The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) is hosting a suite of future-focused presentations at the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) Congress next month.
Presentations will cover topics from the future of veterinary education and veterinary nursing, to telemedicine, leadership and mental wellbeing within the profession. The RCVS will be hosting presentations on day one of the BSAVA Congress, which runs from Thursday 4 through to Sunday 7 April 2019 at Birmingham Arena. The exhibition is in Arena Birmingham (running 4-6 April) and the lectures are in the ICC (running 4-7 April).
The day will begin at 8.30am with a split-session presentation from Professor Stephen May, RCVS Senior Vice-President, and Amanda Boag, RCVS President.
Professor Stephen May will present a talk entitled ‘Graduate Outcomes review – looking to the future’, which will cover the graduate outcomes consultation launched by the RCVS last year. The consultation, which asked for the views of all members of the veterinary team on the future of veterinary education, grew out of the joint RCVS and British Veterinary Association (BVA) Vet Futures research project, which found that there is often a mismatch between the expectations of graduates and the reality of veterinary practice.
Amanda Boag will then present a talk entitled ‘Leadership for all with the Edward Jenner Leadership Programme’ in the second half of this split-session.
Inspired by Vet Futures and launched at last year’s BSAVA Congress, the RCVS Leadership Programme aims to support the College’s strategic ambition to become an organisation with leadership at its heart. On 13 November 2018, as part of this initiative, the RCVS launched the Edward Jenner Veterinary Leadership Programme, a free-to-access Massive Open Online Course for veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses.
Boag said: “The programme is designed for all veterinary professionals and addresses the importance of leadership in the veterinary setting. Over 3,000 veterinary professionals have already engaged with the course and feedback has been exceptional, with 100% of learners in the last run saying they “would recommend the course to a colleague” and 95% saying they “felt the programme had equipped them to be more effective leader.”
The programme comprises two online courses with a final assessment and is supported by an innovative audio drama, ‘Glenvern’, which faithfully portrays the leadership challenges vets encounter in daily practice. All the learning materials are free to access, although there is a small charge for those wishing to undertake the final assessment.
