RCVS showcases VN Vision and clinical supervisor training at BVNA Congress

At this year’s British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) Congress we hosted two successful sessions for the veterinary nurse delegates on empowering clinical supervisors and about our VN Vision project.

The first RCVS session at BVNA Congress, which took place at Telford International Centre, was on the morning of Friday 10 October with a workshop from two of our Qualifications Assessors, Jasmine Curtis RVN and Tori Thornton RVN, on empowering clinical supervisors to get the best out of the student veterinary nurses (SVNs) they support in the practice setting.

During the presentation Jasmine and Tori gave pointers, for example, on how to identify and apply support strategies to help SVNs demonstrate expected professional behaviours, communication techniques to help create a supportive learning environment and how to effectively use problem-based learning to help their SVNs improve.

Those attending the workshop were asked to give their own examples of the support strategies they’ve put in place as clinical supervisors and were also signposted to further resources, including the various courses available on the RCVS Academy.

VN Vision 

The interactive VN Vision workshop took place on Sunday 12 October and was presented by Jill Macdonald, VN Vision Project Lead.

VN Vision is an RCVS-led project that grew out of the now-concluded VN Futures initiative and is considering the future of team-based veterinary healthcare.

The interactive session led by Jill considered how the role of the veterinary nurse could be strengthened and better utilised in the veterinary team, taking into account future legislation and regulation, the changing culture of veterinary practice, and the impact of new technology.

Those attending were asked to identify the barriers and opportunities for the effective utilisation of veterinary nurses, develop practical strategies to enhance VN leadership and collaboration in the veterinary team, and to contribute ideas on how the role of VNs could be maximised within the vet team.

Speaking of the event, Jill Macdonald said: “We welcomed RVNs from a wide range of professional settings, including education, leadership and management, primary care, referral practice, and the charity sector.

“We delivered a condensed version of our ‘theory of change’ workshop, inviting attendees to explore key questions around team-based veterinary healthcare.

“Participants contributed their thoughts to our ‘magic whiteboard’, sparking discussion around leadership culture and its influence on change, the confidence of vets to delegate (and of nurses to receive delegation), and ways to build that confidence. We also explored how team-based practice can be strengthened through inter-professional education and by embedding team-focused learning within veterinary and VN curricula.

“The insights gathered will feed into our research dataset and support ongoing development of the theory of change. This work is helping to generate valuable, profession-led guidance on strengthening the veterinary nursing role—through cultural reform, supportive resources, and real examples of effective team-based working in practice.”

Making a stand

Throughout the three days of BVNA Congress, RCVS staff were on hand on our dedicated stand to talk about a number of our projects including the RCVS Academy, legislative reform and the Mind Matters Initiative.

We also ran a myth-busting competition in which one RVN and one SVN each had the chance to win a personalised stethoscope by correctly guessing which of a series of 10 statements were true or false. Almost 450 attendees took part in the game and over 700 people came along to our stand to find out more about the College’s current projects and initiatives.