Pregnancy diagnosis in the bitch is routinely performed using ultrasound and is therefore an important skill for veterinarians to have been exposed to during undergraduate training. Proficiency of this skill is difficult to achieve, due to limited exposure to suitable live patients, and animal welfare considerations limiting repeated performance on the same bitch. Models have been beneficial in allowing undergraduates to perform a range of ultrasound techniques without the use of live animals. Using clinical veterinarians and a model created at the University of Surrey, cognitive task analysis (CTA) was used to construct a list of instructional steps required to perform ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis. Experts were asked to evaluate the existing model then video recorded while demonstrating the skill on the model as if teaching a novice student. Anonymized and muted video footage along with transcribed audio files were used to create a draft teaching protocol. A group consensus for the final teaching protocol was developed following a semi-structured interview.

The final teaching protocol had 23 steps to guide a novice to perform this skill, broken down into three stages; set-up and preparation, pregnancy identification, and estimation of gestational age. Not all steps were both performed and verbalized by all of the experts, hence the need for a panel discussion to confirm a final teaching protocol. This study demonstrated that CTA is useful in compiling a comprehensive list of steps, for a teaching protocol, including those which may have been missed if demonstrated through a lone subject matter expert.