Head of the class: Merck's donations advance equine education

Merck’s grants, valued at more than $50,000, highlight a longstanding partnership between the company and the WCVM. While Merck’s contributions have supported various initiatives over the years, the company’s most recent investment has made a significant impact on veterinary education.

Thanks to Merck, the BJ Hughes Centre for Clinical Learning — the college’s simulation centre — was able to purchase several additional high-tech models, including three equine nasogastric tubing systems. Manufactured by Veterinary Simulator Industries (VSI) in Calgary, Alta., each life-size model consists of a horse head and neck along with a portable stand.

The devices also function as venipuncture models, allowing students to practise blood draws, intravenous injections and catheter insertions.

“Having these models, like any simulation model, enhances the learning experience,” says Carolyn Cartwright, a registered veterinary technologist and manager of the BJ Hughes Centre.

While the models will be used to teach all levels of veterinary students, interns and residents, they will be an integral part of the equine gastrointestinal tubing lab. This skills-focused session is for second-year veterinary students in the college’s Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program.

Nasogastric intubation is a critical, often life-saving procedure used in equine colic cases to relieve stomach pressure and administer treatment. Veterinarians must be able to perform this procedure quickly and safely in a wide range of environments.

Traditionally, instructors relied on live horses to help introduce students to the “ins and outs” of the challenging procedure. But access to these new models now helps to minimize the use of the college’s teaching horses.

“The equine nasogastric tubing model will not only decrease, but potentially even eliminate the live horse use for that GI tubing lab,” says Cartwright, noting the procedure often causes discomfort for the horses.

“We’re protective of making sure that our animal use is necessary,” says Cartwright. “When the opportunity is there, we will utilize other methods of teaching for students to get those skills.”

The new models let students safely and repeatedly practise the procedure in a controlled environment — without the added stress of handling a horse.

“You might have that beginner learner that has never been around a horse, and then all of a sudden, you put a thousand-pound animal in front of them and they’re supposed to try to learn a new skill,” says Cartwright. “That’s very stressful.”

The simulation models offer logistical advantages for the simulation team. With numerous models, more students can practise their skills simultaneously. Since the models are mounted on portable stands, they’re easier to transport around the college’s facilities.

The equine models will be a welcome addition to the objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), practical, hands-on tests used to evaluate veterinary students’ clinical skills.

“Because it’s a standardized model and not a live animal, there’s less complexity for testing,” says Cartwright. “It’s not, ‘Oh, this horse was doing this and so it affected the students’ ability to complete the station.’”

In addition to the equine nasogastric models, Cartwright says Merck’s financial support has allowed the WCVM to purchase a variety of other simulation models. a bovine epidural tail model, a replacement gastrointestinal tract for its full-sized equine colic model, a bovine uterus model, a piglet model, and an equine reproductive tract model.

Cartwright explains that grants like the ones offered by Merck not only support the BJ Hughes Centre for Clinical Learning and its teaching labs, but they also help to support the overall college.

“We have an extensive list of supplies we need to expand the teaching program,” says Cartwright. “Grants like this free up funds that the college can put toward other opportunities.”

The benefits extend beyond the WCVM’s veterinary program. These models also play a role in extension and outreach programs, including student-led education events and community outreach.

In early February, second-year veterinary students had a chance to use the new models in an equine lab.

“There is a buzz — everybody’s very excited,” says Cartwright. “There isn’t anybody that doesn’t think this lab is hard on the horses and challenging for beginner learners, so these models will be a huge benefit.”

The purchase of the equine nasogastric models was made possible through financial support from Merck Animal Health Canada.