Page 19 - RVC Undergraduate Prospectus 2026-7

HANDS-ON CLINICAL EXPERIENCE
CLINICAL SKILLS

CENTRE

Our Clinical Skills Centre (CSC) is We are not only an inter-professional team, but a neurodiverse

based at our Hawkshead Campus and team, often working closely with students of different learning
styles or special educational needs. Our online group and in-
comprises two large teaching spaces person small teaching sessions for neurodiverse students are
full of various veterinary equipment very popular and we have adapted a room in our building as
a quiet study space to assist learners who may struggle in a
and models dedicated to learning and noisy space. We have a mental health first aider on our team as
practising skills in a relaxed environment. well and pastoral support of students is also a large part of our
role – especially as exams approach!
It is staffed by an inter-professional
team of six veterinary staff, dedicated SO WHY A CLINICAL SKILLS CENTRE? A BIT OF HISTORY!
The RVC was the first veterinary school in Europe to set up a
to supporting and facilitating nursing Clinical Skills Centre with teaching staff for its students in 2004.
and veterinary students with learning The CSC provides a safe environment where students can
learn practical skills in a uniform way. Individual students can
practical skills. decide what and how much they need practice in their own time,
following on from the initial small group taught skills classes.
We equip our students with the basics of a skill, so they will be
The students can return after their practical classes and try more confident out in practice – be it suturing, holding instruments
the skills they have learnt again in their own time, with the correctly, scrubbing in or remaining sterile in theatre. This helps
confidence that the staff in the CSC will be on hand to help, them to integrate better into a veterinary team and thus gain more
should they encounter difficulties or want reassurance that from seeing practice, either as a veterinary or veterinary nursing
what they are doing is correct. student and to be practice ready when they graduate.

Students can practise aspects of many different veterinary
disciplines, such as:
• Anaesthesia • Cannula placement “Every week we head down to the Clinical
• Radiography • Fluid therapy Skills Centre and put into practise a skill
• Lab skills • Animal handling that ties in with what we’ve been learning
• Bandaging • Theatre skills that week. For example, we learnt about
wounds and wound management in our
…to name but a few! lessons, and then at the end of the week we learnt how to
bandage wounds in the CSC. Another time we learnt about
On our virtual learning platform, Learn, all the nutrition and then we learnt how to syringe feed in the CSC.
resources the CSC Team have developed can The CSC staff are so lovely and the CSC itself is amazing!
be accessed by students including the many All the skills you need to learn can be practised there and
‘skills sheets’, videos and infographics. We it really solidifies your learning.”
use QR codes on the sheets in the CSC, so
students can scan these to watch the videos OLIVIA WIMSETT, FdSc Veterinary Nursing
as they practise a skill.
EXPERIENCE THE RVC 19