How to think like a diagnostician
Early Career Development
Sara Rutherford
Extension Agent
Virginia Tech
Emporia
Abstract
When I was a new agent, I had limited experience diagnosing agronomic, livestock and horticultural pest issues. After talking with other agents, I discovered site-visit diagnostics and diagnostic sample submissions needed to be better explained to new agents. A few years later, VA Cooperative Extension started an Agriculture and Natural Resources onboarding program to train new agents. That onboarding program is ongoing and is a direct result of two agents attending an AM/PIC session about another Extension service’s ANR onboarding program. One of our current ANR onboarding sessions leads agents on tours of diagnostic labs, both on and off campus. However, a 2024 state-wide needs assessment revealed more training was needed on basic diagnostic skills, agent/client interactions, site visit best practices, utilizing our ANR network and submitting diagnostic samples. It was then decided by our planning team to provide training to agents about “how to think like a diagnostician” not how to be a diagnostician or how to diagnose individual pest issues. A 90-minute in-service training session was developed as part of our larger Extension system-wide in-service training conference. The session included a PowerPoint presentation and an agent discussion panel. Also, all our diagnostic lab managers contributed their lab’s submission instructions to be included in this presentation. After the presentation, two lab managers who attended said “this needs to be shown to every new (ANR) agent during onboarding”. This indicated that this training session was a needed supplement to the current ANR onboarding program in VA. Agents in attendance also stated the session was “very helpful” and they “got a lot out of it”. My goal for presenting this topic at this year’s AM/PIC is to guide first-time attendees through the process of diagnosing issues, interacting with clients, conducting site visits, and to share this training idea with other Extension systems as a way of helping agents prepare for interactions with clientele. This will help them “think” like a diagnostician, but not “be” the diagnostician. The original Virginia Cooperative Extension presentation will be modified slightly to broaden it for our NACAA audience.
Authors: Sara Rutherford
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Sara Rutherford Extension Agent, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia, 23847