This course will enable students to learn from industry experts to develop their knowledge of the key concepts underlying quality improvement and clinical governance in veterinary practice. Students will learn skills than can be directly applied to practice, including how to perform audits and monitor performance and outcomes in their own clinical environments, and how these skills can be demonstrated if their practice undergoes accreditation or awards assessment.

There will be online sessions with course staff (lectures, tutorials) across 10 weeks from April to June (Online Distance Learning Block 3)

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Critically discuss the evidence base on clinical audit and design an auditing tool that could be used to monitor the impact or effectiveness of a published protocol, guideline or system of work. Identify the barriers to its implementation in your practice and make evidence-based recommendations as to how these might be overcome (65%, 2500 words).

Collaborate to conduct a significant event audit and root cause analysis. Present the group's findings and make evidence-based recommendations for practice (20%, 15 minute presentation).

Contribute to online discussion, reflection and collaborative activities (15%).

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

Collaborative work will not be re-assessed.

This course aims to: 

■ Provide students with a detailed overview of the concept of quality improvement and clinical governance in veterinary medicine.

■ Equip students with a range of quality improvement tools which can be practically implemented and utilised within their own practice.

■ Enable students to explore the barriers to the implementation of quality improvement principles and how these can be overcome.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Critically discuss knowledge of clinical governance frameworks and reflect upon their own experiences of quality improvement, then apply this knowledge to draw conclusions for where and how improvements could be made to their own practice or others practice.

■ Identify aspects of practice that could be improved by using protocols, guidelines or systems of work, and design an audit tool to monitor its impact or effectiveness.

■ Identify barriers to implementation of quality improvement and critically discuss how these can be overcome.

■ Conduct a significant event audit including a root cause analysis, report the findings and making recommendations for practice.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.