional clinicalskills teaching.
References:
1.Kinnison T, Lumbis R, de Mestre AM, Cardwell JM. Preliminary testing of psychometric properties of the ‘student
perceptions of veterinary interprofessional education and work scale’(SP-VIEWS). Journal of Interprofessional Care.
2022 May 4;36(3):449-57.
2.Estrada AH, Samper J, Stefanou C, Blue A. Contemporary Challenges for Veterinary Medical Education: Examining
the State of Inter-Professional Education in Veterinary Medicine. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education. 2022 Feb
1;49(1):71-9.

10Veterinary Student’s Perspectives on the Effectiveness of CaseBased Learning
Waraporn Aumarmᵃ*, Sahatsa Mhundeeᵇ, Cherdsak Iramaneeratᵇ, Suchart Wattanachaiᶜᵃ Department of Companion Animal Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart
University, Bangkok 10900
ᵇ Health Science Education Program, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University,
Bangkok. 10700
ᶜ Division of Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen. 40002*waraporn.a@ku.th
Case-based learning (CBL) has been considered a teaching
method to enhance students' ability by allowing students tohave a learning experience with a virtual animal patient before
the clinical year. CBL was implemented in 4th and 5th-year
students, at Kasetsart University from 2014 to the present.
This
study
investigatedstudents'
perceptionoftheeffectiveness of CBL in four themes: professional knowledge,
communication, personal benefit, and facilitator. This study
explores students' perceptions via mixed quantitative andqualitative methods. The student perceptions were assessed
through the quantitative methodology of 23 items of 5 points
Likert-scale questionnaire in 300 samples from the 4th, 5th,
and 6th years of veterinary students. Survey delivering aquestionnaire via a Google form.
After the survey, three groups of each 4th, 5th, and 6th-year
student were randomized for focus group discussions tounderstandandexplainhow
CBL
affects
students'
competencies. Each group has a total of 6-8 students andequal members of male and female. Discussion took 60 to 90
minutes in each group.Data from the focus group wereanalyzed by thematic analysis with 3 experts.
The results of the quantitative part showed a positive
perception of CBL in all four themes of the questionnaires.
Enhanced professional knowledge and personal benefit were
founded in students who have a grade point average (GPA) lessthan 2.99 more than those with a higher GPA. The qualitative
part showed CBL expanded the student’s understanding,especially in farm animals and veterinary public health areas.
Moreover, this teaching method can improve clinicalreasoning, communication, and teamwork. However, the skillsof facilitators are essential to create a suitable environment for
promoting collaborative learning. In conclusion, CBL is aneffective teaching tool for enhancing veterinary students'
competency. Improvement of facilitators and case constructionis the suggestion for increasing the effectiveness of CBL.

11

Impact of Medium of Instruction, Schooling, Gender, andAcademic grades on Sensory Modalities of Veterinary
Undergraduate students in Pakistan
Khalid A Majeeda, Imtiaz Rabbaniᵃ*, Habib Rehmanᵃ, Hafsa Zanebᵇ, Abdullah A Saeedᵃᵃ Department of Physiology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 52254,
Pakistan.
ᵇ Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences,Lahore 52254, Pakistan.
*khalid.majeed@uvas.edu.pk
Veterinary education in Pakistan is facing challenges due to the diverse socio-economic andscholastic backgrounds of undergraduates in the context of their primary, secondary, andhigher secondary education. This study aimed to assess the relationship between academic
backgrounds, grades, and gender on the sensory modalities (learning preferences) ofveterinary students in Pakistan using a visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic(VARK) questionnaire.
First-year veterinary students (n=162) in the subject of ‘Veterinary Physiology’ were evaluatedfor their visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic learning preferences based on their medium
of instruction, type of schooling, gender, and academic grades. Data were presented inpercentages and median with first and third quartiles. The results showed that the occurrenceof Unimodal, Bimodal, Trimodal, and Quamodal learning styles was 40.7%, 27.2%, 21.6%, and10.5% respectively while the mean VARK scores were statistically significant (p<0.05) withhigher Aural (6.0(4.0-7.0)) and Kinesthetic (5.0(3.0-7.0)) scores compared to Visual (4.0(2.05.0)) and Read/Write (4.0(2.75-5.0)).
A significant difference between students from different mediums of instruction was observedfor Read/Write median scores (p<0.05). Aural scores between male (6.0(4.0-7.0)) and females(5.0(3.0-6.0)) was also significantly different (p=0.03). Interestingly, the learning modalities
did not vary based on schooling and academic grades.
Although these findings provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by veterinary
undergraduate students in Pakistan, the reliability of the VARK questionnaire, the intellect ofindividual students, and their ability to comprehend the questionnaire need further clarity.
Nevertheless, this study can be useful to address the core issues that pose challenges toveterinary education in Pakistan.

12

Development of a Low-Fidelity Sheep Caesarean Model for
Veterinary Education
Kate J Flayᵃ*, Susanna N Taylorᵇ, Rebecca SV Parkesᵃ, Gareth L Fitchᵃ, Santiago Al Sousaᵇᵃ Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
SARᵇ Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong
Kong, Hong Kong SAR*kateflay@cityu.edu.hk
A common surgical procedure performed by new graduate veterinarians in production animal
practice is a caesarean section. Performing a caesarean successfully requires thesimultaneous integration of multiple competencies that are taught throughout the veterinary
program. In Hong Kong, we face the additional challenge of a limited ruminant agriculturalindustry and more specifically, not having direct access to sheep because climatic conditions
are unsuitable for this species. This necessitates sheep clinical skills being taught using
models, overseas placements, or live goats when appropriate.
We aimed to develop a low-fidelity model to teach sheep caesarean section, integrated into
our Production Animal Clinical Studies course. Our model was built using readily available andinexpensive materials, enabling us to make enough models for hands-on individual student
experience. The body of the sheep was simulated with a plastic storage box, on the lid of thebox a rectangular opening was made to allow the placement of 4 layers of material (superficial
to deep): 1) Allevyn foam dressing (“skin”), 2) silicone layer (“external abdominal obliquemuscle”), 3) silicone layer (“internal abdominal oblique muscle”), 4) two silicon layers adhered(“transverse muscle and peritoneum”); finally the uterus was simulated using a 10 literpolyester dry-bag covered in liquid rubber. The fetus was simulated using a lamb soft toy
which had a 3D printed tarsus to enable the correct location for the uterine incision.
Alongside the models, we developed clinical skills sheets. The model has been assessed by alarge animal surgeon and students.
Feedback received from staff and students has been positive, and the overall cost of themodel was approximately US$150, with many parts reusable. In conclusion, we successfully
developed an affordable, effective model for teaching sheep caesarean sections in Hong
Kong, overcoming local challenges. The model has been well-received and further validationand improvement is ongoing.

13

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