Veterinary Nurse CPD

With iLearn Veterinary, vet nurses have access to non-clinical, online CPD written by industry experts and refreshed monthly. Stay ahead in your learning, accessible at your convenience, anytime, and anywhere.

Online CPD for veterinary nurses

Veterinary practice is busy. Clinical teams are stretched and it can be a challenge to find veterinary nurse CPD that is both cost-effective and easy to access around a hectic schedule. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Of course, maintaining a good work-life balance needs to be factored into the equation too.

If you are looking to find ways to meet your CPD requirements, you’re in the right place. Read on for everything from the activities that count as CPD, to our top tips for reflecting, as well as how Agilio’s iLearn platform can help you meet your annual target. With a library of flexible, bite-sized CPD courses, learning can be broken down into manageable sessions, so that you can learn at a time and place convenient to you.

From in-house case discussions to shadowing colleagues and self-directed reading there are lots of ways to clock up your veterinary nurse CPD.

A recent survey revealed that on-demand video-based CPD ranked as the top choice of leaning platform for 47 percent of respondents. Agilio’s iLearn, with flexible learning options for all members of the practice team, makes fitting CPD around busy work schedules a breeze.

Access 5 free CPD courses for veterinary nurses

Vet nurse CPD requirements

When it comes to vet nurse CPD, you may wonder what counts. Well, the answer is anything that is relevant to your role. This might include clinical topics such as anaesthesia best practice, emergency and critical care or diagnostic imaging. But equally important are non-clinical CPD topics like consulting skills and communication or bereavement counselling and mental health support. As well as being mandatory, CPD helps not only keep you at the top of your game, but also inspires, engages and provides excellent care to your patients.

vet nurse doing online cpd training at desk

How many hours of CPD do vet nurses need?

Vet nurses must complete, record and reflect on 15 hours of CPD every year. And more counts as CPD than you might think. Just remember to record and reflect on case discussions with a colleague, the monthly clinical team meeting, or the hour spent shadowing another vet nurse to learn a new skill.

Can vet nurse CPD hours be rolled over to a subsequent year?

It used to be possible to complete 45 hours of CPD over a rolling three year period but this is no longer the case. Fifteen hours must be recorded and reflected on annually.

How much vet nurse CPD do I need to complete if I am part-time?

You still need to complete 15 hours of CPD and that is the case whether you are a part time vet nurse, full time vet nurse or a locum.

Need more information? Head to the RCVS website to find out more.

Planning your CPD

Take some time to set out your objectives for the year and think about which skills you would like to develop or the areas of knowledge you would like to grow. If you are thinking of getting diabetic clinics up and running, a combination of medical nursing topics and vet nurse consulting skills might tick the box. Or maybe you’re looking to develop the dentistry services in your practice. Whatever your goals for the year ahead, use them to plan your learning and make the most of the opportunities available.

Recording your CPD

To meet the veterinary nurse CPD requirements set out by the RCVS, it is important to record your learning, including details of activity and the date it was completed, in your vet nurse CPD log. With individual log-ins and a manager dashboard, the iLearn platform can help you keep track. However, as part of the RCVS CPD requirements, all learning also has to be logged using the 1CPD platform. The platform can also be used to help plan your CPD for the year. And our top tip? Make life easier by recording CPD as you go.

Reflecting on your CPD

Just as important as recording your CPD is reflecting on it. While reflecting may seem like a chore, until this part of your vet nurse CPD record is complete, your logged hours won’t count. Consider your learning needs, what you have learnt and how you will use your new-found knowledge when you are back in the consult room, kennels, or operating theatre. So…

Reflect as you go – don’t leave it to deadline day

Keep it short and to the point – a few sentences will suffice

Record reflections in a short audio clip if that works better for you

Use a simple structure

What? Briefly outline the topic or content

So what? Consider what that means for you

Now what? Outline what you may do differently, what you are likely to do more or less of

Focus on specific, achievable actions

Not found a particular course useful? That’s OK as long as you reflect on why.

Free vet nurse CPD courses

Young male veterinary nurse treating a Labrador

The vet whisperer

The aim of The Vet Whisperer programme is to set out the 6 drivers of Self-Doubt, all of which are inherent to working in veterinary practice, illustrated with examples and context specific to veterinary practice.

A person placing sticky notes on a table, each with a face drawn to show different feelings

Five things relating to mental health that everyone in vet practice should know

This course adopts a problem-based approach to analysing wellbeing within veterinary practice by using CSI (Culture-Systems-Individuals) as a practical means of analysing and identifying the cultural, operational, and individual themes that are counter-productive to protecting our mental health.

A team of veterinary professionals gathered around a Retriever

Understanding the Veterinary Profession Better

This course covers the difference between the veterinary profession and the veterinary industry and details the various types of veterinary practices and veterinary professionals within it.

A young animal care assistant holding a cat

Veterinary Animal Care Assistant Award – Bronze Level 1

This course is designed for those aspiring towards a career in animal care and need a starting point into the role, or for those who are already employed in veterinary practice in this role and wish to develop their knowledge and skills.

Wooden letter blocks spell out "Words have Power"

The psychology of ‘having a quiet word’ with misbehaving colleagues

This course aims to provide learners with knowledge and understanding of how we can prevent frustrating behaviour using many of the day-to-day management processes that represent a ‘soft’ approach to learning and development.

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