Taking Swine Medicine Education into the Virtual World

Faculty at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine are laying the groundwork to teach students swine-medicine skills using virtual telehealth technology, a method that could reinforce biosecurity while allowing students to see more cases than they would using traditional approaches to teaching veterinary skills.

The use of telehealth, a suite of electronic and telecommunication technologies, to supplement the teaching of veterinary students is still in its infancy, but the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the use and acceptance of telehealth technologies since early 2020.

A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture has allowed veterinarians at Iowa State's Swine Medicine Education Center (SMEC) to partner with livestock precision farming company Distynct and the VetNOW veterinary telehealth platform to test the waters. The partnership led to a successful proof-of-concept test in October during which a participant successfully learned how to draw blood from a pig while receiving instruction from a remote veterinarian via telehealth technology.

ISU veterinarians are developing further technological capabilities and foresee a bright future for telehealth in veterinary medicine.

"Telehealth is the direction we're headed. It's the future," said Kristin Skoland, program specialist at SMEC. "Especially with the pandemic, people are used to being at home and using conferencing technology to be able to gain access to resources."

'Shot in the arm' from the pandemic

SMEC received a USDA-NIFA veterinary services grant program award of $240,000 to begin exploring veterinary applications for telehealth technology before the coronavirus pandemic, but the pandemic sent those efforts into overdrive. The pandemic limited the accessibility veterinarians had to farms, and, at the same time, people all over the world embraced video conferencing technology almost overnight. Both factors made it clear that telehealth had a role to play in veterinary medicine, said Locke Karriker, Morill Professor of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine and SMEC director.

"Before the pandemic, telehealth was really in a fledgling state in the swine medicine world," Karriker said. "The pandemic gave the project a shot in the arm."

Meredith Petersen, a postdoctoral research associate for SMEC, took on the task of developing telehealth capabilities as part of her doctoral project. She immediately saw the technology's potential to provide a range of benefits for livestock producers, veterinarians and veterinary students.

For instance, Petersen said veterinary students can gain access to more facilities virtually than they can in the real world, allowing them to see more animals and review more cases than they would with strictly in-person and on-site instruction. Fourth-year veterinary students participate in two-week clinical rotations on farms to gain hands-on experience. Petersen foresees a future in which telehealth technology expands on the rotation experience, allowing students to see what's happening on farms outside of the two weeks designated for their rotations.

Telehealth technology also allows for more students to tour facilities that may limit access due to strict biosecurity measures. For instance, in the swine industry, boar studs are kept under strict biosecurity due to their value. Telehealth might allow for more students to see how such facilities are run without being physically present.