Author Archives: Alison German

Important information for RCVS veterinary nursing students regarding the closure of the RCVS Awarding Organisation

This post refers to the following qualifications:

RCVS Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing 500/9872/X
RCVS Level 3 Certificate in Animal Nursing Studies 501/0487/1

As you will be aware the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) is relinquishing its Awarding Organisation functions and have now confirmed that they are proposing to close on 1 December 2015.

The intended timeline for both theory and practical examination sessions and certification is as follows:

  • Week commencing 15 June 2015 – last opportunity to sit the theory multiple choice papers
  • Weekend of 26 June 2015 – last opportunity to sit the objective structures clinical examination (OSCE)
  • 30 November 2015 – last day the RCVS will be able to issue the RCVS Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing Certificate and transcript

RCVS Awards will continue to provide support and guidance to students and colleges in order that students may achieve their qualification prior to the proposed end certification date (30/11/2015). Should the RCVS be unable to issue a qualification certificate by this date, students will be required to transfer to another awarding organisation.

RCVS Awards, through continued quality monitoring, will work with colleges to identify students who may benefit from unit certification which can then be considered as evidence of prior learning when transferring to another awarding organisation.

If you have any concerns regarding this, please speak to your course tutor.

Would Your Nursing Team Like a FREE, Extra Pair of Hands?

From this September The College of Animal Welfare will be offering a one year full-time Level 2 Diploma for Veterinary Care Assistants (VCA) course particularly aimed at those students wishing to gain a veterinary related qualification and structured practice experience to enhance their future application for veterinary nursing.

We are now looking for practices that are able to offer a Veterinary Care Assistant student an unpaid work placement for three days per week for the duration of their programme – you do not need to be an RCVS Training Practice!

The VCA course is a one academic year programme involving two days per week in the classroom and three days per week on unpaid placement in a veterinary practice. Practices do not need to have any current involvement in veterinary nurse training although you will be asked to allocate a veterinary surgeon, or qualified veterinary nurse to mentor each student during their time in practice. We also recommend that you interview our proposed student before offering a placement to make sure they are right for your practice.

The benefits of offering a placement to a student include:

  • No financial outlay
  • A highly motivated student for three days per week on unpaid placement for a whole academic year
  • An extra team member who fits into your practice rota

For a non-obligatory chat with a member of our practice liaison team please call us on 01480 422060 or email: admin@caw.ac.uk

New Professional Level 5 Qualification for Clinical Coaches

The College of Animal Welfare is delighted to announce that a new professional coaching qualification, which will help clinical coaches to get the best from their student veterinary nurses, is now available and open for applications.

Clinical coaches spend a large amount of time training their students in practice; coaching and supporting them as they learn the new skills needed to do their job and mentoring their student by looking at their personal development and addressing issues which may affect their learning and performance.

The skills needed to perform the clinical coach role have been largely focussed around either the old A1 award or skills gained on the job, with a mandatory initial training which focusses on the technical competencies and use of the NPL. There is no doubt that the role is rewarding but it can also be extremely challenging; particularly dealing with setting timely targets, planning and structuring efficient training systems, building relationships and maintaining personal boundaries.

The Level 5 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring, accredited by the Institute of Leadership and Management, is a blended learning programme (an effective combination of online, distance learning complemented by three study days at college) that will allow coaches to develop their ability to guide, influence and develop their students to be the best veterinary nurses they can be.

Barbara Cooper, Principal at The College of Animal Welfare, said “Having worked with, and trained many assessors and clinical coaches over the past decade, we recognise the hard work and dedication that is put into training students in the practice and the challenges that this can sometimes bring. We believe that the effective nurturing and developing of students makes a significant difference, not only to the practice, clients and the animals in their care, but also the reputation and quality of the veterinary profession as a whole”.

Starting in June 2014, the qualification covers a variety of topics such as communication skills and relationship building; overcoming barriers to coaching and mentoring; effective coaching/mentoring tools and techniques; feedback and monitoring progress.

