DC logo

Diagnostic Challenge or DC or The Diagnostic Challenges

Yes

We’re looking to replace the logo we’ve been using for a number of years for our Diagnostic Challenge teaching exercises at the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine.

The DC exercises are now a 20 year tradition that our students continue to appreciate and our alumni remember with pride.

The current logo (designed by one of our former students) has some problems, besides just age and the need for an upgrade. See images of previous logos at http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/dc/ and http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/dc/clients/index.aspx We’d like something sharper and “cooler” than before.


FYI: The DC exercises involve 20 teams of 5 second year veterinary medical students each. Over a 4 day period, each team (“clinic”) interacts with a simulated client and is assisted by a case facilitator to work through a clinical case. Each team gathers a clinical history, gets physical exam results from their facilitator, asks their client questions, and gets permission from their client to run tests and diagnostic procedures on the patient they are presented. The “patient” is usually just a stuffed animal as these are paper/simulated cases. The cases are dogs, cats, horses, cattle and occasionally sheep, goats, birds, pigs, etc


The goal (i.e. the “challenge”) is to arrive at a diagnosis, learning along the way, and coming to a solution for the case. The test results are the “clues” to solving the mystery of the case. We like the previous logo in that it captures the “detective” aspect of the exercise – looking through a magnifying glass, animal tracks, paper work, a radiograph, putting together the veterinary caduceus, etc. The very first logo we ever used almost 20 years ago consisted of a Sherlock Holmes figure modified to be wearing a white coat, etc. (it was modified from a piece of clipart so was possibly also illegal). Although we’ve liked the veterinary “detective” theme, we are not wedded to it and would welcome new ideas. Or maybe you guys will have some ideas to build on the previous theme….


First problem with the old logo: 1 of the 2 students depicted still have OSU on his sleeve. Oregon State University was a partner in training vet students for many years, but withdrew from the regional program about 5 years. Second, both students in the logo are blond haired, blue eyed – and if we did keep people images, we could maybe use a bit of diversity. Our students are mostly white, but we have a few minorities and about 80% of our students are female.


It would be good if the logo might somehow depict the concept of student COLLABORATION, as that is a key component of the exercise. The deductive component as noted above has also been good.


Everyone here calls these the DC’s or DC exercises, so something that captured that DC acronym might work well, or it might be overly simplistic.

Education