ComPass

Kia ora – Greetings ComPass Users.

The ComPass Core/Phase 1 modules have undergone review and modification to add in more New Zealand Aotearoa content, as well as updated welfare content and new links. (The new 2024 version is available now).

This means that the old Core/Phase 1 modules will no longer be accessible and/or you will not be able to complete them nor gain a completion certificate. You will now need to re-register and start the new Core modules again to be able to gain your completion certificate.

The Minimally Invasive Procedures module in Phase 2 has also been replaced to the new 2024 version.  The replacement of other Phase 2,3 and 4 modules will follow over time. So please look out for the changeover dates ongoing.

Thank you, Nga mihi.

Gail Anderson
ComPass team lead.
 

Phase 1 (the new 2024 version)
Phase I consists of 7 core modules which cover the legislation, what an AEC is, writing a good application to the AEC, research project planning, the 3Rs, assessing and monitoring well being, adverse events management and euthanasia considerations. Please read the course instructions below prior to enrolling.  Upon completion of Phase 1 could you please complete the ANZCCART ComPass Survey for us to be able to better meet your animal welfare needs and potentially reach a wider audience. Thank you.

Course instructions

• The course link will take you to a landing page, with a fox on it.
• Click on Enrol to initiate your registration.  Fill in the registration details 
• An email will be sent quickly to you with access to the course that is hosted by University of Adelaide on its Canvas Catalog learning management system.
• You will see your name in the top right corner. Click on your name and select Canvas – this will take you to the Canvas Catalog course front page. 
• Open the Course (click on the text below the fox image) in the Canvas system and you will find the list of Core modules.
• Each module has to be opened and completed before you can progress to the next module and ultimately to the quiz.
• The modules also contain a case study and practice questions to prepare for the final quiz.
• When finishing up each module in the Core materials, please make sure that you progress right to the end of the test or the acknowledgements (whichever is the final section) to make sure that you can progress to the next module or to get your certificate of completion at the end of Module 8.
• At the end of each module, you will need to press exit (Button in the top right corner of the page).
• Close the window and then click on the next module.
• Repeat until you finish the 7 content modules and the quiz.
• After successfully completing the quiz with a pass mark of 80%, you will automatically generate a certificate proving that you have completed the course for your AEC. 
• Completion of the course should take about three-four hours.
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Begin Core Training

Phase 2 has stand alone modules, each with an individual certificate of completion so you can choose those topics relevant to your needs.

Please note that The Minimally Invasive Procedures module in Phase 2 has been replaced to the new 2024 version. 

In order for the three-year training cycle to be kept current for repeat users and to refresh content and links, the three Phase 2 modules listed below will be replaced with new versions on March 25, 2024. This means that any users currently working through these modules will need to complete them prior to March 25, 2024 or they will lose the work partly completed.

The three modules being replaced on March 25, 2024 are:
Surgical Principles, Aseptic Technique and Anaesthesia for Minor Procedures.
The replacement of other Phase 2 modules will happen over time and so please look out for the changeover dates ongoing.

These changes enable repeat users to reregister using their original email address for the new module registration.

Phase 2 Modules:

• Aseptic Technique (new 2024 version available now)
• Minimally Invasive Techniques Without Anaesthesia, Including Wildlife Trapping (new 2024 version available now)
• Anaesthesia for Minor Procedures (new 2024 version available now)
• Anaesthesia for Major Procedures
• Surgery Principles, Methods and Materials (2024 version available now)
• Performing a Systematic Post-Mortem Examination
• Establishing and Managing a Rodent Breeding Colony
• Maximising Welfare and Behavioural Assessment in Research Animals
• Training Materials for Wildlife 1 - Researchers' and AEC Members Guide to Improved Welfare
• Training Materials for Wildlife 2

Please complete the ANZCCART ComPass Survey to enable us to better meet your animal welfare needs and potentially reach a wider audience. Thank you.

Phase 3 includes two modules designed to help with the technical skills training and competency assessment of those using animals for research. The modules include examples of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), suggestions for skills training stations for use in a technical skills training laboratory as well as checklists to act as guides for assessment of the competency of trainees. These materials are designed as guidelines and resources for trainers as well as trainees to give them an idea of the expectations of what competency in these various skills looks like.

In keeping with the 3Rs, the development of some basic skills stations to help with technical skills training is encouraged. Ideas for models and the stations themselves are included in these modules. The actual stations used at the University of Adelaide for training are shared in the narrated talk in this section as well as how these materials are used in the stepwise training and assessment of technical skills. 

The first module entitled “Training Materials for Minimally Invasive Procedures in Research Animals” includes the resources that may help with handling, the various injection methods and oral medication administration in rodents as well as some ideas for training in the handling of larger animals.

The second module is entitled “Training Materials - Performing Aseptic Technique, Surgical Skills, Suturing and Euthanasia Methods”. There are lots of models included for surgery preparation and performance, to upskill those without a medical or veterinary background, as well as some dexterity training tools. Again, there are SOPs and assessment templates here as examples.

Please use these materials “as is”, or for ideas with your own modifications or in whatever way your institution sees fit. They are made freely available to use in the hope of encouraging more consistent competency training and assessment and the reduction of animals used in training. 

Below is a narrated PowerPoint illustrating how the Stations of the Skills Lab at the University of Adelaide are constructed and used.  Please feel free to use these "as is" or in a modified form.

Phase 3 Modules:

• Training Materials for Minimally Invasive Procedures in Research Animals
• Training Materials for Performing Aseptic Technique, Surgical Skills, Suturing and Euthanasia Methods

Please complete the ANZCCART ComPass Survey to enable us to better meet your animal welfare needs and potentially reach a wider audience. Thank you.

Phase 4 is a collection of resources for users to read and does not have a certificate associated.

Please complete the ANZCCART ComPass Survey to enable us to better meet your animal welfare needs and potentially reach a wider audience. Thank you.

Training Materials for Wildlife 1- Researchers' and AEC Members Guide to Improved Welfare

This first of two Wildlife module aims to provide materials to guide researchers and their teams in their interactions with native wild species - from capture methods, sampling and anaesthesia techniques to considerations of how best to release animals back into their normal habitat. We hope it also proves helpful to AEC members to gain a greater understanding of the methods and issues arising in wildlife research protocols coming for their consideration. Each section will be dedicated to a species, or a group of species, that have similar welfare considerations.

The module covers bats, koalas, dingoes, wombats, pinnipeds, bandicoots, bilbies, possums, marsupial carnivores (i.e. the dasyurids), as well as monotremes and macropods. The other groups such as cetaceans, reptiles, birds, fishes, cephalopods, sharks and rays will be covered in the second wildlife module.  

We hope that this material will provide useful training for new researchers as well as some ideas for those more experienced researchers. This module does not consider introduced species as there are excellent pest species sites, such as PestSmart, that are readily available for guidance. 

Each species section covers a brief introduction to that group, capture considerations, handling and specimen collection, and sedation and anaesthesia methods. Discussion of release methods, common infectious diseases and potential zoonoses are also included. This material is designed as a resource and as such does not have an assessment component. So competency in these methods and how this will be assessed needs to be considered by the researchers, their trainees and their AECs. 

Training Materials for Wildlife 2
This second module is aimed more, but definitely not exclusively, at NZ users covering not so many marsupials (as in Wildlife 1) but birds, bats, pinnipeds and cetaceans, cephalopods, crustaceans, fish, sharks, rays and reptiles.