VET SC 7230ARW - Companion Animal Practice Part 1
Roseworthy Campus - Semester 1 - 2024
-
General Course Information
Course Details
Course Code VET SC 7230ARW Course Companion Animal Practice Part 1 Coordinating Unit School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences Term Semester 1 Level Postgraduate Coursework Location/s Roseworthy Campus Contact 4 hours of Lectures per week. Up to 18 x 3 hour practicals throughout the course plus 8 full day Desexing Clinic rotations during the year Available for Study Abroad and Exchange N Prerequisites Completion of Year 1 DVM or equivalent Incompatible VET SC 7210RW and VET SC 7220RW Restrictions Available to Doctor of Veterinary Medicine students only Assessment On-course assignments; Mid-Semester examination and end-Semester 1 & 2 exams. Formative assessment ? practical competence in anaesthetising and desexing dogs and cats. Course Staff
Course Coordinator: Dr Olaf Schaaf
Course Timetable
The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .
-
Learning Outcomes
Course Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course students should be able to:
1. Apply to clinical veterinary medicine knowledge learnt in previous courses, especially anatomy (surgery and imaging), physiology (medicine), pharmacology (medicine and surgery) and pathology.
2. Describe medical and surgical disorders of companion animals, including their pathogenesis, pathophysiology, investigation, diagnosis, management and prognosis.
3. Use patient histories and clinical examination findings to evaluate the medical condition of companion animals.
4. Construct differential diagnosis lists for medical and surgical conditions of companion animals and use the lists to propose a diagnostic approach to patients’ clinical problems.
5. Interpret results of clinical pathology, diagnostic imaging, and other clinical investigations in order to reach a diagnosis for medical and surgical conditions.
6. Recognise common diseases and disorders in companion animals and plan therapeutic approaches to them, knowing when to refer complicated or uncommon cases to specialist veterinarians.
7. Plan and employ, under supervision and in a team, safe anaesthetic practices for common simple procedures in companion animals.
8. Plan and perform, under supervision and in a team, basic surgical procedures safely.
9. Work well in a team when conducting basic surgical and anaesthetic procedures.University Graduate Attributes
This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:
University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s) Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth
Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.
1 - 8 Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving
Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.
1, 3 - 8 Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills
Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.
2 - 8 Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness
Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.
1 - 8 Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency
Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.
6 - 8 Attribute 7: Digital capabilities
Graduates are well prepared for living, learning and working in a digital society.
5 Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.
6 - 8 -
Learning Resources
Required Resources
Personal stethoscope
One pair of dark green scrub suits must be sourced, purchased and ready to wear prior to your Orientation Day in the Desexing clinic.
Students are responsible for laundering of these garments.
They must be clean when attending the Desexing clinic otherwise students will not be able to participate in the class.
Library – various online references
Recommended Resources
General texts
100 Top Consultations in Small Animal General Practice, 2011, Hill, Warman and Shawcross
Clinical Veterinary Advisor Dogs and Cats - 2nd Ed, 2010, Cote
Blackwell's Five-minute Veterinary Consult: Canine and Feline, 2006, Tilley
Blackwell's Five-minute Veterinary Consult: Lab Tests and Diagnostic Procedures Canine and Feline, 2009, Vaden, Knoll, Smith & Tilley
Discipline specific texts
Internal Medicine
Small Animal Internal Medicine, Nelson & Couto, 6th edition 2020
Feline Medicine and Therapeutics - Chandler, Gaskell and Gaskell - 3rd Ed, 2007
The Cat, Little Canine and Feline Endocrinology and Reproduction, Third Edition - Feldman and Nelson - 2003
Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XIV & XV - Bonagura, 2008/2013 (useful potted summaries of latest recommendations for selected conditions)
Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine - 2009, Ettinger + Feldman. Gold standard 2 volume text, but advanced content.
Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat, Greene, 2013
Surgery
Small Animal Surgery 芒聙聯 5th Ed, 2019 Fossum
Veterinary Surgery Small Animal 芒聙聯 1st Ed 2012, 2 Volume set, Tobias and Johnson
Fundamentals of Small Animal Surgery - 1st Ed 2011, F. Mann
Manual of Small Animal Soft Tissue Surgery 1st Ed, 2010, Tobias
Handbook of Small Animal Orthopedics and fracture repair 4th Edition 2006 芒聙聯 Piermattei, Flo and DeCamp
Miller's Anatomy of the Dog 芒聙聯 4th Ed, 2013 Evans and De Lahunta
Anaesthesia and Analgesia
These three are good basic practical books, especially for small animals.
Veterinary Anaesthesia, Principles to Practice 芒聙聯 2010, Dugdale A
Small Animal Anaesthesia and Analgesia 芒聙聯 2008, Carroll, GA.
BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Anaesthesia and Analgesia - Seymour脗聽 and Duke
The most comprehensive veterinary anaesthesia text, and most useful as a reference book.
Lumb and Jones' Veterinary Anaesthesia - 4th Ed, 2007, Tranquilli et al
These are good general books covering pain and its control.
Pain Management for the Small Animal Practitioner脗聽 - Tranqilli, Lamont and Grimm 2004
Pain Management in Animals - 2005, Flecknell & Waterman-Pearson
Handbook of Veterinary Pain Management 芒聙聯 2nd Ed, 2009, Gaynor and Muir
Oncology
BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Oncology 3rd edition. Useful basic handbook.
Withrow and MacEwen's Small Animal Clinical Oncology, 2013, Withrow and Vail, 5th Ed.脗聽 Gold standard text.脗聽
Drug Formularies
Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook - 7th Ed, 2011 - Donald Plumb.
BSAVA Small Animal Formulary - Ramsey
Online Learning
This course will use a combination of lectures and practical classes and interactive sessions. This course utilises Canvas and resources including announcements, lectures, and further reading material will be available on the course pages.
-
Learning & Teaching Activities
Learning & Teaching Modes
This 6 unit course will be delivered, as 3 units in each semester split over 1-2 teaching days per week as:
• 4 hours lecture per week
• 7-8 x 2-3 hour practicals per semester
• 4 Neutering Clinic practicals per student per semester.
Students will receive lecture notes and other materials online and will be required to log on weekly to MyUni.Workload
The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.
An enrolled student should expect to spend, on average 12 hours per week per semester on the studies required for a 3 unit course. This includes both the formal contact time required to the course (e.g., lectures and practicals), as well as non-contact time (e.g. practical and tutorial preparation time, lecture pre-reading and exam revision).Learning Activities Summary
This course will apply a body systems based approach to the theoretical and practical aspect of medical and surgical disorders of companion animals, principally dogs and cats.
In practical classes, students will develop clinical problem solving ability using case analyses, use cadavers or purpose-made synthetic materials to practice clinical techniques associated with the diagnosis and treatment of common clinical conditions, and develop anaesthesia and surgical skills.
In the desexing clinic students work in teams to apply & further develop anaesthesia and surgery skills in a real-life setting.
Lectures will encompass different teaching methods such as, but not limited to, traditional lectures, clicker sessions, team based learning to integrate clinical learning with preclinical learning areas such as anatomy, physiology, clinical pathology and pharmacology.Specific Course Requirements
One pair of dark green scrub suits must be sourced, purchased and ready to wear in the first week of semester for the Desexing Clinic Practical.
Practical classes held within laboratories will require closed-in shoes and the wearing of a laboratory gown. You will also need to have your student ID with you. Students must wear any required safety or protective clothing as directed.
All practicals are compulsory. Students absent from practical classes without approval by the Course or Program Coordinator may be refused permission to sit additional assessments.
-
Assessment
The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:
- Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
- Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
- Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
- Assessment must maintain academic standards.
