Author Archives: Alison German

Advertise your job vacancy for free!

If you have a veterinary or animal related job vacancy that you are looking to fill, did you know you could advertise it on our online jobs board?

With over 1,500 unique visitors per month, you can get your job seen by your target audience and it is all completely free of charge!

For those looking for a job we also have a situations wanted section, so if you are looking to recruit please take a few moments to look through this section – you may find someone suitable for your vacancy straight away!

Visit our jobs board and get advertising today – http://blog.caw.ac.uk/index.php/jobs/

Clinical Coach Area – VLE

Clinical Coach VLE ScreenshotThe clinical coach area of the The College of Animal Welfare VLE is a fantastic resource for all clinical coaches, whether you have been a coach for one year or 10!

As a Clinical Coach you need to have regular tutorials with your students and you can find tutorial record completion guidance along with a Tutorial record template on the VLE. There is also a guide to appropriate reflective comments for NPL completion and a NPL tracking sheet, this tracking sheet also shows the calculations you need to work out the percentage of NPL completion which students love to know.

If you need templates for risk assessments, nursing care plan models and hospital record sheets these can all be found in the Clinical Coach area of the VLE.

There are links to the RCVS and City & Guilds websites so that you can access the OSCE tasks that the students will need to learn for their final practical exam. This is a good place to start when teaching your student in practice, if the student learns the OSCE way of doing things they are less likely to pick up bad habits.

In the OSCE task section there are powerpoints of all the OSCE tasks being completed step by step so it is clear exactly how a task should be carried out.

There is a veterinary instrument slideshow which shows a picture of an instrument and when you roll your mouse over it the name of the instrument appears, this is great for practices that may not have all the instruments a student needs to learn.

Vet Logic is also a very valuable area of the VLE, here you will find descriptions and diagrams of each part of the Veterinary Nurses role in practice. There is also a multiple choice questionnaire with 1500 questions. This is great if you as the clinical coach need a refresher in certain areas.

The E-Library is accessed through the Clinical Coach area of the VLE, here you can download books to read or to use as reference. This is a great resource and there are thousands of books to choose from.

Last but by no means least we have the student information, this gives you access to all the schemes of work for your student and also the RCVS and City & Guild student handbooks, fitness to practice code and other guidance for students working in Veterinary Practice.
If there is anything that isn’t currently on the VLE which you think would be useful please let your Quality Assurance Supervisor know so that we can get this actioned.

RCVS News: Nominations Open for the 2015 VN Golden Jubilee Award

Nominations for this year’s VN Golden Jubilee Award, which recognises exceptional contribution to veterinary nursing, are now being accepted.

The Award was launched in 2011 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first RCVS veterinary nursing training course and recognises those who have made an outstanding contribution to the profession, animal welfare and/or patient care. Nominees can be registered veterinary nurses, veterinary surgeons or lay people.

Nomination forms need to be submitted by 5pm on Friday 24 April. The principal nominator must be a registered veterinary nurse or veterinary surgeon, although the two supporting proposers can be lay people.

Kathy Kissick, Chair of VN Council, said: “One of the main priorities of VN Council in the coming years is to raise levels of awareness of registered veterinary nurses, and awards which recognise the importance of VNs in the context of the veterinary team and animal welfare are crucial to enhancing the profession’s profile.

“Therefore I would encourage veterinary nurses and veterinary surgeons to think about those VNs who go above and beyond the call of duty for their cause and who would be excellent ambassadors for the profession and nominate them for the Golden Jubilee Award.”

Last year’s winner was Hayley Walters who was recognised for her contribution to animal welfare through her teaching, clinical and international outreach work. Previous recipients were Jean Turner in 2011 and Sue Badger in 2012. No award was made in 2013.

The nomination form for the VN Golden Jubilee Award can be downloaded from www.rcvs.org.uk/goldenjubilee

The winner will be chosen by a panel of VN Council members and will receive the Award at RCVS Day – the College’s Annual General Meeting and Awards Day – on Friday 10 July 2015.

For further information about making a nomination for the Award please contact Annette Amato, Deputy Head of Veterinary Nursing, on a.amato@rcvs.org.uk or 020 7202 0713.

September 2015 Full Time Veterinary Nursing and Veterinary Care Assistant Deadline Dates

If you are looking to apply to start either of the following courses at The College of Animal Welfare this September please be aware of their respective deadline dates for course applications and conditions to be met:

Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing (Full-Time Students)

30 April 2015: Deadline for applications to be received by The College of Animal Welfare
31 July 2015: Deadline for students to meet conditions of offers and course places to be confirmed

Visit the course page

Level 2 Diploma for Veterinary Care Assistants (Full-Time Students)

31 May 2015: Deadline for applications to be received by The College of Animal Welfare
14 August 2015: Deadline for students to meet conditions of offers and course places to be confirmed

Visit the course page

Changes to Standardisation Sessions

Standardisation events at The College of Animal Welfare will now be separated into three different subject areas so that you can choose which area you would like more support/knowledge in.

