
EBVM for Practitioners
A practical guide to using Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM) for practising veterinary professionals

EBVM Learning
An in-depth introduction to Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM) – a comprehensive foundation for applying EBVM in practice

Welcome to Farm Vet Champions
Welcome Farm Vet Champions!
Watch this mandatory video where Fiona Lovatt, Clinical Lead, discusses why this project was launched, how important it is and the main principles of being a Farm Vet Champion.
CPD: 5 minutes

Introduction to medicines
This module includes all the need-to-know facts about the use of antibiotics in practice, and why as a profession we should prioritise reducing our usage. From a reminder about what antimicrobial resistance is, to the legal and responsible use of antibiotics, this essential module will help you follow and create protocols for your medicine usage.
CPD: 3.5 hours

Communications and Behaviour
Effective communication with your clients is critical in improving animal safety and antibiotic usage. Communicating is not simply just talking. This module contains a selection of webinars from a variety of organisations, covering a wide range of communication and behaviour models that you can implement to evaluate your own communication skills and improve your communication with your clients.
CPD: 3 hours

Cattle
The British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) introduces how to use antibiotics responsibly in cattle, including dairy herds, sucklers and youngstock.
CPD: 2 hours 40 minutes

Goats
The Goat Veterinary Society (GVS) introduces how to use antibiotics responsibly in goat herds.
CPD: 60 minutes

Pigs
The Pig Veterinary Society (PVS) introduces how to use antibiotics responsibly in pigs, including pet pigs and small-scale producers.
CPD: 45 minutes

Poultry
The British Veterinary Poultry Association (BVPA) introduces how to use antibiotics responsibly in poultry, including turkeys, laying flocks and gamebirds.
CPD: 2.5 hours

Sheep
The Sheep Veterinary Society (SVS) introduces how to use antibiotics responsibly in sheep herds.
CPD: 60 minutes

Collating and recording antimicrobial use

How to set your SMART goals
In this section there are informative videos to explain what a SMART goal is and a demonstration of how to use the Farm Vet Champions SMART goals tool.

Introduction to Quality Improvement
CPD: 5 minutes
QI is something everyone can benefit from –not just veterinary teams, but animals and owners too.

How can Quality Improvement help with clinical governance?
CPD: 20 minutes
Pam Mosedale, QI Clinical Lead, explains the difference between clinical governance and QI and how QI tools can help practice teams.

Clinical governance and the Code of Professional Conduct
CPD: 5 minutes
Melissa Donald, Chair of RCVS Standards Committee, explains why clinical governance is a Code of Professional Conduct requirement for vets and nurses.

Clinical governance section of the Code of Professional Conduct
CPD: 10 minutes
Remind yourself about what the Code of Professional Conduct says about clinical governance.

Clinical governance and the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme
CPD: 15 minutes
Anne Lawson one of the RCVS Practice Standards Assessors, explains what all practices need to do at the different levels of the Practice Standards Scheme (PSS), from core standards to the awards.

Clinical governance module of the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme
Have a look at the clinical governance module of the Practice Standards Scheme. Ideal to print off and share amongst your team.

Quality Improvement in veterinary regulation
CPD: 30 minutes
Lizzie Lockett, CEO of the RCVS, discusses her personal perspective on QI, why it's important for all people working in practice to be alive to change, and RCVS initiatives that support the adoption of QI.

Developing consensus for definitions of key veterinary-specific quality improvement (QI) terms
This eDelphi study, led by the University of Nottingham and supported by RCVS Knowledge and CVS, aimed to find a consensus around the definitions of key Quality Improvement terms use in veterinary care.

What is QI? Starting the conversation with your team
CPD: 12 minutes
What do the terms 'quality healthcare' and 'QI' mean in a veterinary context?
Angela Rayner, Head of QI at CVS, and Chris Gush, Executive Director of RCVS Knowledge, explain in this QI Feature.

Getting your team on board to deliver QI
CPD: 40 minutes
How can you get your team on board to deliver QI?
Shobhan Thakore, Clinical Lead for the Scottish Quality and Safety Fellowship Programme, discusses fear of blame within the NHS and recent initiatives to help manage expectations, engage and work with the team to respond to change.

Why is QI important in veterinary practice?
CPD: 18 minutes
Why is QI so important in practice?
Find out in this podcast with Angela Rayner and Pam Mosedale.

Taking the lead on Quality Improvement
CPD: 7 minutes
Veterinary Nurses can lead their practice teams in QI. In this Vet Times article, Liz Cox explains how.

Setting up Quality Improvement in practice
CPD: 20 minutes
If you're wondering how to start setting up QI in practice, listen to Lizzy Whiting, Highly Commended in the 2020 Knowledge Awards, as she chats to Pam Mosedale about her experiences.

