RCVS accredits Myerscough College to deliver DipAVN

The RCVS has accredited Myerscough College in Lancashire to offer a course that will lead to the RCVS Diploma in Advanced Veterinary Nursing (DipAVN).

This will be welcome news for veterinary nurses, as there has been a hiatus in diploma course provision while the RCVS waited for suitable academic institutions to come forward.

Myerscough College will take 20 students from September this year on a two-year course that comprises a mix of online and college-based learning. The Myerscough students will achieve a Diploma of Higher Education in Clinical Veterinary Nursing Studies from the University of Central Lancashire in addition to their DipAVN awarded by the RCVS.

Myerscough is the first to offer a course under the new arrangements for a modular Diploma. The modular approach is designed to offer VNs a more flexible and accessible way to learn, with courses and associated fees broken down into manageable chunks.

Under the new system, the Diploma will no longer be available as Surgical or Medical options, as the modular approach opens a much wider range of potential study routes. Instead, there will be a single DipAVN qualification.

"The previous qualification relied heavily on distance learning without being able to provide the academic support that many students need when studying this way. It consequently suffered a very high attrition rate," explains Libby Earle, Head of the RCVS Veterinary Nursing Department.

"Myerscough will carefully select students and provide continuous online academic support, which should lower the drop-out rate considerably. We were very impressed by the College's proposed level of support, facilities and course programme," she says.

"The veterinary nursing team at Myerscough has worked hard to validate this innovative Higher Education (HE) diploma in conjunction with the RCVS," according to Katherine Kissick VN, Head of Veterinary Nursing, Animal Academy, Equine and Farriery at Myerscough College. "The team is excited about being able to offer a structured HE Continuing Professional Development qualification to listed veterinary nurses."

The RCVS hopes that further diploma course providers will apply for validation. Those interested need either to be universities or to have a link with a university so that assessment procedures are quality assured.

ENDS

For more information about the course, please contact Myerscough College on 01995 642211 or email [email protected]

For a media enquiry, please contact Lizzie Lockett on 020 7202 0725 or [email protected]
Communications Department
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The RCVS is the regulatory body for veterinary surgeons in the UK and deals with issues of professional misconduct, maintaining the register of veterinary surgeons eligible to practise in the UK and assuring standards of veterinary education.

2. The RCVS has two key functions in relation to veterinary nursing: the maintenance of the statutory list of veterinary nurses and the award of veterinary nursing NVQs and RCVS diploma qualifications.