CONFERENCE REPORT

 

Learning outcomes for the education and training of laboratory animal caretakers in South Africa

 

 

AJ Mohr^{I, II, III}; JS Magagula^I; Dl Lewis^IV

^ICentre for Animal Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa
^IIDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa
^IIIScientific Veterinary Consulting Inc., South Africa
^IVSchool of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Education and training is essential for laboratory animal caretakers (LACs), but there are no courses available in South Africa. A national workshop was thus held to collaboratively establish the learning outcomes (LOs) for the education and training (E&T) of LACs. Eighty-five stakeholders from 30 institutions took part in small group discussions interspersed with plenary sessions to draw up the consensus LOs.
One-hundred-and-twenty LOs were identified, grouped into the following three main themes and 15 topics: 1) Focus on animals (animal care and husbandry, animal ethics, animal welfare, basic biology, environment); 2) Focus on humans (administration, health and safety, lifelong learning, professionalism, psychological wellbeing); and 3) Focus on systems (biosecurity, equipment, jurisprudence, logistics, and quality management).
This E&T framework provides a foundation for a career path in the laboratory animal science field. The psychological (i.e. mental and emotional) wellbeing of LACs forms a noteworthy component of the focus on humans, since working with research animals is stressful and coping mechanisms are needed in order to promote compassion satisfaction and prevent compassion fatigue and burnout.
Approximately 75% of the LOs are knowledge-based, while 25% are competencies in practical skills. It is recommended that competencies should be assessed by direct observation of practical/procedural skills, where competence in a procedure or practical task is assessed against predetermined criteria.
These LOs are published with the intent that they will promote animal and human wellbeing, support ethical science, maintain public confidence, and in so doing, contribute to a just and civilised society.

Keywords: learning outcomes, animal caretaker, laboratory animal science, education, training

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Introduction

Laboratory animal caretakers (LACs) are the personnel employed in laboratory animal facilities with responsibility for the routine husbandry and general care of animals, maintenance of the animals' environment, and associated operational tasks. Appropriate education and training (E&T) of LACs is essential to ensure they are competent in their practical tasks; as moral imperative to protect the welfare of the sentient animals in their care; as a quality-control mechanism to reduce confounding variables and thus promote high-quality science; to maintain public confidence in the standards of animal care; and as a foundation for a career path.

There are currently no formal E&T courses available in South Africa that are specifically tailored to the needs of LACs, with variable on-the-job training being provided by employers. More broadly, a national need has been identified for the E&T of animal caretakers across veterinary sectors (i.e. companion, production, exotic, wild, and laboratory animals), with workshops being held by the South African Veterinary Council (SAVC) in 2017 and 2019 to discuss this need.

The updated South African National Standard for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes (SANS 10386:2021) requires that E&T should facilitate and assure the competence of all persons involved in the care, use and breeding of all animals used for scientific purposes (South African Bureau of Standards, 2021). A dedicated national workshop was thus held to collaboratively establish the learning outcomes (LOs) for the E&T of LACs in South Africa, as part of the main programme of the 2022 Congress of the South African Association for Laboratory Animal Science (SAALAS), held in Potchefstroom, North West province, from 15-18 March 2022.

 

Materials and methods

Over 400 stakeholders in the laboratory animal sciences sector in South Africa were invited by email to attend the conference and participate in the E&T workshop. This included invitations for LACs to apply for fully sponsored attendance to both the conference and the E&T workshop.

The E&T workshop was opened in a plenary session, followed by small group discussions between persons seated in proximity of each other (i.e. around 10 groups of 5-10 persons each). These breakout groups were tasked with drawing up the LOs for the E&T of LACs, with group discussions lasting around two hours. Outcomes were summarised on paper within each group. Group members were requested to record any additional LOs which they felt were important, but for which there was not time to discuss in group format, on separate notes. The authors facilitated the discussions by addressing any questions and encouraging the process. Virtual attendees were requested to record their LOs in the relevant session in the conference app. The breakout groups reported their results in a plenary session, with LOs being recorded in a spreadsheet while displayed on screen. Participants were requested to ensure the correct recording of the LOs in wording and meaning. During an overnight break, the spreadsheet was supplemented with the additional LOs that were recorded by individual group members and by virtual attendees. On the second day, the spreadsheet was displayed on screen in a plenary session, with point-by-point editing of the wording of each of the LOs, to agree on phrasing, content and meaning. The workshop concluded with consensus agreement by the attendees (in-person and virtual) on the detail of the recorded LOs.

Following the workshop, the authors edited the phrasing of the LOs for grammar and punctuation, removed duplicate LOs, merged analogous LOs, and ensured the use of assessable verbs (i.e. verbs that enable the LOs to be assessed objectively) in accordance with Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives (Bloom et al. 1956). Each LO was classified as representing either knowledge or competence in practical skills. The LOs were finally grouped into overarching themes based on their main emphasis, and further sub-categorised into specific topics based on their subject matter.