How to get started with QI - First steps for success
CPD: 13 minutes
Read this article from Angela Rayner, Head of QI at CVS, for tips on how to take those first steps in QI.

Clinical governance policy
This document includes examples of QI principles and tools which can be implemented within your practice to form your clinical governance plan.

How clinical governance and QI fit into the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme
CPD: 12 minutes
Anne Lawson, PSS Assessor, chats with Pam Mosedale about how QI fits into the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme.

As vets look beyond COVID-19, QI is more important than ever
CPD: 16 minutes
Listen to passionate QI advocates Lizzy Whiting and Pam Mosedale in conversation with Nicky Paull, retired vet, ex-BVA President and Chair of the VDS Board.

Quality Improvement whilst being a locum
CPD: 20 minutes
Pam Mosedale chats to Sian Tranter MRCVS, a member of the British Veterinary Locum Association (BVLA) working group, on how locums can fulfil clinical governance requirements.

How the reception team can get involved in Quality Improvement
CPD: 22 minutes
Listen to Pam Mosedale, QI Clinical Lead, chat to Jo Civil about her role as a veterinary receptionist and Quality Improvement officer within practice.

Quality Improvement meetings in practice
CPD: 30 minutes
Watch this webinar from Lizzy Whiting on how to have effective QI meetings in practice.

Communication in practice
CPD: 25 minutes
How can you utilise systems and meetings to aid communication in practice?
Pam Mosedale, QI Clinical Lead, chats to Professor John Williams, National Surgical Lead at Vets Now.

Team huddles - time well spent
CPD: 10 minutes
How do huddles benefit the team? and why should we endeavour to make time for them? Find out in this feature by Jenny Brown Bsc(Hons) BVM&S(dist) GPCert(FelPr) MANZCVS(Medicine of Cats) MSc MRCVS

Setting up and running a journal club in practice
CPD: 15 minutes
Journal clubs can provide a framework for you to explore the latest research and apply what you have learned in clinical practice.
Sally Everitt, inFOCUS Clinical Lead, talks to Pam Mosedale, QI Clinical Lead, about how to start a journal club, including how to select and critically appraise papers.

Appraising CPD
CPD: 10 minutes
What did you bring back from your last CPD? In this webinar, Dr Marnie Brennan explains how to look at what you learned critically.

WhatsApp journal clubs
CPD: 5 minutes
Journal clubs don’t have to depend on the team being in the same building. Listen to Rachael Bacon, RVN, explain the benefits of group chat journal clubs.

Clients' view of QI
CPD: 15 minutes
Have you ever thought about whether your clients care if your practice participates in QI activities?
Caroline Freedman, the representative for pet owners on the RCVS’ Practice Standards group, chats to Pam Mosedale about the clients' perspective.

What is reflection and how do I do it?
CPD: 2 minutes
How can you get the most out of your CPD? Linda Prescott-Clements, RCVS Director of Education, explains about using reflection in CPD.

Why is reflection important to outcomes-based CPD?
CPD: 1 minute
RCVS Director of Education Linda Prescott-Clements discusses reflection's central role in outcomes-focused CPD.

Clinical audit- what and why
CPD: 25 minutes
In this webinar, Pam Mosedale explains exactly what clinical audit is, and why we should be getting involved.

Clinical audit- how do I start?
In this webinar, Pam Mosedale explains exactly how you can start getting involved in clinical audit.

How I got started with audit
CPD: 30 minutes
In this podcast, Lesley Moore RVN, Principle Nurse Manager at Vets Now Macclesfield speaks with Pam Mosedale about how introducing a quarterly clinical audit and tailored training for nurses elevated the practice’s general anaesthesia and sedation monitoring.

Getting started with clinical audit
CPD: 35 minutes
Pam Mosedale and Charlotte Hartley advise on getting started with clinical audit in practice, discussing topics, benefits and barriers.

Clinical audit and the Practice Standards Scheme
CPD: 20 minutes
Pam Mosedale talks to David Ashcroft, Lead Assessor of the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme (PSS), about clinical audit and why it has been included in General Practice level of the PSS.

Clinical audit CPD course
CPD: 60 minutes
This course will help you learn how you can improve quality by better understanding your practice and processes through clinical audit.

Getting the team on board
CPD: 15 minutes
Listen to Pam Mosedale as she speaks with Louise Northway RVN about performing clinical audits in practice.

Best practice in clinical audit
CPD: 30 minutes
This document by Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) sets out updated criteria for best practice in local clinical audit.

Clinical audit template
You can use this template to assist you in performing a clinical audit in your practice.

Clinical audit walkthrough
A handy infographic that explains the process of performing a clinical audit. Ideal to print!

Clinical audits- a veterinary nurses perspective
CPD: 12 minutes
Lou the Vet Nurse tells us why she finds clinical audits so useful, and how you can follow in her footsteps.

