ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF VETERINARY EDUCATION

Vivek M. Patil and M.M. Appannavar

Starting from the middle of the 20^th Century, information has become a commodity. Those best able to access information will be more successful than their peers in their future careers. Technological competence will be as important as medical competence to practice at the highest levels. Advances in computer technology have made access to veterinary and medical databases much simpler than in the past. It is quite likely that in the future, it will be a malpractice for practitioners not to access online information essential to the treatment of their patients. Wireless digital transfer of information will make access to necessary information independent of time and place.

Veterinary medicine and educational delivery are becoming an increasingly international market. Those who are prepared to deliver material in this manner will have a competitive advantage. Use of digital technologies will allow veterinary colleges to share information, including class material, more efficiently. This will enable each college to market specific educational information for students at other veterinary colleges or continuing education modules to graduate veterinarians around the world. On-line certificate programmes in specific veterinary topics will be developed. Use of computer technologies can enrich the teaching environment. By digitizing library, classroom, and laboratory visual images, students can access these materials at any time or place, freeing them from library and classroom schedules. Medical colleges have found that students heavily use these image resources. Computer technologies provide both horizontal and vertical integration of the professional curriculum, allowing students to explore information to the depth at which they are comfortable, without regard to their “year of study” in a traditional “linear” curriculum. Allowing students to see future applications of current learning material provides additional incentive to master basic material. Computers are a tool, just like a textbook, notebook, or calculator.

Application of Information Technology within the Veterinary Curriculum:

· A communication link between students or between students and faculty. For this to be effective it is very important that students and faculty share the same email platform. Different platforms result in information degradation, including loss or scrambling of attachments.

· Access to veterinary and agricultural databases.

· Provision of on-line veterinary courses, as a substitute for all or part of select courses enhanced learning. This should allow a change in faculty student interaction from lectures to discussion sections. The University must address accounting of credit hour assignments to non-traditional courses.

· Provision of supplemental information for courses, allowing students to review text and images of instructional material. Provision of material in this manner has resulted in high student use in other professional programs.

· Provision of class notes on-line or on CD’s. This provides students an easily searchable database of their veterinary education.

· On-line course and instructor evaluations. These are more easily summarized than current evaluation models.

· On-line testing. Some colleges allow students to take exams at any time over a several day period while others still require students to show up at a room for a proctored on-line exam. Exams can be structured to enhance test security. Examinations can also be given in stages, asking students to make decisions as material is presented. Non-linear testing allows answers to affect test patient progress, more closely simulating the true clinical environment.

Advances in Information Technology to improve the Veterinary Teaching Hospital

Information Technology in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) consists of three components: Patient medical information, medical procedure costs, and all images associated with the patient. Medical diagnostic equipment will be interfaced directly into this web-based system. All computerized radiographic imaging modalities are capable of having the images they produce input directly into a picture archival system. The advantages of such a system are:

· Improved treatment of disease through practice of evidence-based medicine.

· Increase operational efficiency of the VTH faculty and staff through instant access to medical records and images.

· Teleconferencing for medical rounds via the internet to share case material and medical specialists between universities.

· Eliminate revenue losses from dictation, transcription, phone consultation and mailing radiographs and reports to consulting veterinarians.

· Increased revenue through worldwide telemedicine and continuing education using data and images.

· Cost effectiveness studies can be accomplished because of the electronic cost information associated with medical procedures.

· College and faculty recognition by peers and peer institutions for their innovative use of information technology in veterinary medicine.

· Publications in peer reviewed journals on applications of information technology.

· Partnerships with private companies interested in development and application of information technology in veterinary medicine.

· Educational opportunities for residents and interns to interact with private practitioners will be greatly enhanced.

· Increase revenue to the College through sales of medical data to industry. eg. computer based data on infectious agents and the minimum inhibitory concentrations of infectious organisms or antibiotic resistance.

· Radiographic images searchable and accessible from anywhere immediately.

Critical Issues for Success:

· Optimal configuration: A coordinated project plan will be developed, including acquisition strategy, software load determination, configuration, deployment, and effective communication of requirements to current and future students. Standardization of computer platforms, both hardware and software, will be necessary to minimize support personnel needs.

· Connectivity: New, broader bandwidth multichannel wireless communication capabilities will make hardwiring and renovation of existing infrastructure unnecessary. Server strategies for teaching needs will have be developed. In addition, remote access needs (from homes, farms etc.) will need to be addressed.

· Support services: This will include instructional design support for faculty and software and hardware support for all users. Development of a consistent set of tools for class design to decrease support needs will ease access to information by students. It will also facilitate curricular integration and provide collaborative tools for groups of faculty. Support needs of students will include initial training which can be incorporated into the students’ initial curriculum. This will address diversity of computer competency in the incoming class. An additional training session will be needed prior to the beginning of clinical training on the use of personal digital assistance devices in the hospital environment.

Thus, Information Technology is dramatically altering education in schools and colleges, and veterinary education cannot remain insulated from its advances. It is essential that we embrace this advanced technology to increase the effectiveness of teaching and veterinary hospital management.

Excerpt from 'Information Technology in Veterinary Science' (2009), New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi. ISBN 978-81-908512-4-4. More details here.