EPA 8: Preventive healthcare and disease control

Summary

Formulate recommendations for preventive healthcare. 

Description

Create a preventive healthcare plan to optimise health and welfare, and to prevent spread of disease. Consider:

• The animal/herd and industry needs
• The client’s capabilities
• The care setting

Prevention of disease is a core veterinary activity that protects the health and welfare of animals and public health, and provides quality assurance for industry. Educating and building relationships with clients, including assisting with productivity and communicating best practice, is an important part of this activity.

Success criteria 

To demonstrate expertise and proficiency in creating an appropriate preventative healthcare plan that considers the patient's interests, available resources and appropriate public health and environmental considerations.

You should be able to carry out this activity to a consistently high standard across the full range of clinical contexts relevant to your role, including different: 

• Animal species
• Clinical conditions
• Environmental contexts
• Different degrees of client support and co-operation

Required competencies

The RCVS Day One Competences encompass a range of domains that may be relevant to this EPA. However, the key areas involved in performing this activity/practice are as follows:

Veterinary capability

• Clinical reasoning
• Individual animal
• Animal population care and management

Reflective relationships

• Communication