31 May 2023
Company hopes resource will help students and practices to attract post-graduation farm vets.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Image: Périg Morisse / Adobe Stock
VetPartners has launched a farm EMS toolkit to help students and practices maximise placements.
It hopes it will not only support individual students, but help introduce future potential farm vets to the sector.
The booklet includes a guide on preparing for placements, including what to wear and what will be expected of students on placements, plus a list of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) to help them choose relevant goals.
It also features a personal grading system for students to help them evaluate their competency for each EPA, topics for students to use to start conversations with clinicians and options for how they can create their own specific targets.
Ami Sawran, member of VetPartners’ clinical and farm executive board, said: “Good placement experiences benefit both students and future employers, so we hope that these carefully planned resources can also support practices who want to improve how they deliver the best experience possible for both parties.
“We understand that the expectation on practices delivering EMS can be challenging. They might be very busy, have staffing challenges or are inexperienced in teaching students, so we hope that these resources help them plan for running successful placements, including clear inductions.”
In terms of the practices, the booklet outlines expected behaviours and offers the chance for the practice to include its details.
Dr Sawran said that setting reasonable goals using the EPA list would support students in their career path.
She said: “The workbook should be encouraging students to focus on achieving relevant goals at each placement, for example choosing ‘lambing’ as a goal for a practice that mostly has sheep farmer clients.
“As well as tracking their clinical experience from each placement, students can then grade their competency themselves. This will really help them when it comes to writing CVs, and the job application process further down the line by making them more open and transparent.”
