Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210.
Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210.
J Dairy Sci. 2019 Oct;102(10):9236-9240. doi: 10.3168/jds.2019-16515. Epub 2019 Aug 7.
Transrectal palpation of the reproductive tract is the most common method for pregnancy determination in cattle and is considered a veterinary skill that new veterinary medicine (DVM) graduates should perform proficiently. However, using privately owned cattle to train students can be difficult because producers may believe that transrectal palpation by inexperienced students increases the risk of pregnancy wastage compared with examination by an experienced clinician. We used a randomized field trial of 1,216 healthy Holstein and Jersey cattle in 2 commercial dairy herds to estimate the effect of veterinary student transrectal palpation on early pregnancy loss. All cattle were determined to be pregnant using transrectal ultrasonography at approximately 37 d after artificial insemination. Cattle were then allocated into 2 groups based upon their ear tag number (study group = 598; control group = 618). Cattle in the study group were immediately palpated after ultrasonography by a fourth-year veterinary student, whereas control cattle were not subject to any additional pregnancy assessment. For analysis, the student palpators were divided into 2 groups: students who had previously had formal palpation training via an elective bovine palpation class (n = 30) and students who had not had palpation training (n = 134). All cattle were reevaluated using transrectal ultrasonography approximately 70 d after artificial insemination. A total of 53 (4.36%) animals lost their pregnancy between the first and second pregnancy assessments. Of the animals that lost their pregnancy, 26 (4.35%) were study group cows and 27 (4.37%) were control cows. Of the 26 cows documented to have had pregnancy loss within the study group, 20 out of 378 (5.3%) had been palpated by students who had not taken the palpation elective and 6 out of 220 (2.7%) had been palpated by students who had completed the elective. We found no difference in pregnancy loss between student-palpated and clinician-ultrasounded cattle, supporting the safety of using privately owned animals for student bovine palpation and pregnancy diagnosis training without affecting early pregnancy loss.
经直肠触诊生殖道是牛妊娠判定最常用的方法，被认为是兽医专业（DVM）毕业生应熟练掌握的兽医技能。然而，使用私人拥有的牛来培训学生可能比较困难，因为生产者可能认为与经验丰富的临床医生检查相比，未经经验的学生进行经直肠触诊会增加妊娠损失的风险。我们采用 2 个商业奶牛场的 1216 头健康荷斯坦和泽西牛的随机现场试验，估算兽医学生经直肠触诊对早期妊娠损失的影响。所有牛在人工授精后约 37d 通过经直肠超声检查确定妊娠。然后根据耳标号将牛分为 2 组（研究组=598 头；对照组=618 头）。研究组牛在超声检查后立即由四年级兽医学生进行触诊，而对照组牛不进行任何额外的妊娠评估。为了进行分析，将学生触诊者分为 2 组：以前通过选修的牛触诊课程接受过正式触诊培训的学生（n=30）和未接受过触诊培训的学生（n=134）。所有牛在人工授精后约 70d 再次通过经直肠超声检查进行评估。第一次和第二次妊娠评估之间共有 53 头（4.36%）动物流产。在流产的动物中，26 头（4.35%）来自研究组牛，27 头（4.37%）来自对照组牛。在研究组记录到妊娠丢失的 26 头牛中，20 头（5.3%）由未参加触诊选修课程的学生触诊，6 头（2.7%）由完成选修课程的学生触诊。我们未发现学生触诊牛和临床医生超声检查牛的妊娠丢失率有差异，支持在不影响早期妊娠丢失的情况下，使用私人拥有的动物进行学生牛触诊和妊娠诊断培训的安全性。
