Welcome to the Research Guide for VTN 3080: Professional Communication Skills in Veterinary Medicine!
In this guide we will examine:
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VTN 3080: Professional Communication Skills in Veterinary Medicine FINAL REFLECTIVE ESSAY ASSIGNMENT Worth 150 points
Introduction & Assignment Purpose Over the course of this semester, you have been learning many valuable communication skills and models that you can utilize to enhance your oral and written communication in your professional and personal life. The purpose of this essay is to allow you to reflect upon the oral communication skills you have learned, and how you have applied them this semester in working with your team as well as in other situations, like work. Reflective writing has been shown in medical education literature to be crucial in fostering reasoning skills and awareness in clinical situations. The power of reflection is even more critical, given the increasing complexity of modern healthcare, requiring medical professionals to develop advanced skills beyond the technical and clinical ones.¹
Instructions 1. Reflect on the oral communication skills and models you have learned in this course; specifically: a. Core Skills for Building trust i. Open ended questions ii. iii. iv. Reflective listening Empathy Nonverbal communication b. Other Core Skills i. Eliciting perspective ii. Signposting c. Feedback i. CC-BID model d. Conflict management i. A.I.R. model e. Difficult client interactions f. Courageous conversations/sharing bad news
2. Write a reflective essay in which you will incorporate the following three elements: a. Discuss what went well (WWW) with utilizing these skills with a) your team and b) in other situations like work. b. Discuss what would have been even better yet (EBY) relating to the skills, using your team or situations at work as an example. c. What have you learned that will influence how you communicate, and how can you expand the use of these communication skills to enhance your workplace culture?
3. You are free to use notes, your iRATs, and any course material as a resource for writing this essay. Specific examples are required.
4. The most important core communication skills that must be included in your reflective essay are open-ended questions, active/reflective listening, and empathic statements.
5. The essay needs to be a minimum of two (2) pages and a maximum of four (4) pages, double-spaced, font no bigger than 12, Times New Roman font or similar. Please contact your instructor with any questions!
References: 1. Artioli, G., Deiana, L., De Vincenzo, F., Raucci, M., Amaducci, G., Bassi, M. C., Di Leo, S., Hayter, M., & Ghirotto, L. (2021, July 22). Health professionals and students' experiences of reflective writing in learning: A qualitative meta-synthesis - BMC Medical Education. BioMed Central. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909021-02831-4
Writing in the Discipline (WID): Client Education Assignment VTN 3080: Professional Communication Skills in Veterinary Medicine
Instructor: Sarah Charles, M.Ed., RVT
Team Plan
Total Points: 200 (10% of your final grade) ● Team Plan: 50 points ● Final Product: 150 points
Goals: 1. To apply effective written communication in a client education format 2. To meet requirements for Writing in the Discipline (WID) ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW Each small group will research, plan, design, and produce a piece of written client education suitable for use in a clinic/hospital/etc. The final product can be an infographic, flyer, handout, or the equivalent. The product should educate clients about an important veterinary medicine topic. You must create an original product (in other words, you may not use client education material that you, or someone else, has previously created). Sample client education materials are listed at the end of this document.
INSTRUCTIONS STEP 1: TOPIC and AUDIENCE ● Decide on a topic and audience for your client education assignment (e.g., heartworm prevention for the companion animal owner, coping with the loss of a pet for families). STEP 2: RESEARCH and DESIGN ● Research your chosen topic using reliable sources (ask if you’re unsure!) ● Design your client education material with the General Education SLOs in mind: o Context and Purpose o Content Development o Sources and Evidence o Control of Syntax and Mechanics STEP 3: SUBMIT A TEAM PLAN ● The plan should include: ○ Your chosen topic ○ Intended audience ○ Format (e.g. brochure, infographic) ○ At least three research citations using APA style ○ A few sentences on how your group plans to complete this project (e.g., who is responsible for what, how will you communicate about the project, will you establish internal deadlines) STEP 4: FINAL PRODUCT, CITATIONS, and REFERENCE PAGE ● Create your product (consider using a free design tool such as Canva – canva.com) ● Review your creation for clarity, accessibility, grammar, accuracy, etc. ● Ensure all facts are given appropriate credit by citing images, facts, etc., and by attaching a separate Reference Page using APA Style. ● This course is the General Education Junior Writing in the Major course for Veterinary Technology majors. General Education Goal II: Communicating Effectively SLOs (Student Learning Outcomes) Context and Purpose: Students will define the context, audience, and purpose of their message. Content Development: Students will use appropriate content to shape their message. Sources and Evidence: Students will integrate credible, relevant sources and other supporting material to formulate their message. Control of Syntax and Mechanics: Students will communicate with clarity and fluency. This assignment requires students to adhere to the following Writing in the Discipline (WID) criteria: 1. The course will require students to write in formats appropriate to the discipline (veterinary medicine). 2. The course will require students to read and analyze texts to produce effective writing in the discipline. 3. The course will require students to document correctly in the conventions of the discipline. Research and citation of appropriate sources is required using the American Psychological Association Style guidelines (APA).
Research Databases & Citing Sources: ● These are just some examples. If you have any questions, please reach out to your instructor.
o PubMed - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ o Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.com/
● APA Style Resources o A link to App State’s page on APA writing style is included in the Writing in the Discipline (WID) section of the course, as is a link to Purdue OWL’s information on APA formatting and style. Sample Client Education Pieces AAHA Senior Care Guidelines for Dogs and Cats Healthy and Protected (AAHA Vaccination Poster)
Check out the Journals tab of this guide for a handy list of Journals in Veterinary Technology.
When choosing a topic on client education, such as heartworm prevention for the companion animal owner, you might start by viewing how this information is currently being conveyed. You might just begin the search simply:
AND, OR, NOT are Boolean operators that are most useful in Google Scholar or in AppSearch. For the most part, you may decide to use AND, for combining two individual subjects. OR for combining everything for both subjects, or when using synonyms. A diagram of this idea can be found below.
Parenthesis will keep one idea together, and quotation marks is an exact phrase search, meaning the search will only return results with the words used as a phrase.
Boolean Searching allows you to combine words or phrases using the words AND, OR, NOT. These are called Boolean Operators. One way to think about how they will retrieve search results for you, is in the diagram below:
Several Important Services:
Zotero and EndNote are two different kinds of citation management software. You can use them to collect, organize, and reuse sources that you find in your research. They are especially helpful for creating lists of references in the style you need and for organizing PDFs of articles or reports. You can also share your sources on the web with the web-based versions of EndNote and Zotero.
Zotero is free to anyone, while EndNote is free for ASU students, faculty, and staff.
For additional help, please see this Guide on Zotero and EndNote.