Tutorials to assist supporting and planning for students’ progress.

An overview covering how to use tutorials successfully to plan, set SMART targets and review progress. Including a section on current OSCE tasks and finally a chance to speak to a member of the academic team with any academic questions you may have regarding the programme.

Improving your Information technology and OSCE skills

Learn how to use the CAW VLE to support your student and improve your knowledge of OSCE skills.

First Steps

This is aimed at revisiting the first steps of being a clinical coach. If you are a new clinical coach or restarting after a break this is for you. Also includes OSCE skills.

More information on dates, times and locations can be found on our website.

September 2015 Courses Now Open for Enrolment

We are delighted to announce that our September start courses are now open for enrolment.

Many of our full-time courses, particularly the Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing programme, can get very oversubscribed so it is advisable to ensure your application is submitted for consideration as soon as possible.

A list of courses can be found on our website, details of how to apply for your chosen course can be found on the relevant course page.

If you have any questions about enrolling for a course please contact us.

The Early Bird Catches the Low Price CPD!

The College of Animal Welfare is pleased to announced that delegates are now able to book places on its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses, six months in advance of the course date, for a special early bird discount price of just £99*.

This fantastic new early bird offer (which allows a saving of up to £86) follows on from the launch of the College’s new online booking system in early 2014 which has simplified bookings and provides the opportunity to book online at any time of the day and night and get instant confirmation of bookings.

Mark Hedberg, Short Course Manager at The College of Animal Welfare, said “This past year we have seen more and more delegates booking places up to a year in advance of an advertised course date. To support this, we are delighted to now be offering a special discount rate to those booking over six months before the course.” He continued “Nurses and animal care staff work incredibly hard, so we hope our new discounted price strategy, combined with some fresh new titles for 2015, will provide meaningful and affordable CPD to everyone who needs it.”

For a full list of courses or to book please visit www.caw.ac.uk/cpd

* The early bird discount applies to selected courses and is subject to availability.

– Ends –

For more information please contact:
Alison German VN
Marketing Executive
The College of Animal Welfare
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.

Interesting Facts and Figures…

Age: There are 10.3 million people aged over 65 in the UK today – this will rise to 12.5 million by 2020.

Disability: There are over 11 million people with a limiting long-term illness, impairment or disability in the UK. The prevalence of disability rises with age. Around 6 per cent of children are disabled, compared to 15 per cent of working age adults and 45 per cent of adults over State Pension age in the UK. People with severe mental illness die, on average, 20 years younger than the general population, often from preventable physical illnesses.

Religion or belief: Research suggests that poor knowledge and skills of staff in providing health services to people with non-Christian religions or beliefs can have an adverse effect on the patient experience.

Gender reassignment: Transgender medical students report that they are more likely to experience discrimination and harassment from patients and colleagues.

Sexual orientation: A third of gay and bisexual men who have access to healthcare services have had a negative experience related to their sexual orientation, according to Stonewall.

Socio-economic factors: There is a significant difference in rates of diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for the five biggest killers (cancer, stroke, heart disease, lung and liver disease) depending upon where you live

Gender:  Over 90% of the student population at The College of Animal Welfare are female

Ethnicity: 92% of the student veterinary nurse population are “White British”. Those in other ethnic groups account for 7%

 Source: NHS 2014 and The College of Animal Welfare

The Early Bird Catches the Low Price CPD!

The College of Animal Welfare is pleased to announced that delegates are now able to book places on its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses, six months in advance of the course date, for a special early bird discount price of just £99*.

This fantastic new early bird offer (which allows a saving of up to £85) follows on from the launch of the College’s new online booking system in early 2014 which has simplified bookings and provides the opportunity to book online at any time of the day and night and get instant confirmation of bookings.

Mark Hedberg, Short Course Manager at The College of Animal Welfare, said “This past year we have seen more and more delegates booking places up to a year in advance of an advertised course date. To support this, we are delighted to now be offering a special discount rate to those booking over six months before the course.” He continued “Nurses and animal care staff work incredibly hard, so we hope our new discounted price strategy, combined with some fresh new titles for 2015, will provide meaningful and affordable CPD to everyone who needs it.”

For a full list of courses or to book please visit www.caw.ac.uk/cpd

* The early bird discount applies to selected courses and is subject to availability.