The BSAVA has added a nutrition course to its Veterinary Nurse Merit Awards (VNMA). 

The new Nutrition VNMA, which starts in March 2021, will be led by Georgia Woods RVN (pictured right) who holds the Canine and Feline Veterinary Health Nutrition Certificate and the American Veterinary Technician Specialist (VTS) Nutrition Certificate. Georgia is a Royal Canin Weight Management Clinic Nurse at the University of Liverpool, Small Animal Teaching Hospital, where she deals exclusively with pet obesity and nutrition.

The course, which is sponsored by Royal Canin, combines a series of online lectures, a practical teaching day and a variety of resources and quizzes, together with a discussion and Q&A forum.

The learning objectives are that by the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Discuss methods of obtaining a thorough nutritional history, extracting all relevant clinical information and how to holistically appraise the situation
  • Recognise the different techniques for building good communication with the pet owner and its importance for attaining compliance with your nutritional recommendation
  • Discuss the role of nutrition in both life stage and clinic disease management, where nutrition will play a pivotal role
  • Gain a more in-depth understanding for non-standard diets and how to manage differences of opinion
  • Describe the many ways in which rabbit nutrition differs from that of the cat or dog, and how their anatomy relates to their different essential nutritional requirements.

Following completion of the teaching, there is an assessment to help embed the learning experience.

VNs who complete the course will be awarded a BSAVA Veterinary Nurse Merit Award in Nutrition and will receive a certificate and badge. The course is also worth 30hrs CPD.

Lucie Goodwin, Head of Education said: “We are pleased to be able to add this important and highly topical course to our expanding repertoire of learning resources for RVNs. Practices really recognise the value of VNMAs and are continuing to send their nursing teams on multiple courses.”

The nutrition course costs £525.00 for BSAVA Members or £787.50 for Non-Members.  

For further information  visit: https://www.bsava.com/Education/VN-Merit-Awards or contact us courses@bsava.com

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