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Additional training after undergraduate

After you've finished doing your undergraduate course in veterinary medicine, is there any additional training you have to do or are you fully qualified?

Reply 1

Lizziefickling

Original post by molly81

After you've finished doing your undergraduate course in veterinary medicine, is there any additional training you have to do or are you fully qualified?

After completing the veterinary medicine degree and registered with the RCVS you are fully qualified and able to go work in practice as a vet, it's not like medicine where you do your F1 and F2 years after graduating, you're able to go out and start treating animals from day 1. You are helped as a new grad with support from the practice you work at (usually) so you can get advice if you're unsure about a certain case however you don't need to do any further training. If you wanted to specialise you can do a residency with a referral practice (not something I'm particularly clued up on currently) so you could specialise in cardiology/orthopaedics etc, and you're required to do so many hours of CPD each year as a vet to keep up to date with new techniques but this is something you do alongside working as a vet by going on courses which are usually paid for by the practice you work at.

Reply 2

username2703735

You are fully qualified as a vet but must continue to do CPD, continuing professional development. I'm sure I have read a figure banded around 100 hours over a three year period but I'm sure someone more knowledgable will comment with the true number. CPD is a requirement by the RCVS and if you aren't a member then you cannot practice in the UK.

Reply 3

Little Tail Chaser

As others have said, once you're qualified, that's it. The RCVS Code of Conduct requires veterinary surgeons to stick to their area of competence and refer cases where necessary, so it wouldn't be appropriate to start doing open heart surgery on day 1 of the job, but to my knowledge there are technically no additional qualifications required to do any specific procedures etc. The final year of the course is lecture-free and entirely placement-based, so we are expected to get plenty of hands on experience then.

Further education/qualification can come in the form of CPD, certificates, internships, residencies and further degrees. The latter of those tends to be for people particularly interested in academia and teaching, but is suitable for practitioners as well. Most internships and residencies require a number of years in practice as part of the entry requirements, so these tend to be to improve clinical skills and knowledge.