The bovine pregnancy diagnosis challenge: evidence-based evolution of a teaching intervention over 8 years of use

This article describes the implementation of an educational intervention, ‘bovine pregnancy diagnosis challenge’ over an 8-year period, and how evidence-based changes were applied to ensure the best learning outcome for bovine pregnancy diagnosis (PD) via transrectal palpation. With the worldwide shift from mainly knowledge-based to competency-based veterinary courses, many new and innovative teaching interventions have been introduced into veterinary education. These teaching interventions include but are not limited to simulators, models, virtual realities, applications, and computer-assisted learning tools; of which, many have been implemented into various veterinary training programs. While these advances are noteworthy, the question still remains as to whether or not the implementation of these teaching interventions is optimal. Do we know the ‘when,’ ‘who’, and ‘how’ of a specific intervention that will optimize the educational outcome? The described evolution of the bovine PD challenge shows how these questions were investigated for transrectal palpation skills, and how changes were implemented to optimize student training. This is an example of an approach that could be applied widely for validation and skills training investigations within veterinary education to optimize learning outcomes.