A simulation for teaching the basic and clinical science of fluid therapy.

The course "Management of Fluid and Electrolyte Disorders" is an applied physiology course taught using lectures and paper-based cases. The course approaches fluid therapy from both basic science and clinical perspectives. While paper cases provide a basis for application of basic science concepts, they lack key components of genuine clinical cases that, by nature, are diverse, change over time, and respond in unique ways to therapeutic interventions.

Writing-skills development in the health professions.

Background: Studies have found that students in the medical professions often lack the writing skills required during their education and career. One contributing factor to this deficiency is that writing tends to be discipline specific, rather than requiring general skills acquired in undergraduate schools.

Purpose: To determine the extent to which a rigorous writing exercise impacted the quality of students' medical writing based on a specified rubric.

Reduction of the Pa(CO2) set point during hyperthermic exercise in the sheep.

In animals that rely on the respiratory system for both gas exchange and heat loss, exercise can generate conflict between chemoregulation and thermoregulation. We hypothesized that in panting animals, hypocapnia during hyperthermic exercise reflects a reduction in the arterial CO2 tension (Pa(CO2)) set point. To test this hypothesis, five sheep were subjected to tracheal insufflations of CO2 or air (control) at 3-4 L min(-1) in 3 min bouts at 5 min intervals over 31 min of exercise.

Evaluation of a computer-based approach to teaching acid/base physiology.

Because acid/base physiology is a difficult subject for most medical and veterinary students, the first author designed a software program, Acid/Base Primer, that would help students with this topic. The Acid/Base Primer was designed and evaluated within a conceptual framework of basic educational principles. Seventy-five first-year veterinary students (of 81; 93% response rate) participated in this study.