engleski

Influence of increase of usage of animal models as replacement of alive animals in teaching artifitial insemination of cows on non-return rate of cows and heifers in Croatia

The nature of veterinary work in health management in Europe has changed over the past decades and will change even more dramatically in the near future. The consumers and the media show increasing concern about animal welfare, safety of products of animal origin and traceability of animal products. In the same time due to globalization of food market there is increased risk for spreading of numerous infectious deseases and potential zoonoses. Furthermore, selection for milk production and predminance of very sensitive and subfertile Holstein Frieseian cows in EU gives veterinary profession an extra challenge. Similar situation is presented to veterinary surgeonts in Croatia due our involvement in EU trends and our efforts to uniform our milk production according to EU standards and legislation. Keeping in mind all numbered factors, there is a strong need to involve alternatives and animal models instead live animals in teaching clinical disciplines for future veterinarians due to welfare and biosecurity demands. Driven by a combination of pedagogical, ethical and economic factors, the use of simulation technology and other alternatives to traditional training methods has become increasingly common in veterinary education as a means to teach basic and advanced concepts along with technical skills. When paired with wellstructured and supervised clinical training on animal patients, these modern methodologies help educators fill gaps left by conventional methods, reduce and replace the consumptive use of live animals, and ultimately result in the graduation of more confident and proficient veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and allied health personnel. The aim of the study is to determine whether introduction of animal models (interactive DVD materials, sylicone models, chilled slaughterhouse materials, dolls and phantoms, plastinated organs) as a partial replacement of alive animals due to welfare and biosecurity issues, did influence quality of veterinary services in practice. As a parameter of veterinary service we used official data for non-return after AI in cows, collected by Croatian ministry of agriculture and Croatian Veterinary Chamber. Since different animal models were introduced gradually from 1995 till nowdays, we used interval of 8 years (1995- 2003) to determine whether such influence exists, is it positive or negative and how to interprete it for future improvement of clinical veterinary education. First level of usage of animal models that are traditionally used at our clinical department involved slaughterhouse material (bovine female urogenital tract) combined with alive cows were used exclusively till 2000. Second level of usage of animal models involved enrichment of clinical education with computer simulations and artifitial syllicone cow model for teaching pregnancy diagnostics, artifitial insemination and embryotransfer tehniques called „Breeding Betsy“ were gradually introduced from 2000- 2003. Data for both intervals (1995-2000 versus 2000-2003) were compared and analysed using statistical package ANOVA and explained due to its relevance. Although there is no statistically significant difference in non- return of cows and heifers after insemination at family farms of Croatia , before and after enrichment of clinical training of future veterinary surgeonts using computer simulations and simulation models, there is neither negative influence although number of used alive animals has decreased due to welfare and biosecurity demands. Use of simulators have distinct advantages over traditional laboratories that use cadavers or live animals. Ethical, cost-eff ective, and portable simulators are provided along with autotutorial lessons for each student to use when and where they choose. Thus, practice time can be tailored to the individual student. Some students without prior surgical experience or tuned psychomotor skills may require more time or repetitions to become adept at a skill. In most traditional surgery laboratories, only one animal is provided for three or more students, and the exercise is conducted only during specific supervised laboratory settings. Time restrictions and the laboratory environment may not be as conducive for learning for some students. Simulators allow repetitive practice and this helps strengthen motor skills and increase confidence and efficiency. Similarly, experience performing procedures on live animals and learning anatomy and pathology through cadaver dissection are as vital in veterinary medicine as they are in human medicine, but neither method alone can provide for suffi cient repetition to instil the requisite proficiency and confidence in trainees without using unacceptably large numbers of animals. Clinical experience with live animals often does not provide the range of experiences that simulators can be designed to provide, as students may never have the opportunity to witness certain conditions or perform certain procedures during their clinical experience. Although there is no animal model that can succesfully and completely replace alive animals, according to our results, we can conclude that decrease of usage of alive animals due to welfare and biosecurity issues and its replacement with animal models didn't have negative influence on quality of practical veterinary work in the field of artifitial insemination of cows in Croatia.

animal models; nonreturn; artifitial insemination; veterinary education

nije evidentirano