The normal price for the qualification is £1,250 plus awarding body fees but The College of Animal Welfare (CAW) is offering 2014 TP Congress delegates, CAW Clinical Coaches and those supporting CAW students on placement the opportunity to enrol onto the 2014 course for £950 (or £105 per month). Awarding body fees of £124 are also payable.

Further information can be found at www.caw.ac.uk

– Ends –

For more information please contact:

Alison German VN
Marketing Executive
The College of Animal Welfare
Tel: 01480 422060
Email: agerman@caw.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

The College of Animal Welfare is one of the UK’s leading providers of veterinary nurse and animal care training and education; operating from four training centres around the UK.

The College has a well earned reputation for excellence and has created a number of unique achievements that have created new opportunities for learning.

For more information about The College of Animal Welfare please visit www.caw.ac.uk

New Professional Level 5 Qualification for Clinical Coaches

The College of Animal Welfare is delighted to announce that a new professional coaching qualification, which will help clinical coaches to get the best from their student veterinary nurses, is now available and open for applications.

Clinical coaches spend a large amount of time training their students in practice; coaching and supporting them as they learn the new skills needed to do their job and mentoring their student by looking at their personal development and addressing issues which may affect their learning and performance.

The skills needed to perform the clinical coach role have been largely focussed around either the old A1 award or skills gained on the job, with a mandatory initial training which focusses on the technical competencies and use of the NPL. There is no doubt that the role is rewarding but it can also be extremely challenging; particularly dealing with setting timely targets, planning and structuring efficient training systems, building relationships and maintaining personal boundaries.

The Level 5 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring, accredited by the Institute of Leadership and Management, is a blended learning programme (an effective combination of online, distance learning complemented by three study days at college) that will allow coaches to develop their ability to guide, influence and develop their students to be the best veterinary nurses they can be.

Barbara Cooper, Principal at The College of Animal Welfare, said “Having worked with, and trained many assessors and clinical coaches over the past decade, we recognise the hard work and dedication that is put into training students in the practice and the challenges that this can sometimes bring. We believe that the effective nurturing and developing of students makes a significant difference, not only to the practice, clients and the animals in their care, but also the reputation and quality of the veterinary profession as a whole”.

Starting in June 2014, the qualification covers a variety of topics such as communication skills and relationship building; overcoming barriers to coaching and mentoring; effective coaching/mentoring tools and techniques; feedback and monitoring progress.

The normal price for the qualification is £1,250 plus awarding body fees but The College of Animal Welfare (CAW) is offering 2014 TP Congress delegates, CAW Clinical Coaches and those supporting CAW students on placement the opportunity to enrol onto the 2014 course for £950 (or £105 per month). Awarding body fees of £124 are also payable.

Further information can be found on our website

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RCVS and VN Councils elections results

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has now announced the results of the RCVS Council and VN Council elections. The results saw an even split of new faces elected and existing members reinstated to both Councils. The elections which saw a record number of women standing in 2014, half of the successful RCVS Council candidates this year were women, two of whom being elected for the first time.

Re-elected to three of the six seats available on RCVS Council were current President Neil Smith (1,687 votes), incoming Standards Committee Chairman David Catlow (1,656) and Vice-President Jacqui Molyneux (1,304); and, from RCVS Day on 11 July 2014, they will be joined by new members David Bartram (1,674), Susan Paterson (1,496) and Mandisa Greene (1,296). The two available places on VN Council were taken by existing member Hilary Orpet (611 votes) and new member Amber Richards (371).

Unfortunately, overall turnouts in both elections fell, with 4,137 (16.1%) veterinary surgeons and 1,157 (10%) veterinary nurses voting. These turnouts and voter numbers compare with 4,661 (18.8%) and 1,329 (12.5%) last year, and ten-year averages of 3,927 (17.4%) and 869 (9.9%), respectively.

Commenting on the results, RCVS Registrar Gordon Hockey, says: “It was always going to be tough to beat last year’s record turnout, even with a record number of candidates standing this year, but it’s encouraging that voter numbers are still the third highest in the last ten years. “I’d like to be amongst the first to publicly congratulate all the successful candidates this year, and to encourage those who weren’t successful this time to stand again in the future. I’m very much looking forward to working with our three new RCVS Council members whilst, at the same time, delighted that the profession has returned three existing members to their seats, enabling them to continue their work for the College.”

