Progress 06/15/17 to 06/14/20
Outputs
Target Audience:During this report period we have worked to expand uptake of Open VetSim globally, and have made good inroads among veterinary educators. There has been great enthusiasm from veterinarians and veterinary nurses for the system.There are now over 20 physical simulators deployed around the globe, and many more individuals are using the Open VetSim software to train veterinary health professionals using static, low-fidelity mannequins. "Deep Dive" training events were held at Cornell University in Ithaca New York in January and November of 2019and were targeted at veterinary educators (both academics and private practitioners, veterinarians and veterinary nurses) who learned how to use Open VetSim to provide standardized veterinary CPR training based on the Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation (RECOVER) guidelines. These 2-day, hands on events each provided 32 attendees in-depth training on using Open VetSim, building simulators based on the platform, and designing training scenarios in the system. Training events were also held at 3 veterinary conferences in the US offfering similar 1-day training at the International Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Symposium (September 2019), the Veterinary Meeting and Expo (VMX, January 2020) and the Western Veterinary Conference (WVC, February 2020). Two international "Deep Dive" 2-day events were held in Edinburgh, UK (February2020) and Stockholm, Sweden (March 2020), and a demonstration of Open VetSim was done at the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists in Dublin, Ireland in March of 2020. Changes/Problems:The major change that has impacted outcome (b) as previously mentioned is the COVID pandemic. We are ready to run the planned study as soon as we are able to arrange the groups of students at Cornell and the University of Melbourne. We will not require any additional funding to complete this study and hope that we will be able to complete it in early spring of 2021. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training accomplishements fall under 2 broad categories: (1) training individuals how to use Open VetSim so that they can in turn train others, and (2) clinical training of veterinarians, veterinary nurses, and students using the Open VetSim platform. (1) Instructor Training As reported under "Target Audiences", in the last 12 months we have completed multiple training events for veterinary education professionals interested in using Open VetSim in their training programs. "Deep Dive" training events were held at Cornell University in Ithaca New York in January and November of 2019and were targeted at veterinary educators (both academics and private practitioners, veterinarians and veterinary nurses) who learned how to use Open VetSim to provide standardized veterinary CPR training based on the Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation (RECOVER) guidelines. These 2-day, hands on events each provided 32 attendees in-depth training on using Open VetSim, building simulators based on the platform, and designing training scenarios in the system. Training events were also held at 3 veterinary conferences in the US offfering similar 1-day training at the International Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Symposium (September 2019), the Veterinary Meeting and Expo (VMX, January 2020) and the Western Veterinary Conference (WVC, February 2020). Two international "Deep Dive" 2-day events were held in Edinburgh, UK (February2020) and Stockholm, Sweden (March 2020), and a demonstration of Open VetSim was done at the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists in Dublin, Ireland in March of 2020. (2) Veterinary Clinical Training The Open VetSim platform has been used around the world in the last 12 months to provide clinical training for veterinarians, veterinary nurses, and students. A small sample of the impacted learnersinclude: Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine: 120 students and approximately 60 veterinary nurses and house officers are trained in CPR each year using the Open VetSim platform. University of Melbourne veterinary students and house officers State University of New York Delhi veterinary technology students Standardized veterinary CPR training is offered annually using Open VetSim at the following veterinary conferences: The Veterinary Medical Expo Western Veterinary Conference Southwest Veterinary Symposium International Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Symposium The same standardized training using Open VetSim was offered in the previous 12 months in Japan, Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, China, Australia, and Mexico. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As discussed on the "Other Products" page, the Open VetSim software platform has been released under the Gnu GPL 3.0 open source license via a Github repository (https://github.com/OpenVetSimDevelopers). The hardware designs have also been released vua our developer web site (https://vetsim.net). As discussed above in the training and professional development section of this report, we have presented locally, nationally, and internatonally on Open VetSim and are making good inroads in the veterinary education communication. Dr. Fletcher was scheduled to be the keynote speaker for the International Veterinary Simulaion for Training (InVEST) conference in Granada to present Open VetSim(https://www.sgu.edu/news-and-events/events/invest-2020-international-veterinary-simulation-in-teaching/#speakers), but unfortunayely the conference has been delayed due to COVID-19. Once completed, the study we have planned comparing didactic and simulation training will be published in a veterinary education journal. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal (a)completing development of an open-source, flexible, high-fidelity, immersive simulation software and hardware platform. This goal has been achieved as descibed in the "Other Products" section. A complete and functional Open VetSim 1.0 software platform has been completed and is available through a Github repository. The hardware designs for the physical simulator have also been made available via our developer site. Details about access to these products are available in the "Other Products" section of this repiort. To date, over 20 simulators have been constructed and deployed at institutions in the US, Europe, Asia, and South America. The platform has proved to be robust and reproducible. Goal (b)comparing the efficacy of this platform for preparing naïve students to manage emergently-presenting patients with hemodynamic or respiratory instability with traditional, lecture-based training We were scheduled to complete data collection on this multi-instituional study at Cornell and the University of Melbourne in the spring of 2020. Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to delay this project to, at the earliest, the winter of 2021. The materials needed for the study, including the didactic lecture content and simulations, are ready for use, but with restrictions on gatherings of students in both the US and Australia, we have had to delay data collection. We anticipate completion of this goal by the end of 2021, pending availability of a vaccine and relaxing of restrictions. Goal (c)disseminating the software code and hardware designs via a project web site and GitHub repository to the veterinary education community to lower the barriers to entry for resource constrained veterinary training programs to incorporate immersive simulation technologies into their curricula and to encourage continued development of the platform by creation of an open-source community to support the platform. This goal has been achieved as previously described. We have released the software under a GNU General Public License 3.0, and have provided training on the use of the platform in the context of veterinary CPR training to over 120 individuals through a combination of training events at Cornell University and at national and international training events in the US, UK, Sweden,Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and South America. We are currently in the process of making modifications to the Open VetSim software platform to allow implementation of tele-simulation via web conference using other funding. The flexibility of the platform developed under this USDA project has allowed us to design and begin implementation of remote training that will provide opportunities for meaningful immersive simulation training during the current limitations imposed by the pandemic. This will further broaden our reach and the impact of the system.
Publications
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