A new approach to support students, providers and vet schools in delivering EMS

...achieved through additional quality assurance measures, enabling the number of weeks of EMS required by students to be reduced.

Reduction in weeks

The future policy for EMS will be for students to complete ten weeks’ Animal Handling EMS (AHEMS) and 20 weeks of clinical EMS - a reduction of eight weeks in comparison with the current (2023) policy. There will be no species requirement imposed, and students will be able to choose placements that align with their development needs and interests. Further exemptions for some AHEMS may be possible where students could demonstrate considerable prior experience.

Improved quality assurance

To enhance the consistency of quality across EMS placements, new quality assurance measures will be in place to increase the likelihood that each EMS experience is positive and valuable for both the student and the placement provider. This will involve taking a more outcomes-focused approach to planning EMS placements, and improved pro-active communication between students, schools and providers to ensure expectations are clear in advance and subsequently met on all sides.

EMS database

Students should receive support from their tutors to identify and record their learning objectives for EMS in advance; this could be done periodically and adjusted as necessary as experience develops.

We are developing a national EMS database to support students in searching for and booking placements relevant to their needs. Providers will be invited to include a range of information about the EMS placement(s) they offer, including the range of non-clinical support they can provide as well as the type and range of clinical and professional experience students will have (see below).

The EMS database will also provide students and schools with a mechanism to communicate with providers in advance, to ask questions, share learning objectives and discuss any additional support needs. It will also facilitate communication with the school during longer placements, for example, to understand if expectations are being met or adjustments are needed.

Provider and student feedback following completion of EMS placements will continue to be carried out by the vet school. However, through using the RCVS EMS database as a mechanism to improve communication and set expectations, we envisage the new approach to EMS can be achieved without additional resource burden on schools. The national database would also be able to facilitate signposting of our new guidance on best practice, which would be beneficial for new providers, and for AHEMS providers who may be less accustomed to student support.  

Greater flexibility

Although the amount of EMS required will continue to be measured in weeks, there will be increased flexibility for students as to how this is achieved around their studies in the future policy. This should provide further options for students who struggle currently, perhaps due to competing responsibilities such as being a carer or wanting to work part time.

EMS providers will be encouraged to offer longer placements where possible, to allow for continuity and increase the ability for students to become ‘one of the team’ and experience what it is to work in that environment. However, EMS could also be achieved in other ways, for example, if the student attended a placement every Wednesday afternoon or Saturday over a longer period. This time could all contribute to the overall requirement and achieve the same outcomes.

Setting own learning objectives

Students will be responsible for identifying and setting their own learning objectives (with the support of their tutor), without the constraint of needing to do a certain amount of EMS in predetermined areas, for example, across species. This will increase the likelihood that students are actively engaged in the placement and not attending to ‘tick the box’, thereby improving the satisfaction of both the student and the provider. Furthermore, a more outcomes-focused approach led by the student creates flexibility in that their learning outcomes can be adjusted as further experience is gained – during the development of expertise, it is often the case that ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ until you experience a situation, learn more and then adjust the areas you wish to explore further.

Managing expectations

Our national EMS database will encourage providers to include a range of information about their placements for students to consider. Importantly, this will include the types of cases seen in their workplace, what a student could reasonably expect to experience and how they will be supported. Students will be able to consider this information against their own needs and learning objectives when booking a placement, resulting in expectations on both sides being better managed in advance.

Additional information for students

To help address challenges around accessibility to EMS placements, particularly for students facing additional constraints around finances or transport, we will encourage EMS providers to provide a range of additional information to help students choose placements that meet their needs.

Such information will include the geographical location of the placement, dates available, any financial support available or payment offered, if a car might be made available, public transport links, and if accommodation is available. In addition, providers will be able to promote their workplace and EMS placement ‘offer’ through the demonstration of other qualities such as having staff trained in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), or coaching / mentoring techniques, Practice Standards Scheme (PSS) or other awards. The promotion of such qualities by practices could also be seen by students as their longer-term employee offer or brand, providing an additional benefit to practices who offer EMS as a means to attract future, like-minded team members.

Promoting the value of EMS

Although the reduction in the number of weeks of EMS required will ease the increasing demand to a certain extent, there is still a need to attract more individuals and practices to offer animal handling, clinical and professional EMS placements to meet the future needs of students. We will work to promote EMS and the many benefits it brings to providers themselves, as well as to students and the next generation of our profession.

Providers have shared with us the sense of personal and professional satisfaction it gives them to pass on their experience and expertise to vet students, and the valuable contributions students make to the workplace during the time they spend there. Following a particularly good experience on EMS, students may also be keen to return to that workplace later in their studies or upon graduation.

Recognition and reward

In addition to access to ‘free CPD’ on coaching and mentoring via the RCVS Academy, practitioners who support students on EMS have also reported these activities to be rich learning experiences for themselves, and therefore can also be counted as part of their own CPD.

To enhance the profile of EMS and ensure EMS providers are recognised across the profession for the value and commitment they bring, further incentives and rewards will be explored, such as awards for the best placements or providers which go above and beyond to support students, and further recognition through our Practice Standards Scheme.