Course Information

Cert VN ECC

The Certificate of Veterinary Nursing in Emergency & Critical Care is designed to be an easily accessible qualification for candidates who have an interest in furthering their knowledge and understanding of small animal emergency & critical care nursing. The course is accredited by City & Guilds and is an educational qualification at level 4.

It's a distance learning course, delivered via our online learning platform Moodle (as of April 2013) and the qualification is designed to:

Provide an industry recognised qualification for Veterinary Nurses
Expand and develop an optional career path for Veterinary Nurses
Develop the VN skill set to enhance patient care in Emergency & Critical Care cases
Benefit the industry and pet owners by increasing levels of care for patients

If you would like to download a copy of the Cert VN ECC Course Information booklet please click the link to download the document.

Candidate Entry Requirements

Candidates should have:

A VN qualification and be either RCVS listed or registered
A minimum of one year's post qualification small animal work-based experience
Be currently working in a predominantly small animal practice/unit with a good case load

Course content

The course is divided into 6 core units, each containing 3 outcomes.
You have 9 weeks to complete each unit and submit the open learning assignments (1 per outcome, so 3 per unit) for marking by your tutor.
The assignments are comprised of short answer questions, which assess the practical activites and the underpinning knowledge of the units that are not assessed in the final examination.
The course content is theory based, rather than case studies, so the information contained within the course notes should be sufficient to complete the assignments. However, it is expected that some evidence of practical learning and further reading be exhibited in your submissions and this would be considered in the marking.

Each outcome also contains self assessment questions, but these are purely for your own study and are not required to be submitted for marking.

Approximate length of completion for the course is 18 months, with intakes every 6 months in April and October.

From April 2013 the six core units of the course cover the following topics:

Unit title	Outcome 1	Outcome 2	Outcome 3
Approach to the Emergency Patient	Triage & CPR	Shock, vascular access & fluid therapy	Emergency Diagnostics
Supporting the Emergency Patient	Monitoring the critical patient	Critical care nursing	Anaesthesia and analgesia
Emergency Medicine 1	Cardiovascular emergencies	Respiratory emergencies	Haematological and haemostatic emergencies
Emergency Medicine 2	GIT emergencies	Endocrine emergencies	Urogenital emergencies
Emergency Medicine 3	Neurological & ophthalmological emergencies	Small mammals, birds & reptile emergencies	Intoxications
Surgical Emergencies	Orthopaedic and soft tissue injuries	ENT & thoracic surgical emergencies	Abdominal surgical emergencies

Tutors & Student Liaison

Each student will be allocated a tutor who will mark your assignments and provide you with feedback throughout the course. You will be provided with an email address to contact your tutor should you have any queries regarding the course material or your assignments.

A Student Liaison Officer is also available, should you have any queries, problems or have any feedback regarding the course.

Student Forum

There is a student forum for the Cert VN ECC available in the student zone of www.vetecc.com.

You can chat to other students, raise questions or discuss your assignments and tutor feedback is also available via the forum. There are current students, prospective students and graduated students as well as tutors signed up, so someone will be sure to point you in the right direction!

Recommended Study Time

Suggested study time is 5.5 hours per week. However, this is not a requirement; it can be more or less dependent on how you work best.

Approximate length of completion for the course is 18 months (including the final examinations). 30 CPD hours can be entered on your CPD record - or 5 hours per Unit on completion.

Course Costs

coins Course cost for October 2013 intake is £550 + VAT (£660). April 2014 the cost may increase and will be published here shortly.

An invoice will be issued once your place has been confirmed, and payment would be required 2 weeks prior to the course start date.

If you are a member of Vets Now staff or a Member Practice, then you will be entitled to a 10% discount on course costs. Please quote VNStaff or VNM on your application to be eligible for this discount.

Examination fees are currently £160.00 + VAT. Payment is not required at the start of the course for these, only once you have registered to sit the final examinations.

Further Information

If you have any questions or queries regarding the Cert VN ECC, then please contact the Student Liaison Officer on vncertecc@vets-now.com or phone to 01383 628721.

Or if you would like to apply please click here