An Investigation on Innate Visuospatial and Dexterity Ability in a Veterinary Medicine Program

Veterinary students require developed visuospatial and dexterity skills to be able to succeed in their profession. Assessing these skills separately allows investigators to see where an individual student may be lacking and offer remediation, creating well-rounded veterinarians. This investigation studies both the level of visuospatial skill and dexterity skill present in students. Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test (PVRT) and Mental Cutting Test (MCT) were used to test visuospatial skill, while Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT) and Coin Rotation Task (CRT) were used to test dexterity skill. Males had significantly higher visuospatial scores in both tests when compared to females. Phase and class rank were both significant variables in the GPT and CRT, with sex only having a significant association in GPT non-dominant hand scores. Evaluation of visuospatial and dexterity skills should be considered as an additional assessment throughout the veterinary medicine program, but further studies are necessary to establish further details.