Abstract
Being able to apply the principles of clinical epidemiology to farm animal practice is essential for the delivery of effective herd health management (HHM) and is an important skill for veterinary undergraduates to develop. To do this efficiently, students need to gain exposure working with a range of commonly-used software such as Interherd (Pan Livestock Services) or Total Vet (Sum-IT) to interrogate real-life data; explaining patterns of disease, integrating their findings with on-farm observations and recognising opportunities for intervention. Use of such software is often not intuitive and students consistently find getting-to-grips with using them to apply basic principles of clinical epidemiology a challenge. Examples of common epidemiological challenges include; • Applying the concepts of incidence and prevalence • Identifying the “at-risk” population • Applying an appropriate lag period • Developing a logical approach to data analysis Examples of common software challenges; • Importing farm data • Successfully navigating the menus to identify the correct report • Understanding the different terminology used to describe the same parameters A series of short “how-to guides” and “walk-throughs” are being developed using Mediasite Desktop Recorder (Sonic foundry inc), which simultaneously records screen footage and audio, in order to address these challenges. These will be made available through the University of Bristol’s online learning environment to support population medicine teaching during final year farm animal rotations, and reinforce existing workshops on applied clinical epidemiology and HHM delivered in second and fourth year, respectively. Student access will be tracked to assess engagement and an online questionnaire is planned to assess the impact.