Replacement Alternatives in Education: Animal-Free Teaching
Corresponding author: Dalal, Rooshin (University
of Virginia School of Medicine, USA)
Authors: Rooshin Dalal (1), Megha Even (2),
Chad Sandusky (2), Neal Barnard (2)
Institutions: (1) University of Virginia School
of Medicine, Charlottesville, USA; (2) Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine, Research, Washington D.C., USA
In 1985, all 126 medical schools in the US offered a live animal
laboratory as a requirement for teaching physiology, pharmacology,
and/or surgery. Currently, 80% of medical schools have eliminated
these labs from their curricula. The remaining 20%, although not
requiring participation, still offer live animal labs to civilian
medical students.
Until recently, the University of Virginia School
of Medicine (UVa) in Charlottesville continued to teach emergency
techniques to medical students using a canine laboratory. Surgical
procedures were performed on approximately 100 beagles (euthanized
at the end of the lab). Medical students, physicians, veterinary
technicians, and members of the community initiated a group effort, working
with faculty and administration, to eliminate the use of live animals and
implement superior training methods. In November 2004, a new life-saving
techniques course was implemented using a human patient simulator
and other stand-alone stations, allowing students to practice techniques
such as chest tube insertion, cricothyroidotomy, and venous cut-down
for intravenous fluids.
Elimination of the canine lab marked
a turning point for medical education at UVa, and follows a general trend
since 1994 of a declining use of animals in medical education as
determined in the 2001 survey by Drs. Hansen and Boss. Advantages
of using human-based training methods include anatomical accuracy,
repeating procedures for proficiency, and long-term cost benefits.
Simulated human tissues and body fluids provide a realistic experience.
Successful strategies for continuing this trend of replacing animal
laboratories for training medical students, based on this case
study, will be discussed in detail.
This abstract is being presented by the authors at the Fifth
World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences,
which is taking place in August 2005 in Berlin.
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