Charlotte Clements
Post Registration Nursing Programme Expands Following Graduation Of Latest Cohort
2 years ago 
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The Post Registration Programme (PRP), which supports Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVNs) as they enter referral practice, has increased its cohort size from 20 to 25 in September 2022 due to growing demand.
Run by veterinary group Linnaeus for its RVNs, the programme’s schedule has also been updated to ensure attendees make the best use of their time allocated to the training.
Sophie Venables, Lead PRP Manager at Linnaeus, explained:
“We only recently introduced in-person events as part of the PRP because the programme started during the pandemic in 2020. Those sessions have been incredibly popular, but we want to protect the time of our attendees and avoid too much travelling as they are based all over the UK.
“The in-person sessions will be combined into a two-day welcome event, followed by two virtual training days spread out in the middle of the programme. Then we’ll finish with a final in-person event and graduation ceremony. We want to encourage a good work/life balance and that includes minimising long journeys without losing the connections and friendships formed within each cohort.”
For the latest cohort of RVNs, their final professional development day took place in August and included a graduation ceremony to celebrate their completion of the programme.
Held at Willows Veterinary Centre & Referral Service in Solihull, West Midlands, the event hosted 20 nurses from eight referral hospitals around the UK. The day covered topics including publishing research, finding appropriate CPD, and nurse empowerment.
The attendees also presented their knowledge summaries to the group, which were written during protected study time and have been submitted for publication. Topics included the implementation of passive range of motion exercises on the recovery time of canine patients recovering from spinal surgery, and the different techniques for venous catheter placement preparation.
Charlotte Clements, a cardiology nurse at Willows, said:
“The professional development days consolidated what we learnt in practice and gave us the opportunity to participate in teamwork as a group. Learning from external speakers about topics such as writing scientific journal articles has particularly inspired me to share my knowledge with others and continue my studies further."
The PRP is the world’s first preceptorship for multiple referral sites that recruits from education institutions around the UK. It comprises five professional development days and clinical learning, with participants also completing projects to promote evidence-based clinical practice and quality improvement. All participants have ringfenced time off rota to complete the work.
The programme now runs twice a year, with new cohorts starting in September 2022 and March 2023.
Sophie added:
“Our PRP graduates have embraced a range of exciting opportunities since completing the programme. Some are training to become clinical supervisors or preceptors for future PRP cohorts, while others have taken discipline-specific roles at their hospital. Moving into referral practice can be a big leap and seeing our RVNs progress after completing our programme demonstrates why this support is so valuable.”
For more information about the Linnaeus PRP visit https://www.linnaeusgroup.co.uk/careers/graduates-students-and-apprenticeships/referral-nursing-post-registration-programme.
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