In January 2017 Cat, our head nurse,  began studying towards the Diploma in Advanced Veterinary Nursing (DipAVN) at Harper Adams University.

The course is for Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVN’s) who want to develop their nursing knowledge and skills.  It is made up of four core modules and upon completion of these each candidate choses three out of six specialist modules. The final stage of the course is to complete an advanced veterinary nursing review project.

The core modules, which provide a base to be built on with each specialist module, were applied physiology, evidence-based nursing, systematic delivery of veterinary nursing and law, ethics and professional practice.  Cat then chose anaesthetic nursing, small animal medical nursing and small animal surgical nursing as her specialist modules.

The course is delivered as a blended learning programme with content delivered online via a virtual learning environment and through teaching days at Harper Adams University. Each module was assessed by a combination of assignments, literature reviews, case studies, oral presentations, practical examinations and unseen written examinations.

Cat passed all assessments on the first attempt and so was eligible to select an area of special interest for her final review project. She chose the use of surgical safety checklists and researched and reviewed relevant literature within both human and veterinary healthcare before completing her own research for comparison. This assignment was submitted for assessment and the final hurdle to complete was a VIVA Voce examination; a professional discussion about Cat’s area of special interest. This method of assessment allows further discussion beyond the 5000-word assignment, an opportunity for candidates to go into more detail and discuss the research they carried out, as well as a chance for the examiners to confirm all work presented was the candidate’s own.

After a nerve-wracking wait Cat got the good news!  She had passed the final assessments and therefore the course! She attended graduation at Harper Adams University and was awarded with a Diploma of Higher Education in Advanced Veterinary Nursing.  The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons will also award her the  ‘Blue badge’ (infamous with RVN’s).  This will recognise her advanced nursing qualification alongside the post-nominal DipAVN.

Cat says:

“I found the course hugely challenging at times and motivating myself to study alongside full-time work wasn’t always easy. After the challenges came the rewarding moments and I have already implemented changes to the way we are able to provide nursing care to our patients at Hollybank – which was, after all, the purpose of embarking upon the qualification.”

We are immensely proud of Cat here at Hollybank and want to congratulate her on such a significant achievement.  Fantastic!