CVS Launches State Of The Art Nurse Academy

Louise O'Dwyer Corporate vet practice CVS has demonstrated its commitment to the development of its 1,000+ vet nurses with the launch of a state of the art nurse academy. Once they have qualified, nurses can enrol onto the MiNurse Academy through the new online training platform and study four modules - Advanced Medicine; Advanced Surgery; Emergency and Critical Care and the Clinical Nurse Practitioner. Training is delivered through a combination of taught practical days and online learning and, once a module has been completed, knowledge is assessed through case reports, online tests and assignments. CVS is the UK's largest and fastest growing corporate practice with more than 100 student nurses qualifying each year within the group. It has introduced the MiNurse Academy, at an investment of more than £50,000, in order to enhance career development opportunities for its qualified nurses and to ensure greater consistency in their training and development. Charlie Clarke RVN and Regional Training Manager at CVS, explained: "Qualified nurses play an essential role across our practices and are key members of our team. We wanted to enhance the current internal training and give them the opportunity to progress their careers. MiNurse offers them the opportunity of more structured development and learning more specialist skills." Louise O'Dwyer MBA BSc (Hons) VTS(Anaesthesia & ECC) DipAVN (Medical & Surgical) RVN Clinical Director, added: "As registered veterinary nurses, it is essential that we remain up to date with current veterinary concepts, treatments, techniques and products. The provision of high quality CPD is paramount in allowing nurses to achieve this level of knowledge and skill - and this is what we want to achieve with the Mi Nurse Academy courses. "We are utilising lecturers who are both experts within their field and well respected as speakers to achieve this goal. As a veterinary nurse I know how difficult it can be to be able to afford CPD, and also to be able to spend time away from busy practice so we wanted to make access to training as straightforward and achievable as possible. We will manage this via the use of webinars, available as both live sessions and as recordings for the majority of the sessions." Charlie Clarke continued: "We consulted our nurses in the development of MiNurse Academy and they are enthusiastic to get started. The first students will be enrolling in December 2014, ready to start in January 2015. We look forward to welcoming them." CVS UK Ltd is the largest and fastest-growing mixed practice corporate veterinary group in the UK. Founded in 1999 and run, principally by vets, it employs more than 3,000 staff at its practices and surgeries across the UK and in its related veterinary businesses, including an online pharmacy, three pet crematoriums and five veterinary laboratories. Key to its success is CVS' ability to attract ambitious veterinary staff and to invest in their clinical skills, knowledge and in research to drive the profession forward. It also provides the business support to ensure its diverse range of small animal, large animal and equine practices achieve their full potential. CVS' guiding principles include a commitment to excellence in all aspects of its work and a focus on building long-term relationships with its customers and suppliers. The company works in close partnership with the wider veterinary profession and industry colleagues.

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