Using clinical audit to tackle complications
CPD: 11 minutes
Read how the implementation of clinical audit and checklists allowed one practice to investigate and improve their intravenous catheter complication rates.

Going beyond audit
CPD: 25 minutes
Listen to Pam Mosedale and Margaret Mary Devaney, Head of Patient Safety at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, talk about moving beyond auditing and embedding a system of continuous improvement.

The importance of clinical audit
CPD: 30 minutes
Pam Mosedale chats to Daniel Pang, an Associate Professor of Veterinary Anaesthesiology at the University of Calgary about his clinical audits in both small and large animals, covering subjects such as hypothermia management.

Audit checklist
Use this checklist when planning and completing your audit to help you remember the steps.

Post-operative hypothermia audit
CPD: 10 minutes
Samantha Thompson, RVN and Post-Registration Programme Manager for the Linnaeus Group, discusses her post-operative hypothermia audit and how the team used the results to make changes within practice.

Auditing your infection control in practice
CPD: 60 minutes
Once you have your infection control guidelines in place, how do you know if they are helping to improve your patient, client, and practice team’s safety?

Auditing aural cytology
CPD: 10 minutes
Meghan Conroy, RVN, discusses her case example, which looks at the prevalence of ear cytology performed before and after antibiotic treatment across her practices.

Tuesday Teatime Takeover - Clinical audits
CPD: 60 minutes
Lou the Vet Nurse takes over the RCVS Knowledge Facebook site for a discussion about clinical audit, how to get started in practice, how to keep engaged and getting help along the way (recorded 5th November 2019).

Recording of controlled drugs
CPD:12 minutes
This award-winning case example shows how Angela Rayner, CVS PLC, completed audits into the recording of methadone and ketamine which resulted in improvements within the practice group.

Equine dispensing audit
CPD: 10 minutes
When the dispensing protocol was not being followed, Charlotte Hartley REVN performed a process audit and changed protocols to improve compliance and help avoid dispensing errors.

Clinical incident reporting
CPD: 15 minutes
This case example shows the national audit undertaken on clinical incidents throughout PDSA. By identifying where incidents were reported, the organisation could identify where they needed to focus their efforts on to make changes and create improvements.

Antibiotic use during dentals
CPD: 10 minutes
This case example shows how Kay Lockwood, from Riversbrook Veterinary Group, performed an audit to measure and monitor antibiotic use during dental extractions.

Peripheral catheter care checklist and audit
CPD: 15 minutes
This case example shows how one practice implemented a peripheral catheter care checklist and monitored its use and effectiveness through clinical audit.

Hand hygiene
CPD: 20 minutes
Vets Now Referrals Glasgow was highly commended for its clinical audit which assessed adherence to WHO handwashing guidelines.

Use of dental charts during dental examinations
CPD: 10 minutes
This case example shows how Gillivervet Equine Practice performed a process audit on the completion of dental charts after dental examinations.

Hygiene audit
CPD: 15 minutes
This case example shows how Vale Vets performed a hygiene audit through self-assessment to maintain a just culture and to identify any at-risk areas and further training required.

Hygiene and uniform audit
CPD: 15 minutes
This case example shows how the team at The Laurels initiated a clinical audit to monitor hand hygiene and compliance to uniform protocols within the practice.

Ear cytology
CPD: 15 minutes
This award-winning case example shows how Plymouth Veterinary Group created guidelines for performing cytology on patients presenting with ear pathology, utilising the whole teams’ skillset to improve the patient journey for a common and often persistent
presentation.

Equine castration audit
CPD: 5 minutes
This case example shows the initial audit of equine practice and its postoperative equine castration complications.

Patient trends and complications
CPD: 15 minutes
This award-winning case example shows how Louise Northway completed an audit to look for trends and complications that could be addressed for improvements to patient care.

General anaesthetic monitoring in an emergency setting
CPD: 15 minutes
This award-winning case example shows how the Vets Now Macclesfield team conducted quarterly audits to improve general anaesthetic monitoring in an emergency setting. As a result, the practice suffered zero patient deaths or significant events related
to anaesthesia or sedation.

Analgesia process audit
CPD: 20 minutes
This case example shows the national process audit undertaken after implementing a national pain protocol at PDSA. By identifying which areas had successfully implemented the change, assistance could be provided to those that required further support.

Cruciate surgery outcome audit
CPD: 20 minutes
This case example shows the national audit undertaken on cruciate surgical outcomes at PDSA. By auditing patient outcomes, PDSA could identify whether the current surgical technique offered was suitable, and implement a simple but effective technique
to reduce the number of patients lost-to-follow-up.

Auditing post-operative complications
CPD: 10 minutes
This case example shows how Vale Vets performed a post-operative complication audit on neutered cats and dogs to identify where any improvements were required.

Benchmarking Course
CPD: 20 minutes.
Once you have carried out your audit, what do you do? How do you measure your progress? This benchmarking course will show you everything you need to know.

