Unit information: Professional Studies 2 in 2014/15

Unit name	Professional Studies 2
Unit code	VETS24000
Credit points	0
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Dr. Slingsby
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	Completion of BVSc1
Co-requisites	All other units in BVSc 2
School/department	Bristol Veterinary School
Faculty	Faculty of Health Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

This unit is vertically integrated with Professional Studies units in Years 1, 3, 4 and 5 and allows continuing development of an understanding of the complex issues and responsibilities associated with being a veterinary professional.

Communication skills - Teaching facilitates the development of sound and effective face-to-face, verbal and written communication skills, primarily through reflective experiential practicals.

Business management - This element explores how services and products are developed in a business environment and the complex factors that affect business success. The specific factors affecting an agricultural business associated with EMS experience are explored in detail.

Study Learning and Investigation - The evaluation of effective personal study and development strategies continues in this element, which also explores how evidence is collected and evaluated in response to both research and clinical questioning.

Aims:

• To allow the development of effective personal verbal communication skills, both face-to-face and on the phone with clients

• To encourage understanding of the legal, ethical and practical issues associated with writing and maintaining adequate case records in practice

• To encourage understanding of how services and products are developed in business using examples from the veterinary industry; to equip students with knowledge of the external factors that operate on agricultural businesses

• To facilitate appropriate study and development skills for the BVSc programme including the evaluation of evidence in the context of biomedical data and clinical cases

Intended Learning Outcomes

Communication skills. Students should be able to:

• Describe the communication skills required to effectively gather and give information both face-to-face and on the phone

• Describe the legal and ethical issues associated with written records and identify good and poor examples of clinical case records

Business management. Students should be able to:

• Describe the basic steps required to provide or develop services or products in a veterinary business environment

• Work in a group to identify the external factors (political, economic, sociological and technological) that operate on businesses of all sizes and apply this to a specific agricultural business

Study, Learning and Investigation. Students should be able to:

• Search for information and evidence online and from texts, and identify the type and quality of evidence described in various information sources

• Describe the distribution of data from different sources

• Apply database searches to projects on biomedical research and/or clinical questions

• Reflect on their personal approach to studying and EMS, on the strengths and weaknesses of their techniques, and on changes that might increase their effectiveness in these areas

Teaching Information

Lectures, seminars, practicals, computer-assisted-learning, reflective journal

Assessment Information

• Cooperative Business Management course work - pass/fail

• ePortfolio reflective journal entry - pass/fail

Before starting year 3, students must also have completed and submitted to the EMS office a Health and Safety risk assessment for each of their preclinical EMS placements, which continue until the summer vacation of Year 2

Reading and References

• Gray and Moffett (2010) ‘Handbook of Veterinary Communication Skills’, Wiley-Blackwell

• Lloyd (2009), Business Plans , CMI

• Moreau and Nap (2010), Essentials of Veterinary Practice: An Introduction to the Science of Practice Management, Henston