Lucy McMahon
Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists, Winchester, UK
Richard L. Meeson
Department of Clinical Science and Services, The Royal Veterinary College, London, UK
Ivan Newman
Specialist Study Skills Tutor, Dyslexia Assessment & Consultancy Ltd, London, UK
Andrea Volk
Lecturer in Veterinary Dermatology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Holger A. Volk
Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Preface
The second edition of our book has been a wonderful opportunity to update relevant content, expand the areas of clinical practice discussed and, perhaps most importantly, improve the layout and formatting using Universal Design for Learning principles. This edition has benefited from extensive reader feedback about the first edition which we are very grateful for. We hope that this second edition will help enhance clinical and professional reasoning skills of veterinary students and veterinarians around the world. Keep on problem‐solving!
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to the support and feedback we have received from veterinary students and colleagues at the RVC and the Centre for Veterinary Education at the University of Sydney. Special thanks to Alex Currie, Sue Bennett and Karen Humm who all provided insightful input or feedback. We are particularly grateful to Dr Ivan Newman, whose work with students with learning differences has been seminal in the development of the format of the book to enhance its accessibility for all.
CHAPTER 1 Learning to learn and its relevance to logical clinical problem‐solving
Ivan Newman
Specialist Study Skills Tutor, Dyslexia Assessment & Consultancy Ltd, London, UK
The why
Animals present to veterinarians with clinical signs, not diagnoses. Therefore, the aim of this book is to enhance your clinical reasoning skills by providing you with a consistent and transferable problem‐solving framework that can be applied to common clinical signs in veterinary practice.
Most of the chapters relate to small animal practice, but there are also chapters demonstrating how to use the problem‐solving framework in exotic animals and horses as well as a chapter discussing a framework for professional reasoning.
Before we start, though, we should review why having a consistent problem‐solving framework can be so powerful for veterinary students starting on their clinical journey as well as veterinarians who have knowledge and experience but may struggle when medical cases become more complex or unusual.
Learn more effectively
This chapter will help you learn more effectively, both to build your veterinary knowledge and more generally. Of course, as learning carries on beyond graduation, many of the ideas described here will be useful for years to come and so are relevant to those of you who may be studying for post‐graduate qualifications. The chapter examines:
How we learn – using our senses in combination to boost memorisation
How to use this book
Study skills strategies for veterinary knowledge.
Let’s get going
How do we learn? Our five senses play a major part in how and what we learn, as much of what we learn is based on memory; using them together results in much better memory outcomes than only using one or even two senses.
Consider this sequence of learning something new: reading alone; reading with hearing; reading with hearing plus kinaesthetic (doing or acting out); reading with hearing plus kinaesthetic (doing or acting out) and repetition. As we proceed through this sequence, we understand and remember more and for longer (Flanagan 1996) – what could be called the ‘staircase’ of memorisation.
We remember:
20% of what we read
30% of what we hear
40% of what we see
50% of what we say
60% of what we do
And as much as 90% of what we read, hear, say, see and do.
That last bullet point is worth emphasising; we can achieve exceptional results by combining multiple senses (see Figure 1.1).
Of particular relevance to this book, placing information within ‘frameworks’ further boosts memorisation. In the context of veterinary studies, imagine you are in a lecture, in person or online, and the presenter just verbally describes a procedure step‐by‐step. How much do you remember? Perhaps not too much. Now imagine that the presenter talks you through the procedure step‐by‐step using a diagram, ideally using colour. Are you likely to remember more? Probably. Now imagine that you later talk yourself through the procedure, using your finger to trace the diagram’s steps. Is your memory better? Again, probably. Now additionally you perform the procedure either in mime or a practical session. How is your recall now? Quite likely better still. Finally, if you add in teaching the procedure to someone else, you will achieve the highest level of memorisation.
Figure 1.2 illustrates this idea of increasing ability to memorise. Note that the graphic itself provides a sequence/framework that can be learned, and it uses colour and directional symbols to support the above description and underlying concept.
Figures 1.1 and 1.2 embody alternative representations of broadly the same idea. This repetition is intentional; repetition is important in building memory, especially if that repetition occurs multiple times shortly after original exposure to the material (Ebbinghaus 1885; Flanagan 1996). This is one of the key elements of the problem‐solving framework we will discuss – repetition and consistency of clinical reasoning steps regardless of the clinical problem.
Figure 1.1 Visual representation of the staircase of memorisation.