National Audit for Small Animal Neutering
CPD: 20 minutes.
The National Audit for Small Animal Neutering (NASAN) is a simple audit where practices share their data anonymously to establish UK benchmarks in post-operative complication rates for neutering of small animals.
Listen to Pam Mosedale, Chair of the Quality Improvement Advisory Board, talk to Amelia Poole, RVN and Quality Improvement Project Manager, about this ongoing initiative towards the continuous improvements for neutering outcomes.

Canine Cruciate Registry
CPD: 25 minutes.
Most veterinary surgeons and nurses working with small animals will have experience in treating canine cruciate ligament ruptures. However, there is not a strong evidence base to know which surgical techniques have the best outcome.
The new Canine Cruciate Registry (CCR) is RCVS Knowledge’s answer to this knowledge gap in veterinary care.

Farm Vet Champions
CPD: 15 minutes.
Farm Vet Champions is a major collaborative project bringing together UK farm veterinary practitioners and agricultural organisations to improve animal health and welfare standards. Listen to Pam Mosedale, QI Clinical Lead and Fiona Lovatt, FVC Clinical Lead, discuss how this initiative helps to establish good antimicrobial stewardship in practices and on farms.

VetTeamAMR
CPD: 25 minutes.
Listen to Pam Mosedale, QI Clinical Lead, and Lucy Coyne, VetTeamAMR Project Manager, discuss the initiative championing the responsible use of antimicrobials in companion animal, farm and equine teams. Find out how the evidence-based knowledge and resources can help you embed good antimicrobial stewardship in your teams.

National Audit for Post-operative Outcomes
CPD: 15 minutes.
The National Audit for Post-operative Outcomes (NAPO) is an anonymised, free-to-use clinical auditing and benchmarking tool on a national scale, creating evidence-based insights into which interventions and techniques lead to improved patient outcomes in UK small animal and equine patients. Pam Mosedale, QI Clinical Lead, Chair of QIAB, talks to Jenny Brown, National Audit for Post-operative Outcomes Clinical Lead, about the development of this important project.

International Colic Surgery Audit
CPD: 30 minutes.
Pam Mosedale, QI Clinical Lead talks to Professor Debra Archer, BVMS PhD CertES(Soft Tissue) DipECVS FRCVS FHEA about this global initiative aiming to improve the quality of care and outcomes for horses and their owners following colic surgery.

Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network
CPD: 25 minutes.
Listen to Pam Mosedale, QI clinical Lead, talk to David Singleton, BVSc MSc PhD MRCVS, about the British Small Animal Veterinary Association and University of Liverpool initiative, in collaboration with the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, to create and expand a database of UK pet health records and support research into animal and human diseases.

QI Boxset Feedback
This survey will take approximately 1 minute to complete and provide us with valuable feedback on the resources that we provide.

Benchmarking Walkthrough
A handy infographic that explains the process of benchmarking. Ideal to print!

How to take part in National Audit for Small Animal Neutering
CPD: 5 minutes
Watch this video to learn how you and your team can take part in the National Audit for Small Animal Neutering.

Link to National Audit for Small Animal Neutering
Follow the link to the National Audit for Small Animal Neutering audit, submit your data and contribute to establishing UK benchmarks in post-operative complication rates for neutering of small animals.

Using the Canine Cruciate Registry
CPD: 20 minutes.
The Canine Cruciate Registry (CCR) gathers data by generating a series of questionnaires, both for surgeons and dog owners, which are meant to be completed over the course of the dog’s care, and afterwards to monitor their long-term progress.
Listen to Pam Mosedale talk to Ross Allan about his experiences of using the registry.

An introduction to the reporting tools on the Canine Cruciate Registry
CPD: 5 minutes.
Watch the video to learn how the reporting function within the Canine Cruciate Registry can benefit you, your team and your patients. See what reports you can set up and how they can be personalised so you can get the most from the data you collect.

Canine Cruciate Registry Link
Follow the link to the Canine Cruciate registry database and contribute to the evidence-base to help us better understand which surgical techniques and implants improve patient outcomes.

Farm Vet Champions Link
Follow the link to access the learning platform and join the community of Farm Vet Champions, a major collaborative project to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

National Audit for Post-operative Outcomes Link
Follow the link to the National Audit for Post-Operative Outcomes and register your details to be updated as this major project to enable improvements during the peri- and post operative journey develops.

International Colic Surgery Audit Link
Follow the link to the International Colic Surgery Audit, submit your data and contribute to the evidence-base to help improve the care and outcomes for horses and their owners following colic surgery.

Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network Link
Follow the link to the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network to help expand the database of UK pet health records and support research into animal and human diseases.

QI Boxset Feedback
This survey will take approximately 1 minute to complete and provide us with valuable feedback on the resources that we provide.