The latest round of Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing theory examination results have shown a marked improvement on previous years, with 90% passing Paper 1; 64% passing Paper 2; and 88% passing Paper 3.
Although the overall pass rate for Paper 2 has improved – with seven colleges achieving pass rates above 80% – a number of colleges had pass rates well below the average. Of those who sat this paper, 30% achieved a mark above 75%, with the highest mark being 94%. Sadly, the lowest mark was under 40%, which a number of students attained.
The RCVS External Verifier team will investigate reasons for poor results with those colleges in question to ensure that improvements can be made, where appropriate.
Meanwhile, the results for the summer practical (OSCE) examinations have hit a record high, with 77% candidates passing. This included one student who achieved 100% in all 12 OSCE stations: congratulations to them!
Admission ceremony
Students who passed both the theory and practical examinations will receive an invitation to attend an admission ceremony to be held at the RCVS in London on 18 October. This will give new registrants a chance to make the declaration, and receive their Certificate in Veterinary Nursing and RVN badge from the RCVS president, in front of family and friends.
An admission ceremony for students who pass the September examinations is scheduled to take place on 17th December.
BVNA Congress
If you are heading to BVNA Congress (5th-7th October, Telford), there will be plenty of opportunities to catch up with the Royal College.
We will have a stand in the foyer area, where you can see a demonstration of the new Professional Development Record, which allows you to plan, record and evaluate your continuing professional development (CPD) online.
Come and collect your free ‘Make your CPD count’ calculator, which will remind you of the URL for the online record, and take part in our ‘record breakers’ competition to win some iTunes vouchers (Well, it would have been ‘record tokens’ in the old days!).
Staff will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about CPD, the new Code, the disciplinary system, or any other issue.
The following presentations will also be made by College representatives:
Friday 5th October
• 15.20pm: ‘TP or not TP? Is that the question for your practice?’, by Libby Earle, Head of Veterinary Nursing.
• 16.15pm: The Practice Standards Scheme’, by Peter finman, Practice Standards Group Chairman.
Saturday 6th October
• 9.45am: The new Code of Professional Conduct for VNs’, by Andrea Jeffery, RCVS VN Council member.
We hope to see you there!
CPD audit
During August, we carried out a CPD audit, asking approximately 10% of registered veterinary nurses to send us a photocopy of their CPD records for the past three years.
Unfortunately, we are unable to send a confirmation of receipt of the records; but if you received a request and did not return your records by the deadline of 20th August, you would have been sent a reminder. If the request remains outstanding, please do return your RCVS CPD Record Card (or your CPD record in another format, it’s not compulsory to use the Card) as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, then contact the VN Department on 020 7202 0288 or vetnursing@rcvs.org.uk
Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 27 • September 2012