ACVN Diploma in Clinical Veterinary Nursing

This subject is devoted to the correct handling and restraint of the animals in our care. Although a large focus is on dogs and cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, wildlife and birds are also covered. Providing safe and low stress animal handling is a vital skill for any Veterinary Nurse. You will also learn the basics of reading animal body language.

Health and safety are vital aspects of working in any animal care workplace. We’ll introduce you to Work Health and Safety legislation and how it applies to employees, the basics of risk management and controls, how to deal with sharps, allergies, noise, dangerous chemicals and drugs, fire safety and emergencies, biological hazards and zoonoses. Then we’ll finish off with a closer look at animal hazards and manual handling when it comes to animal care workplaces and how you can minimise risks.

Veterinary nurses care for a variety of animals with differences in anatomy that affect how we nurse our patients. In this subject you’ll learn all about the body systems and how they work. The focus is on placental mammals, and we explore the differences between different animals. You’ll also learn about other non-mammalian species such as reptiles.

Veterinary Nurses are involved in the handling and administration of medications daily. Dispensing drugs also falls to the veterinary nurse often. This subject looks at different drug classifications and schedules, legislation around prescribing and dispensing medications, obtaining information on drugs and client advice.

Chemotherapy is also covered, with an emphasis on the WHS considerations of chemo administration in the veterinary practice, and how to correctly nurse these patients to minimise any risks of exposure when handling them.

Veterinary Nurses are required communicate with a range of people from colleagues to clients. You’ll learn how to adjust your communication techniques to match your audience, including switching between medical terminology and client friendly explanations. You’ll also learn about customer service skills and how to deal with difficult situations.

Patients are often kept in hospital and knowing how to look after them from food to bedding, exercising, taking vital signs, recording observations and knowing when to alert the Vet are all skills that form the basis of good nursing. This subject goes into detail on how to really look after your patients well, providing nursing interventions where necessary, and looking at the patient as a whole – not just ticking off a box that a treatment has been given.

Infection control is extremely important in any veterinary clinic and this subject is structured to help you with understanding both basic and advanced precautions that are necessary to keep you and your patients safe from transmissible diseases.

Well being and Self Care is an important yet often overlooked area of our lives. Allowing ourselves the opportunity for Self Care can sometimes be reflected upon as being selfish, however if we don’t take care of ourselves, how can we take care of others? This is most relevant when considering our clients and patients. Through Self Care and our own wellbeing, we also build our resilience. This enables us to succeed when we are faced with challenges outside of our control. This subject will guide you through what it means to provide self care, help identify the tools we can use to promote wellbeing and how we can use those tools to apply it to our everyday lives and our workplaces.

Medical Nursing will introduce the student to a wide variety of equipment found within the veterinary clinic. Students study not only how to set it up and what it is used for, but how to assist the Vet during procedures. The correct maintenance of this equipment is also covered.

Fluid therapy and IV catheterisation, oxygen therapy and urinary catheterisation are also covered.

This subject follows on from Foundations of Nursing Care and looks at nursing care plans and nursing interventions.

Correct nutrition is not only vital for the patients we nurse and animals we care for, but advising owners on correct nutrition for their pets is often a daily occurrence for Veterinary Nurses. This subject will ensure students understand what makes up nutrition, how to feed for particular life stages, how to read pet labels, diseases that are influenced by nutrition, and how to calculate energy requirements.

Clinical pathology will introduce students to laboratory techniques used in the veterinary clinic, what equipment is used and how to maintain it including microscopes, refractometers, in-house lab machines, centrifuges etc. Students will also learn how to perform a urinalysis including sediment, PCV/TP, faecal floats, blood smears and will also cover the basics on haematology and biochemistry, and cell structure. Correct sample handling and storage techniques are also covered.

Veterinary Nurses are involvedin a range of diagnostic imaging procedures. You’ll learn about how to set up for, take, and trouble shoot radiographs (x-rays), ultrasound and learn more about other imaging techniques such as endoscopy, MRI and CT scans.

Physical therapy is an essential part of the post op recovery period and an area of care where nurses can be actively involved. Providing physical therapy is a great way to improve owner compliance with post op care, and allow regular contact with the clinic to monitor the patient’s progress. This subject will prepare students to discuss physical therapy with clients, devise routines they can follow, and recognise when to refer to a Veterinary Physiotherapist. It also covers techniques they can implement in clinic to help speed up the recovery of the post op patient. This subject will also teach students about the various muscles and muscle groups.

Fluid therapy is an integral part of the modern veterinary clinic. This subject will teach students about the various types of fluids available, their indications and contraindications and how to monitor patients receiving fluid therapy. Students will also learn about osmosis, and how to correctly calculate fluid rates and influencing factors on fluid rates.

Indepth analgesia knowledge and the ability to recognise pain is vital in so many different aspects of veterinary nursing. This subject will teach students about the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, pain pathways, and the drugs we use to control pain. It will look at recognising pain and pain scoring, and alternative methods of controlling pain in our patients including nursing interventions.