All Vets in the UK are required to keep up to date with advances in medicine and surgery, by completing a certain number of hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) per year.
CPD is essential to ensure that, during a Vet’s working life, they maintain and develop their knowledge base. Every year, new medicines and techniques are developed and without a continual program of learning, it would be very easy to fall behind.
There are many different forums for learning. There are several companies who specialise in providing courses for Veterinary Practitioners, where experts in their field conduct lectures or practical training sessions. There are now several national congresses where Vets from across the country meet for training. Some home studying and in-clinic training counts as CPD. E-learning has become more and more popular recently with online seminars known as “Webinars” being released on a weekly basis.
CPD can be a big financial and time commitment for busy Practitioners but I always find it invigorating to learn about new techniques and advances.
Some Vets will do just enough CPD to comply with the minimum requirements. As a Veterinary Hospital Practice, we are required to do more CPD than non-hospital Veterinary Practices and, as we place so much importance in the knowledge of our Vets, we always like to do more CPD than is strictly required.
One of our very experienced Vets and a member of our Board of Directors, Robert White, has enrolled on the BSAVA Postgraduate Certificate in Small Animal Surgery and is over halfway through the 2 year course. This is an arduous undertaking and has involved an enormous time commitment in attending lectures, studying at home and preparing a case book. Only a handful of Vets from across the country are awarded this qualification each year. Last month, Robert sat a series of exams and passed with distinction which is a tremendous achievement. Many congratulations to Robert for being marked out for Distinction and best wishes for the year of studying ahead.
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