ABSTRACT: This article describes our experiences developing flipped classroom resources to help veterinary nursing and veterinary students prepare for animal handling and clinical skills practicals. The process involved planning, deciding what to include in the flipped component, providing training for the team, adopting a standardised template for the design and developing resources for the learning activities. A series of flipped classrooms has been developed for use by our students and these are being added to our open-access website for the wider community.

Author(s)

Louisa Mitchard RVN

Specialist Technician

Louisa worked in first opinion small animal practice for several years after obtaining her veterinary nursing qualification. She joined Bristol University in 2004 and worked primarily in research. In 2018, she joined the Clinical Skills Lab (CSL) team as a teaching technician and is currently working as a specialist technician. She is involved in teaching practical animal handling and clinical skills to vet¬erinary nursing and veterinary students, is responsible for setting up practical classes and examining Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). She has a particular interest in developing flipped classrooms to help students prepare for practicals.

Email: louisa.mitchard@bristol.ac.uk

Alison Catterall AFHEA

Specialist Technician

University of Bristol, UK, Alison is an experienced Teaching Technician and has worked at Bristol Vet School since 2003. She has responsibility for the day to day management of the Clinical Skills Labs (CSLs) and ensuring efficient delivery of teaching and assessments for staff and students. She is heavily involved in teaching practical skills and running and examining Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). She has also been involved in several research and development projects focussed on enhancing student learning of clinical skills e.g. making innovative models, evaluating new approaches to teaching and gathering feedback on ways to improve the CSL as an active learning space for students.

Sam Brown RVN

Specialist Technician (Teaching)

Qualifying as a RVN in 1992, Sam started working for Bristol Vet School in 1999 where she worked as a Veterinary Nurse in the Small Animal First Opinion practice at Langford. In 2017 Sam joined the Clinical Skills Team at Bristol as a teaching technician bringing her experience and knowledge of clinical skills. Her role involves teaching practical skills and running and examining Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). She has been involved with research projects including; ‘Evaluating the Clinical Skills Lab’.

Sam has chaired and lectured at BSAVA Congress. She is a Personal Tutor to veterinary nurses and is a qualified clinical coach.

Lucy Gray RVN

Teaching Technician

Lucy worked in first opinion and referral small animal practice for several years after obtaining her veterinary nursing qualification. She joined Bristol University in 2020 to work within the Clinical Skills Lab (CSL) team as a teaching technician. She is involved in teaching practical animal handling and clinical skills to veterinary nursing and veterinary students, is responsible for setting up practical classes and examining Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). She has a particular interest in developing interactive online learning material to help students prepare for practicals.

Lucy Squire BSc BVSc MRCVS FHEA

Teaching Associate

Lucy graduated with a BVSc from Bristol Veterinary School in 2015 and as student led the development of a peer-assisted learning initiative, involving students teaching other students clinical skills and revision topics. After 2 years in small animal practice,she returned to Bristol Vet School as a Veterinary Clinical Demonstrator, teaching first opinion skills to veterinary nursing and veterinary students. Lucy is involved in teaching a wide variety of practical skills and is the staff lead on several practicals including small animal handling, surgical preparation and surgical skills. She has a particular interest in maximising student engagement in practicals through flipped classrooms and peer-assisted learning.

Sarah O’Shaughnessy

Sarah graduated with BVetMed (Hons) from the Royal Veterinary College in 2013. After 3 years in primary care practice, she completed two small animal rotating internships; one in a private referral centre in the South of England and another with the University of Bristol. From this point onwards she stayed with the University as a teaching associate. Sarah’s teaching focus is upon small animal medicine and diagnostic imaging, and she currently lectures on fluid therapy She is involved in teaching a wide range of practical skills from canine physical examination to abdominal ultrasonography and is particularly interested in the role of simulation and interprofessional learning within veterinary education.

Professor Sarah Baillie BVSc, PhD, PFHEA, MRCVS

Emeritus Professor ofVeterinary Education

Sarah worked as a vet in clinical practice for many years before doing a PhD in computer science when she developed virtual reality simulators for training veterinary students. Recently, Sarah led a major curriculum review at Bristol Veterinary School. Sarah is passionate about clinical skills teaching and was responsible for opening the clinical skills laboratory at Bristol and integrating associated teaching and assessment throughout the curriculum. She has a diverse portfolio of educational research including clinical skills, work-based learning, flipped classroom and mental wellbeing. Sarah is now an Emeritus Professor and enjoys dedicating more time to veterinary education research and collaborations around the world.

Keywords: flipped classroom; clinical skills

To cite this article: Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 36 (09)• September 2021 pp285-287

To gain access to this article, select one of the links below:

I am a BVNA member

I am accessing through my Institute

I am paying to gain access to this article