Dorrestein Linda, Jansen Jolanda, Plagis Tessa, Ritter Caroline, Vertenten Geert, Barkema Herman W
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
St. Anna Advies, Beuningen, Netherlands.
Front Vet Sci. 2023 Jul 19;10:1192598. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1192598. eCollection 2023.
Effective clinical communication is essential for bovine veterinary practitioners to establish and maintain positive client relationships. When applied properly in herd health consultancy, it increases client satisfaction and adherence to veterinary advice, and improves patient health and welfare. Although communication skills are often taught by providing feedback on simulated conversations, this has limitations, including time constraints, subjective assessments, and cost. The Veterinary DialogueTrainer (VDT) is an online serious game platform using 'digital role-play' with avatars, recently developed to enhance and assess learning outcomes, improve use of learned skills, and increase cost-effectiveness of communication training. The objective was to evaluate its suitability and applicability. Finnish ( = 24) and Swedish ( = 21) bovine veterinarians participated in communication training using VDT for training and assessment. Participants completed the provided scenario at least twice. After playing a bovine health communication simulation, participants received their scores and feedback on selected conversation options. VDT scores measured multiple aspects of communication on a 0-100% scale, based on motivational interviewing methodology and Calgary-Cambridge guidelines. Mean (±SD) number of attempts participants played the scenario was 4.1 (±2.6, Finland) and 3.9 (±1.3, Sweden), with highest total score reached after a mean of 3.5 (±2.1, Finland) and 3.1 (±1.1, Sweden) attempts. On the first attempt, 39 participants (87%) scored <50% of the highest possible score, whereas most ( = 34, 76%) achieved a higher score on the second attempt. Mean total score increased from 15 (±14) to 77% (±33) for Finish participants and from 40 (±22.0) to 87% (±19.4) for Swedish participants. The majority ( = 33, 73%) of participants reached a score >80% after 4.0 (±1.6, Finland) or 2.8 (±1.0, Sweden) attempts. Net Promoter Score of the training was +89 (Finland), +88 (Finland) and + 83 (Sweden) on a scale from -100 to +100, indicating that most participants were very likely to recommend the training to other veterinarians. Use of VDT increased communication skills scores but whether it will improve communication skills in practice requires further study. We concluded there is a likely benefit of using the VDT in teaching and monitoring veterinary communication competencies and preparing for offline role-plays and real-life conversations in veterinary practice.
有效的临床沟通对于牛兽医从业者建立和维持积极的客户关系至关重要。在畜群健康咨询中正确应用时，它能提高客户满意度和对兽医建议的依从性，并改善动物的健康和福利。尽管沟通技巧通常通过对模拟对话提供反馈来传授，但这存在局限性，包括时间限制、主观评估和成本问题。兽医对话训练器（VDT）是一个在线严肃游戏平台，使用带有虚拟角色的“数字角色扮演”，最近开发出来用于增强和评估学习成果、提高所学技能的应用，并提高沟通培训的成本效益。目的是评估其适用性和实用性。24名芬兰和21名瑞典的牛兽医参与了使用VDT进行的沟通培训及评估。参与者至少完成两次提供的场景。在进行牛健康沟通模拟后，参与者会收到他们的分数以及关于所选对话选项的反馈。VDT分数基于动机访谈方法和卡尔加里 - 剑桥指南，在0 - 100%的范围内衡量沟通的多个方面。参与者玩该场景的平均（±标准差）尝试次数在芬兰为4.1（±2.6）次，在瑞典为3.9（±1.3）次，平均在3.5（±2.1，芬兰）和3.1（±1.1，瑞典）次尝试后达到最高总分。在第一次尝试时，39名参与者（87%）的得分低于最高可能得分的50%，而大多数（34名，76%）在第二次尝试时获得了更高的分数。芬兰参与者的平均总分从15%（±14）提高到77%（±33），瑞典参与者从40%（±22.0）提高到87%（±19.4）。大多数（33名，73%）参与者在4.0（±1.6，芬兰）或2.8（±1.0，瑞典）次尝试后得分超过80%。培训的净推荐值在芬兰为 +89，在瑞典为 +88和 +83，范围是从 -100到 +100，这表明大多数参与者非常可能向其他兽医推荐该培训。使用VDT提高了沟通技能分数，但它是否会在实际中改善沟通技能还需要进一步研究。我们得出结论，在兽医实践中使用VDT进行教学、监测兽医沟通能力以及为线下角色扮演和现实生活对话做准备可能是有益的。