 

Results

There were 97 registrations for the conference, representing 30 institutions, with 85 registrations for the E&T workshop (i.e. 67 in-person and 18 virtual), consisting of animal caretakers (including 23 sponsored delegates), trainee laboratory animal technologists, para-veterinary professionals (i.e. laboratory animal technologists, veterinary nurses, and veterinary technologists), veterinary professionals (i.e. veterinarians and veterinary specialists), laboratory animal facility managers and directors, quality-assurance managers, laboratory technicians, animal ethics committee members, animal researchers and related professionals.

In total, 120 LOs were identified, of which 89 were knowledge-based and 31 competencies in practical skills (Table I). The LOs were grouped into three overarching themes, i.e. representing a focus predominantly on animals (48 LOs), humans (37), or systems (35); and further categorised into the following 15 topics: 1) Focus on animals (Animal care and husbandry [21], Animal ethics [10], Animal welfare [7], Basic biology [6], Environment [4]); 2) Focus on humans (Administration [3], Health and safety [14], Lifelong learning [4], Professionalism [10], Psychological wellbeing [6]); and 3) Focus on systems (Biosecurity [16], Equipment [6], Jurisprudence [3], Logistics [4], and Quality management [6]).

 

Discussion

The workshop achieved its aim to collaboratively co-create a framework for the E&T of LACs in South Africa. The small group format was successful in stimulating collegial discussion, whilst the plenary sessions allowed for further discussion and debate while enabling consensus to be reached, thus producing a balanced set of LOs.

The inclusion of the relatively large number of animal caretakers in the workshop, with varying levels of experience and training, was key to advise on the actual developmental needs of LACs in practice. The diversity of veterinary and para-veterinary professionals who engaged in the workshop is characteristic of the laboratory animal science field, where a diverse veterinary team is often involved due to the complexity of activities and the consequent heterogeneity of skillsets required. These professionals often work closely with LACs, as do animal facility managers/directors, quality-assurance managers, scientists and animal ethics committee members, such that the inclusion of these stakeholders in the workshop was important to ensure the holistic nature, relevance and comprehensiveness of the LOs produced to the LAC career as a whole.

The grouping of the 120 LOs into the three overarching themes -i.e. representing a focus mainly on animals, humans, or systems - is intended as a useful conceptual structure for both educators and learners. Within each of the themes, the LOs have been categorised into five distinct topics with related content per topic, thus producing a final framework of fifteen topics.

Focus on animals includes animal care and husbandry, animal ethics, animal welfare, basic biology, and the animals' environment. A significant complexity in the laboratory animal science field stems from the fact that many facilities house multiple animal species, which may include invertebrates and vertebrates (i.e. fish, amphibia, reptiles, birds and mammals). It is thus important for the LOs to be extended to all relevant species per facility (Table I), in order to ensure appropriate knowledge, understanding and competence on a per-species basis.

Focus on humans includes administration, health and safety, lifelong learning, professionalism, and psychological wellbeing. The E&T framework of LACs presents a foundation for a career path, rather than an isolated set of LOs, as witnessed by the inclusion of professionalism and lifelong learning. For the first time since 1997, it is now again possible to study towards becoming a Laboratory Animal Technologist in South Africa, i.e. a para-veterinary professional who is registered with the SAVC (Fourie, 2022). The E&T framework could thus assist LACs in preparing (both professionally and personally) for career progression opportunities which they may elect to pursue in future. Obtaining a matriculation certificate (Grade 12 in South Africa) or equivalent will be important for learners who wish to pursue a career path in the sector, including those intending to become Laboratory Animal Technologists.

The psychological (i.e. mental and emotional) wellbeing of LACs forms a notable component of the focus on humans, being distinct from health and safety considerations. Laboratory animal personnel (including animal caretakers) may experience significant stress from working with research animals, such that their professional quality of life, which is comprised of compassion fatigue (i.e. burnout and secondary traumatic stress) and compassion satisfaction, is associated with multiple factors including social support and the level of animal welfare (LaFollette et al. 2020). There is thus an inter-relationship between human and animal wellbeing in laboratory animal facilities (LaFollette et al. 2020). It is thus noteworthy that there is a concomitant increasing emphasis being placed on the psychological wellbeing of animals, in the field of animal welfare science (Mellor et al. 2020).

Focus on systems includes biosecurity, equipment, jurisprudence, logistics, and quality management. The term biosecurity refers to measures aimed at preventing the introduction and/or spread of harmful organisms, to minimise the risk of transmission of infectious disease. Since both biosecurity and equipment may vary significantly between facilities, it is important that the LOs are extended to all relevant aspects, to ensure appropriate knowledge, understanding and competence in practical skills.

