Assessing veterinary professionals' ability to estimate length.

BACKGROUND
This study aimed to assess the accuracy of veterinary professionals' psychomotor and visual estimation of lengths.


METHODS
Members of staff at a single veterinary referral hospital were asked a series of demographic questions. Respondents were first asked to draw lines of a specified length, whilst being blinded to their previous responses. Respondents were then shown lines on separate non-standard size laminated sheets of paper and required to estimate their length. A total of five estimations were made in each section, with lengths varying from three to 120 millimetres.


RESULTS
A total of 101 respondents were analysed. The median absolute percentage error was 24.4% for psychomotor estimation and 33.3% for visual estimation. Respondents were significantly more accurate at psychomotor than visual estimation (P = 0.00024). Respondents tended to underestimate with psychomotor estimation, and overestimate with visual estimation. There was no significant difference between the accuracy of veterinarians and veterinary nurses.


LIMITATIONS
When divided by demographic, not all sample sizes met the power calculation threshold, thus limiting their interpretation.


CONCLUSION
Veterinary professionals must recognise the limitations of estimating length using visual appraisal alone. Measuring devices should be utilised where appropriate. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.