Certificates and Further Study

Re: Certificates and Further Study

James Allsop — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:37:10 GMT

I completed the Improve/ESVPS GPCert(FelP) a few years ago, started it at the time when they were talking of stopping the RCVS certs and changing them and at the time you couldnt do a feline cert. I fould the course very comprehensive - much more so than expected as thought it may be a bit of a 'Noddy course'. They have changed the set up now - though it was better when it was 12 x 14:00-20:00 sessions as only had to take half day off work. Now that the CertAVP's are up and running Im thinking about them but have heard that you need to have access to the practice management system in detail to complete some of the essays - might be worth checking this out with your boss? Good luck - I thoroughly enjoyed my course and the spearkers were great. exam required a some studying for and the case report had to be written to a high standard.

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Frances Barr — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:17:27 GMT

Just to confirm that BSAVA are planning to launch postgraduate certificates at masters level - one in small animal medicine and one in small animal surgery - in January 2012. These will be a mixture of taught courses and online resources and activities in a modular structure, followed by a case book and final exam. For the last 18 months we have been working closely with the OU on a feasibility study and to put the required structures and personnel in place. That ground work is now complete. As the project moves forward, BSAVA has decided to seek a university partner whose strategic vision and flexibility more closely matches its own, and several exciting possibilities are being explored. In the meantime, there is more information in the CPD section of the BSAVA website (www.bsava.com), where you can also register your interest. I'll also be delighted to talk to anyone interested in the new certificates and to answer questions at BSAVA Congress 2011 - I'll be in the Education area up on the balcony in the Exhibition.

Frances Barr

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Mark Hedberg — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:42:12 GMT

[quote user="Alina Baldin"]

Ooo...hadn't heard that, will definitely get in touch with BSAVA, thanks!

[/quote]

It's fairly new; Francis Barr only started the job of Academic Director of the BSAVA in November 2010 and the course isn't starting until January 2012. Definitely go over to bsava.com, you can register your interest for keeping updated!

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:28:22 GMT

I looked at the cert avp and although it would be the most widely recognised there are shortcomings in the subjects. My particular area is not covered (ophthalmology) and so a cert avp would be useless. i wanted a further qualification that would be recognised with decent tuition.

I did the improve opthalmology course, it is I suppose 'easier' to do than the old rcvs certs but as for what it allows me to do in general practice there is no real difference as long as you use it a a basis for further learning which realistically all certs would be. You still get to put some letters after your name but the main advantage is that it is attainable in general practice as the learning is based around your job with monthly lectures that are done by excellent speakers and is very practically based. The case book can be difficult but is well worth doing to further your knowledge and teach you how and where to find out more relevant information. I would very much recommend the improve gp certs. people do think it is easy and this is where they fall down, there is a high failure rate in the improve courses, multiple choice does test your knowledge in the subject matter in great detail. The only downside is that I think that there should be an oral examination element involved.

I have also heard of the open university masters degrees that bsava may be looking in to and would very much like to go down this route.

I would go for the improve cert again any day but would be interested in the masters degree. i will never do a cert avp, too many what I did in my holiday essays for my liking. I just didnt like the look of them. I have no problem with hard work but I need it to be relevant as my time is limited.

good luck in what ever you choose

chris

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Alina Baldin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:29:21 GMT

Thanks very much for all your replies! I appreciate all the advice.

Having read them all I think I'm leaning towards the CertAVP route at the mo because of the recognition of the course by Royal Collage... will be giving it some serious thought over the next few days so that I can speak to the powers that be at work about funding before the New Year starts

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Alina Baldin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:26:13 GMT

Ooo...hadn't heard that, will definitely get in touch with BSAVA, thanks!

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Rob Reid — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:52:17 GMT

I have done an Improve Cert and am curretnly doing the CertAVP so should be able to help!

I did the Improve certificate in Small Animal Surgery finishing in 2007 (qualified 2002.) Level was about right for me in general practice, lectures were good on the whole (lecturers ranged from John Houlton on ortho to Liz Welsh and Jackie Demetriou on soft tissue) and it was accessible being only 1 afternoon off from practice a month. Also had 2 practical all-day sessions on dead dogs at Veterinary Instrumentation (worth it just to go and look at all their nice new surgical kit!) Casebook of 20 short cases with 1 extended case and also exam at end kept me interested and studying while I was going along. I think the course has changed a bit so that there is even more practical stuff now so that is even better.

On the whole - enjoyed it and found it beneficial, main negatives are 1) price - my bosses are great for funding CPD and they paid for it all but if you are on a tight budget of say £500 a year then it will seriously dent your holiday money. 2) location - if you aren't anywhere near the module locations then that 1 afternoon becomes 1 or 2 days (there was 1 chap in my group who used to fly in from Ireland each time!), luckily I was only an hour away so no problem but could see that putting people off.

I am doing the CertAVP at the moment with the RVC, aiming to do Small Animal Medicine. Have completed A module on B at the moment, despite a few negative comments about the RVC I have actually found it good so far - you can work at your own pace and it encourages you to think about why you do things. Price-wise it's not too bad though more costly if you get online support (which I would recommend, especially the ATHENS access.) Looking at the rest of the syllabus, I think the level is about correct for general practice so you should find it ok, don't forget for post-2007 graduates you need to have completed your PDP before you can enrol for the CertAVP.

Hope this helps - feel free to message me if you need more info.

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Malcolm Ness — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:01:20 GMT

BSAVA have some plans in association with the Open University to develop a clinically based post grad qualification - it might be worth getting in touch with them to find out where they are up to.

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Camilla Edwards — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:55:56 GMT

Hi,

I'm doing CertAVP Module A with the RVC, almost done, considering my options of doing Module B at another university, but may well stick with RVC.

I think that with any new qualification that there will be concerns with it and people will say "in my day, certificates were much harder, meant more etc" but at the end of the day, the CertAVP is the recognised certificate with the RCVS, and I think that's really important.

However unlike Michael I've heard good things about Improve and I think maybe on a personal level you learn a lot, certainly compared to Module A in CertAVP. But going straight to the fun stuff, doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting a broad, recognised education.

HTH

Camilla

Re: Certificates and Further Study

Michael Woodhouse — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:27:48 GMT

Hello!

Have you looked at the syllabus for the CertAVP? I haven't looked at any of the smallie modules, but for large animals there's not that many cases you need - they are designed to be attainable in general practice. With many of the AVP providers you have to do a lot of the work yourself, and that suits me, they just give you a syllabus and expect cases that cover as much as possible. The 'A' module is a drag but I must get on and do those sodding essays.

On the whole other providers were going to cost me more money and give me a 'qualification' that I couldn't use after my name, so I went Cert AVP route. Not because it is necessarily the best, but the most suited to me at this time. I have heard some bad things about some of the Improve courses, but have never done one myself. A classic example bovine ultrasound course, instructor though that participants were bringing scanners, candidates were not told to - result 18 people to one scanner.