This Unit applies to a veterinary nurse working under supervision of a veterinarian in a veterinary clinic or similar practice. In addition to legal and ethical responsibilities, all Units of Competency in the ACM10 Animal Care and Management Training Package have the requirement for animals to be handled gently and calmly. The individual is required to exhibit appropriate care for animals so that stress and discomfort is minimised.
Nil.
ELEMENT | PERFORMANCE CRITERIA |
1. Prepare, develop and implement clinic policies | 1.1. Legislative and other reference materials are collated from all sources, including external advisers. 1.2. Directions, concerns and recommendations of clinic personnel are collected and recorded. 1.3. Policy material is prepared and written to suit clinic needs. 1.4. Draft policies are circulated for comment by staff and for management approval. 1.5. Systems and structures for policy implementation in the clinic are organised in consultation with staff members and/or specialist advisers. |
2. Communicate clinic policies to all personnel | 2.1. Developed clinic policies are distributed to all staff as required. 2.2. Training programs in the use of, and adherence to, clinic policies are initiated and facilitated with all clinic staff. 2.3. Regular reviews are conducted to monitor staff adherence to clinic policies and measure training outcomes. |
Required skills |
Ability to: participate in group training or marketing activities prepare high quality reports and documents provide effective management input to the clinic use literacy skills to interpret information, and policies and procedures; select and apply the procedures to perform a range of tasks; and implement sequenced written instructions use writing skills to prepare and review clinic policies use oral communication skills/language required to fulfil the job role as specified by the clinic, including negotiating and questioning techniques, active listening, asking for clarification from staff, and acknowledging and responding to a range of views use interpersonal skills to relate to people from a range of social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds and with a range of physical and mental abilities use problem-solving skills to communicate clinic policies and procedures to staff in an effective manner. |
Required knowledge |
Knowledge of: communication methods human resource management related to policy development and staff training policy development and review relevant legislation, regulations and codes of practice security requirements and systems the clinic network. |
The Evidence Guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package. | |
Overview of assessment | |
Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this Unit | The evidence required to demonstrate competency in this Unit must be relevant to workplace operations and satisfy all of the requirements of the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge and the range statement of this Unit. Assessors should ensure that candidates can: prepare and develop clinic policies in consultation with veterinary staff establish and document security issues implement policies within the clinic identify and utilise communication processes in optimising clinic performance train, monitor and review staff use of, and adherence to, clinic policies. The skills and knowledge required to develop and implement specific clinic policies must be transferable to a range of work environments and contexts. |
Context of and specific resources for assessment | Assessment for this Unit is to be practical in nature and will be most appropriately assessed in a veterinary practice or in a situation that reproduces normal work conditions. There must be access to the appropriate equipment and/or resources to enable one to demonstrate competence. |
Method of assessment | To ensure consistency ofperformance, competency should be demonstrated, to industry defined standards, on more than one occasion over a period of time in order to cover a variety of circumstances, patients, cases and responsibilities and over a number of assessment activities. The assessment strategy must include practical skills assessment. Suggested strategies for this Unit are: written and/or oral assessment of candidate's required knowledge observed, documented and first-hand testimonial evidence of candidate's application of practical tasks simulation exercises that reproduce normal work conditions third-party evidence workplace documentation e.g. policy materials portfolio. This Unit may be assessed in a holistic way with other Units of Competency relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role. |
Guidance information for assessment | Assessment methods should reflect workplace demands (e.g. literacy and numeracy demands) and the needs of particular target groups (e.g. people with disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, people with a language background other than English, youth and people from low socioeconomic backgrounds). |
The range statement relates to the Unit of Competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included. | |
Considerations when preparing and developing clinic policies may include: | Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) and the Veterinary Nurses Council of Australia policies, guidelines and codes of practice organisational workplace health and safety risk management programs relevant workplace health and safety hazard identification, risk assessment and control measures the handling and disposal of biological wastes the handling, use, storage, transport and disposal of chemicals. |
Policies that may be relevant include: | professional services business and marketing plans human resource management: professional development recruitment, selection and induction procedures staff performance management (e.g. appraisals) nursing care office procedures workplace health and safety professional development security: client and patient personnel premises. |
Clinic policies may be communicated through: | meetings training sessions hard and soft copies of policies made available and/or displayed in clinic. |
Veterinary nursing
This Unit contains employability skills.
Licensing, legislative, regulatory or certification requirements may apply to this Unit. Therefore, it will be necessary to check with the relevant state or territory regulators for current licensing, legislative or regulatory requirements before undertaking this Unit.