While the proportion of knowledge-based LOs (~75%) outnumbers the competency-based LOs (~25%), it is important to recognise that the knowledge-based LOs often form the foundation of understanding why a relevant competency-based practical skill should be performed in a particular way, or to understand one's role in the workplace more holistically. It also follows that the total amount of time spent by a learner in completing the full set of LOs, may consist of only a minority of time spent on acquiring the knowledge-based LOs, while the majority of time may well be spent on acquiring the competency-based LOs and associated practical skills.

Both knowledge and competencies in practical skills may include aspects of understanding. It is recommended that competencies in practical skills should be assessed by direct observation of practical/procedural skills (DOPS), a well-defined mechanism to measure a person's competence in a procedure or practical task, where their performance is assessed against predetermined criteria using a checklist (Laboratory Animal Science Association [UK] 2022). Such DOPS assessment takes into account the integration of knowledge, skills and attitude that are required to carry out the task. Training in practical skills should be based on standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Appropriate assessment plans will also be needed for knowledge-based LOs, as agreed upon by the relevant institutions, facilities, the LAS community and regulators. Knowledge-based assessment plans will need to consider the literacy of the target community, will be resource-dependent given the investment in time required to create and deliver the plans and to quality-assure them, and could in principle include question types such as multiple choice, extended matching, drag and drop, label the diagram, and other similar approaches, with due consideration of Bloom's taxonomy for educational learning objectives.

The depth of content of each LO, i.e. the details provided by the educator during teaching/training and the criteria required by the assessor for successful completion of the LO, should be specified at a level where it does not overload the learner with unnecessary information, so as to ensure that it remains relevant to the LAC, i.e. to ensure appropriate knowledge, understanding and competence in a practical skill.

The LOs presented here should in principle enable any South African institution to develop an E&T course or training programme for LACs who are working in their facilities or institution. Individual institutions, facilities and education providers will need to decide how to deliver education and training for each LO, including which animal species are relevant per facility, to ensure competence in practical skills on a perspecies basis in each facility. This framework is also suitable for adaptation to other low-and-middle income countries. There is thus the potential for professional associations (e.g. SAALAS) to also play a role in promoting awareness of the LOs and/or assisting in establishing education and training opportunities.

The LOs are published with the intent that they will promote animal and human wellbeing, support ethical science, maintain public confidence, and in so doing, contribute to a just and civilised society.

Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to the attendees of the Education and Training Workshop at the SAALAS Conference for their contributions towards defining the learning outcomes for animal caretakers.

Conflict of interest

Author AJM was vice-president and member of the Executive Committee of SAALAS; employed by the University of Cape Town; and Director of the veterinary specialist consulting firm Scientific Veterinary Consulting at the time of the SAALAS conference. Author JSM was a member of the Executive Committee of SAALAS; and employed by the University of Cape Town at the time of the SAALAS conference. Author DIL declares they have no conflicts of interest that are directly or indirectly related to the research.

Funding source

This work was supported by a UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Strategic Training Award for Research Skills (STARS grant number BB/T017287/1).

The study sponsors were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Ethical approval

The authors declare that this submission is in accordance with the principles laid down by the Responsible Research Publication Position Statements as developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore, 2010.

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

ORCID

AJ Mohr https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4618-3733

JS Magagula https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1522-937X

Dl Lewis https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3014-3427

 

References

Bloom, B.S., Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., et al., 1956, Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. 1st. New York: Longmans, Green & Co.         [ Links ]

Fourie, T., 2022, All you need to know about the Laboratory Animal Technologist profession. Newsletter of the South African Veterinary Council. 106 (March 2022):1. Available from: https://e.issuu.com/embed.html?d=savc_newsletter_106_2022_v1_8_&u=flowcommsa.         [ Links ]

Laboratory Animal Science Association (UK), 2022, Direct Observation of Practical/ Procedural Skills (DOPS). Available from: https://www.lasa.co.uk/dops/. Accesed 2 Jun 2022.         [ Links ]

LaFollette, M.R., Riley, M.C., Cloutier, S., et al., 2020, Laboratory animal welfare meets human welfare: A cross-sectional study of professional quality of life, including compassion fatigue in laboratory animal personnel, Front Vet Sci 7, 114. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00114.         [ Links ]

Mellor, D.J., Beausoleil, N.J., Littlewood, K.E., et al., 2020, The 2020 Five Domains Model: Including human-animal interactions in assessments of animal welfare, Animals (Basel) 10(10), 1870. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101870.         [ Links ]

South African Bureau of Standards, 2021, South African National Standard: The care and use of animals for scientific purposes (SANS 10386:2021). 2nd. Groenkloof, Pretoria, South Africa: South African Bureau of Standards.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence:
email: ScientificVeterinaryConsulting@gmail.com