Does Studying Veterinary Medicine Improve Students' Haptic Perception Ability? A Pilot Study With Two Age-Groups

Haptic perception is an important tool for veterinarians. The present study analyzed the association between the haptic perception threshold of veterinary students and their palpatory experience. To approach this goal, 35 female students of veterinary medicine were divided into two groups with different levels of experience: (a) students with little practical experience, at the beginning of their studies (first year), and (b) students close to the end of their theoretical training (fourth year). To thoroughly evaluate the students' sense of touch, three different test procedures were used: the Haptic Threshold Test (HTT), the Haptic Figures Test (HFT), and tactile acuity. Contrary to our expectations, we found worse mean haptic perception thresholds (HTT) in the more experienced students than in the less experienced group. This effect was significantly correlated with age. Furthermore, we found that longer exploration times were not sufficient to compensate for shortcomings in haptic perception. We also found large interindividual differences. Future studies should investigate whether and to what extend these effects have an impact on students' palpation performance on simulators and live animals. Moreover, which beneficial effects may be achieved through an additional haptic training for students with inferior haptic thresholds should be investigated. Improving haptic perception abilities in veterinary students could be one important step toward achieving satisfactory Day One Competences in university graduates.