Hello,how do you do! Do you do DOPS?

Training and assessment of practical skills is going through some challenging times right now as we figure out how to ‘socially distance’ and stay safe while being effective in our roles as trainers and assessors.

Trainers and assessors? Why both, and aren’t they really the same and all done by the same person anyway? Well, yes and no. Home schooling our children has taught many of us that there’s rather a lot more to effective teaching than meets the eye and that transmitting information to learners is not so simple as one might imagine. (Thank you teachers!)

Training our educators is essential so that they acquire the necessary skills for their role. Similarly, assessors need to be trained in order to understand the process of assessment and to gain the required skills to make objective, consistent evaluation of the trainee’s skills. Assessor skills are related to but separate from ‘teaching skills’, and need to be acquired too. In our context, ensuring that licensees are properly assessed and competent is essential to the proper conduct of experiments and to safeguard animal welfare.

The health-care profession is similarly invested in ensuring that its practitioners are competent in their roles, and for many years, a system of Directly Observed Procedure Skills (DOPS) assessments has been used to measure competence in practical skills.

Helping the trainee to achieve competence

Think about an assessment from the trainee’s point of view. They carry out the task. The ‘senior’ watches them do it and then tells them whether they ‘pass’ and signs the training record. What does the trainee really know about the standard that the assessor (or institute) has? However, not knowing exactly what’s expected contributes to anxiety in the trainee and potential inconsistency between assessors. Moreover, if the standard is not clear, it’s challenging for the NTCO from another institute to be certain that the ‘competent operator’ who arrives is competent according to their standard too. This may result in just retraining the new starter, potentially wasting the trainer’s time and frustrating the trainee.

What’s needed here is:

Transparency – everyone knows what the required standard for competence is;

Validity – the assessment can distinguish competent/not competent trainees; and

Consistency – to ensure that each assessment is carried out to the same standard.

This is where DOPS come in!

DOPS set out clearly the criteria that the trainee has to meet in order to be competent. It’s simple really. Think in your mind’s eye about what the competent operator looks like when s/he carries out a task, such as oral gavage in a mouse. Break this down into the details of the procedure. What preparation is required? What do safe working practices look like (e.g. PPE, ways of working)? What is required for safe, gentle but firm handling and restraint of the mouse? The correct way to administer the dose (and acceptable volume). The required post-procedure checks and action to be taken in case of problems. The required paperwork is completed. That the trainee demonstrates professional behaviours, such as organisation, communicating well and leaving their workspace ready for the next person to use.

The DOPS assessments set out these criteria (the steps in the task) from beginning to end, along with the level of performance that’s needed to demonstrate competence. In this way, we are setting out our institutional standard for the procedure, which helps the trainee to understand what’s required, helps the trainer to break down the instruction and enables others (e.g. NTCO, PPLh) to know exactly how the trainee performed on a given date.

Assessment is a part of the lifelong learning process. So, DOPS ask the assessor to note constructive feedback, praise for things done well and suggestions for improvement. The language of practical assessment also reflects this learning process. Trainees don’t ‘pass or fail’ but rather ‘meet expectations’ for performing the task when they are competent. Trainees are already working under supervision until they meet the required standard. So, the trainee who’s not quite there yet is just rated to ‘continue supervision’.

How do we get DOPS?

LASA kindly hosts a Wiki-style library of DOPS for in vivo procedures. Contributions from institutes around the UK ensure that the collection already covers most of the common procedures in lab species. So, do take a look and feel free to download any assessment sheets that you need. In true Wiki style, we just ask please that when you create a DOPS for a procedure/species that’s not on the resource, you send yours to us, and we will peer-review and add it for the benefit of your colleagues!

Dissemination of technology

As part of the European Training Platform in Lab Animal Sciences (ETPLAS) project to harmonise and improve training in lab animal science, a small assessment working group has been set up. This group is creating DOPS for the common procedures associated with the introductory modular training. In order to increase awareness about the working group’s activities and the creation of the DOPS, we produced a poster, which has been displayed at some national lab animal conferences throughout the EU (and will go to some virtual meetings too). We also hope to be granted a project extension to develop an outreach programme in order to explain and disseminate more widely information about the process and practice of assessment in practical skills and to provide basic training of assessors who are new to this concept.

For more information about DOPS and assessment practice, see www.lasa.co.uk/dops

Meeting dates from LASA in 2021!

LASA would like to announce some exciting events which are scheduled for 2021.

In London on 24 February 2021, there will be three parallel workshops organised by LASA:

LASA/British Pharmacological Society joint symposium – ‘Exploring the status of animal models of psychiatric disorders – their validity and scope for successful translation’.

LASA’s annual half-day PELH training session, which will focus on the core job for new/recent (three years)/prospective establishment licence holders.

LASA’s ‘What does good governance mean in laboratory animal science?’ workshop.

This will be followed by LASA’s wine reception and the incoming LASA President’s address: ‘LASA’s strategy for the coming years’ presented by Jill Reckless, CEO, RxCelerate Ltd.

Also at the same London venue, on the following day, 25 February 2021, LASA in conjunction with the BPS Neuropharmacology Affinity Group is organising an interactive one-day workshop with the Psychiatry Consortium. This workshop will explore the use of preclinical models in psychiatric drug discovery, utilising the experience of all those involved along the translational pathway. The workshop will provide a 360 overview of the status of preclinical models of psychiatric disorders – their validity and scope for successful translation. A key aim of the workshop will be to outline a set of minimum requirements for preclinical models in a variety of co-morbid psychiatric symptoms (and highlight how to use them correctly) to increase the chance of successful translation to the clinic.

LASA also have their annual scientific meeting with a large trade exhibition scheduled from Tuesday 23 to Thursday 25 November 2021 on the south coast of England in Brighton – so save these dates in your diary for 2021!

For all LASA events, contact the Secretariat for registration forms: [e-mail]

Chair of the Scientific Programme, LASA, UK