Linnaeus has announced plans to continue its programme of accredited anaesthesia training for its Registered Veterinary Nurses in 2022.

The company introduced a new primary care nursing anaesthesia course in January 2021, which 360 RVNs took part in part last year.

A further 107 RVNs joined the Referral Nurse Professional Development Programme (RNPD) in Anaesthesia and Analgesia which was launched in 2020.

The three-month primary care anaesthesia course comprises nine modules, covering 25 hours of CPD, whilst the RNPD in Anaesthesia and Analgesia is a four-month course, equating to 40 hours of CPD.

Both courses cover areas such as auditing, patient care, anaesthetic monitoring and analgesia, and are accredited by the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists (AVA).

The training was developed after Linnaeus surveyed its nurses about their ambitions for progression and anaesthesia was identified as an area for development.

Dr Andrea Jeffery, Chief Nursing Officer at Linnaeus, said: “Having spoken to our RVNs, the feedback was clear – they wanted to learn more about anaesthesia. Because we have a team dedicated to professional development for nurses, with the support of our clinical teams we could develop and deliver training on the topic, supporting more than 450 colleagues last year alone."

The company says it will now be taking on a new cohort for the primary care course every month this year, with the aim being to train smaller groups of RVNs more often.

It also plans to run the RNPD programme twice this year, because of its popularity, dates to be confirmed.

For further information visit https://www.linnaeusgroup.co.uk/medical-and-nursing/veterinary-nursing-support-team.

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