Assessment Summary
Assessment Task Type of assessment Weighting Hurdle Learning Outcome Due On-Course Assessments Formative
&
Summative0%
10%No 1-6 Semester 1 - by week 12, Semester 2 - by week 12 Practical Assessment Formative 0% No 1-8 Each Practical Class Desexing Clinic Formative 0% Yes 3,7,8,9 Weekly, approx 33% of class per week Mid-Semester Test Semester 1 Summative 10% No 1-8 Week 6-8 Mid-Semester Test Semester 2 Summative 10% Yes 1-8 Week 6-8 End of Semester 1 Exam Summative 35% Yes 1-8 Exam Week End of Semester 2 Exam Summative 35% Yes 1-8 Exam Week Assessment Related Requirements
Assessment item with hurdle % needed or requirement to meet hurdle Is additional assessment available if student does not meet hurdle requirement? Yes or No Details of additional assessment, if available Desexing Clinic Pass/Fail – based on minimum level of competence expected at the DVM2 level. Yes
Students deemed not yet competent in anaesthesia or surgery or both, will be reassessed for competency in the area/s concerned during the standard replacement / additional assessment period. Further assessment is at the discretion of the course coordinator/s. End of Semester 1, Mid-Semester 2, End of Semester 2 Exams Cumulative 50% Yes At the end of Semester 2, an additional examination
covering all material taught previously in CAP in a similar or different format.Assessment Detail
The Companion Animal Practice course is a 6 unit course delivered over 2 semesters, comprised of Part 1 and Part 2. A final grade is only given in Part 2, which comprises all assessments undertaken in Part 1 and Part 2.
On-course assessment: Students will undertake two assesments that will consolidate material taught during didactic sessions as well as enhancing their problem solving ability. The assesments formats that might be used include quizzes delivered in class or during practicals or online; written assignments e.g. problem solving through case evaluation and management plans, to be completed out of class; or other assignments at the discretion of the individual instructors. Students receive formative feedback on the assignments, e.g. individual comments on written assignments and publication of “ideal” answers to the cases; correct answers maybe revealed at the end of online assessments.
Practical Assessment: Students will also receive formative assessment of their practical skills within relevant practical activities. The practical classes might be delivered as small or large group clinical problem solving sessions, practical classes in technical / procedural skills, clinical information interpretation.
Mid-semester tests (80 minutes) and End semester examinations (2 x 2 hours each) will test a combination of theoretical knowledge, application and practical skills. Question formats that might be used include MCQs, short answers, essay, OSCE, oral, practical tests and performance-based exams. The semester 1 mid-semester test will serve to guide the students on the level of knowledge required to successfully pass the remaining examinations, and give them experience with the various question types. Any tests or examinations can cover any material taught previously in the course, but will focus on material covered in the most recent 6 to 8 weeks.
Desexing Clinic: Students receive verbal formative feedback during each class as they work in small groups to anaesthetise and prepare an animal for surgery, perform the surgery, monitor the animal’s recovery from anaesthesia, provide post-operative care, keep anaesthesia records, write surgery reports, and finally write discharge instructions for post-operative care when the animals are discharged from hospital.
Students will receive a Pass/Fail for the anaesthesia as well as surgery disciplines. Students must pass each criteria of competency to achieve a pass in each discipline. A Pass is required in both disciplines to be able to pass the C.A.P course and indicates that the student has reached a level of competence that is satisfacotry for their stage in the DVM program.Submission
If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply. Generally a mark of zero will be allocated to late submissions.Course Grading
Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:
NOG (No Grade Associated) Grade Description CN Continuing Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.
Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.
Final results for this course will be made available through .
-
Student Feedback
The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.
SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
-
Student Support
- Academic Integrity for Students
- Academic Support with Maths
- Academic Support with writing and study skills
- Careers Services
- Library Services for Students
- LinkedIn Learning
- Student Life Counselling Support - Personal counselling for issues affecting study
- Students with a Disability - Alternative academic arrangements
-
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
- Academic Credit Arrangements Policy
- Academic Integrity Policy
- Academic Progress by Coursework Students Policy
- Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy
- Copyright Compliance Policy
- Coursework Academic Programs Policy
- Intellectual Property Policy
- IT Acceptable Use and Security Policy
- Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy
- Reasonable Adjustments to Learning, Teaching & Assessment for Students with a Disability Policy
- Student Experience of Learning and Teaching Policy
- Student Grievance Resolution Process
-
Fraud Awareness
Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.
The 成人大片 is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 成人大片 therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.