For more information visit the RCVS website

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Vet CPD Monitoring – coming soon

As part of the RCVS’s proactive approach to monitoring continuing professional development (CPD), this year they will be calling in the records of those vets who have failed to declare that they are compliant with the minimum requirements.

They will also be looking at a random sample of CPD records of those who have confirmed they are compliant, for comparative purposes. As part of the annual registrational renewal process, they have asked all practising vets to confirm – either through the ‘My Account’ area on the RCVS website or the paper registration renewal form – they have complied with our minimum requirements of 105 hours of CPD over a three year period.

Christine Warman, Head of Education, says: “Our minimum requirement for 105 hours of CPD over three years was brought into the ‘Code of Professional Conduct’ in 2012 so, after 2015, those who persistently fail to comply with CPD requirements and respond to requests for records will be in breach of the ‘Code’. 

The purpose of this monitoring process is to see what proportion of vets are non-compliant, and to develop further guidance on meeting the CPD requirements going forward.

For more advice and guidance about CPD for vets click here.

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RCVS Golden Jubilee Award – recognising outstanding contributions to veterinary nursing

Do you know someone who has made an outstanding contribution to veterinary nursing? If so why not nominate them for the RCVS Veterinary Nursing Golden Jubilee Award 2014!

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) are looking for those who have made an exceptional contribution to veterinary nursing, animal welfare or patient care, whether this is in clinical practice, research teaching or politics.

Registered or listed veterinary nurses, veterinary surgeons and lay people can all be nominated for this award.

The nomination form can be downloaded here.

Alternatively you can contact Annette Amato, Deputy Head of Veterinary Nursing on 020 7202 0713 or a.amato@rcvs.org.uk

Please note the deadline for submitting nomination forms is 1 May 2014!

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RCVS news – missed a webinar?

If you have missed the latest RCVS webinars including their latest one on ‘Clinical Governance’ delivered by Bradley Viner and Pam Mosedale you can still catch them on ‘The Webinar Vet’ or via their YouTube channel!

With squeezed budgets for contuining professional development (CPD) these bit-size chunks of learning should be of great use to members of a practice team.

The ‘Clinical Governance’ webinar was watched live by over 140 delegates and had excellent feedback including “Thank you, great help for an upcoming senior role interview”, “An evening well spent” and “Greetings from Italy and thanks for very useful information”

A future webinar is being planned specifically for overseas graduates, and over the next few months they will also be holding events on 24/7, the Professional Development Phase, the complaints process, the Practice Standards Scheme review and Advanced Practitioner status.

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RCVS news – VN cards no longer available

As the RVCS announced in March 2013, last year the VN council decided to discontinue issuing registered and listed veterinary nurse identification cards, a move which took effect during the recent renewal period.

The decision was made based on the fact that employers rarely seemed to ask to see the cards, and, in any event, they were quickly out of date.

For the most up to date information about who is included in the VN Register/List, please use the ‘Check the Registers’ tool on the RCVS website.

CAW Student Poster Competition – Help us to Celebrate BVNA’s National VN Awareness Month, May 2014!

This year’s National Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month is almost upon us, and this year The College of Animal Welfare are taking part by entering Category A ‘Best display showing the role of the veterinary nurse’.

And we need your help!

We want you to create a poster which shows the role of the veterinary nurse; this could be a poster encompassing all the different roles and responsibilities or maybe a poster showing what you feel is the most important role – it really is up to you! There is a £100 prize up for grabs to The College of Animal Welfare student who creates the best poster!

After all the posters have been submitted, they will be displayed at Headland House initially and a photo of all the posters in the display sent in as the official BVNA competition entry.

To be in with a chance of winning the £100 please send, or hand in, your poster to our Huntingdon centre for the attention of Alison German by Friday 16 May 2014. Please write your full name, course and centre on the reverse of the poster.

Good luck!