CVS has launched ‘Further surgical skills for the General Practitioner’ a course designed to help new graduate vets develop their confidence and competence performing commonplace surgical procedures.

The one-day course covers a variety of procedures, from forelimb, hindlimb and tail amputations, to enucleations and simple eyelid mass removals.

Graduates will also begin learning about the use of basic skin flaps to close larger wounds.

They will also be taught how to recognise a patient requiring urgent or emergency care and initiate evaluation and management. 

Sarah Rutherford, Head of Clinical Education at CVS, said: “When we spoke to our graduates, they told us that they were keen for us to run this course, so that they could build experience and confidence in these common procedures, post their university and extra mural training.

“These are GP procedures. So, thinking about contextualised care, we felt it was important for all of our companion animal veterinary General Practitioners to offer these treatment options - no matter how many years they’d been practicing.

"It’s great to empower our new graduates to conduct these salvage-type procedures - rather than book them in with experienced, certified and advanced vets, or even a referrals specialist.

“It was also important for us to have GP vets Frances and Andy teaching our new surgical GP course, as they appreciate the challenges and practicalities of first opinion practice (FOP).

"It hopefully shows the opportunities that are available in teaching within CVS for all of our general practitioners.”

Hannah Spooner BVSc MRCVS, New Graduate Programme Lead said: "I recently took at poll at the Cambridge AVS congress this spring and this course came out on top - as the course students would ‘most be looking forward to’ if they were to join the CVS New graduate programme in the future. So that’s very encouraging to know!”

www.careerswithcvs.co.uk

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