FUNDAMENTALS OF VETERINARY PRACTICE III : ANAESTHESIA, SURGERY AND PATIENT CARE - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module covers the knowledge required for day one competencies in anaesthesia, surgery and patient care in domestic animals and other species.  This module will allow the student to actively participate in all aspects of a routine spay or neuter case to further develop the skills and attributes required when performing surgical procedures in clinical practice.

Module provider

School of Veterinary Medicine

Module Leader

LIVESEY Alison (Vet Med)

Number of Credits: 30

ECTS Credits: 15

Framework:

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Year long

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Lectures will provide the knowledge required for day one competencies in anaesthesia, surgery and patient care in domestic animals and other species

Practical sessions

This practical sessions will allow the student to actively participate in all aspects of a routine spay or neuter case to further develop the skills and attributes required when performing surgical procedures in clinical practice.

The sessions include preparation of the surgery team, patient for sterile surgery, equipment that will be used for anaesthesia and anaesthesia protocols including perioperative pain management and of the procedures and protocols that will be used in surgery.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they are able to:

• describe appropriate anaesthesia/analgesia regimes in the domestic species


• describe important and frequently performed surgical procedures in the domestic species


• recognise the significance of more specialised procedures in domestic species


• devise an appropriate management plan including:
  
  
  
  • preoperative patient assessment
  
  
  • therapeutics, pain management and fluid therapy
  
  
  • post-operative care
  
  
  
  


• Prepare, plan and perform safe, effective and appropriate anaesthesia, surgery and patient care for elective neutering procedures in companion animals.

Thus, summative assessment for this module consists of:

 

Written assessment of production animal, equine and exotic animal anaesthesia, surgical procedures and patient care. 45%

Written assessment of small animal anaesthesia, surgical procedures and patient care. 55%

Clinical Practice Portfolio (pass/fail); this portfolio incudes;

1-  Direct observational procedural skills DOPS (pass/fail)

2- Anesthesia, surgery and patient care EPAs (pass/fail)

 3- General clinical examination of small animal species (pass/fail)

4- In Class test semester 1 (completion task)

5- In class test semester 2 (completion task)

(Exam Units are onsite closed-booked invigilated fixed-time assessments. They are delivered through SurreyLearn using campus PC Labs)

Formative assessments: Instructor and peer assessments 0%

Formative assessment and feedback

Competency Based Assessment of Clinical and Professional Skills during Patient Care and Elective Neutering Procedure in Small Animals

Further information on Qualifying Conditions

To pass the module, students are required to achieve a weighted aggregate mark of 50% and pass the clinical practice portfolio 

Module aims

• The student will be able to describe appropriate anaesthesia/analgesia regimes in the domestic species,
• The student will be able to describe important and frequently performed surgical procedures in the domestic species
• The student will recognise the significance of more specialised procedures in domestic species,
• The student will devise an appropriate management plan including: preoperative patient assessment, therapeutics, pain management and fluid therapy, post-operative care;
• The student will prepare, plan and perform safe, effective and appropriate anaesthesia, surgery and patient care for elective neutering procedures in companion animals.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Enhance the students’ technical skills using practicals

Enhance the students’ physical examination skills

Enhance the team cooperation between the students by assigning various roles from week to week

Increase their level of confidence in these complex tasks by repetition over a year within a safe, supportive and closely supervised environment.

Enhance the students’ knowledge of anaesthesia, surgery and patient care

Enhancement of clinical skills using appropriate clinical skills laboratory stations

The learning and teaching methods include:

Audio-visual material, didactic lectures and interactive discussions

Self-directed and peer learning using appropriate clinical skills laboratory stations.

Small group discussions, practicals, one-on-one supervision of the surgery and induction processes, feedback on record keeping and client communications

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: VMS4001

Other information

The Surrey framework consists of the attributes:employability, global and cultural capabilities, digital capabilities, sustainability and resourcefulness and resilience. This module includes the following key topics which develop further one or more of the attributes as indicated. Students are required to demonstrate their technical skills in the safe performance of anaesthesia and surgery in order to secure employment. At the neuter clinic they perform surgery on live animals under direct and continuous supervision. Students are required to implement personal wellbeing strategies in response to the challenges of performing surgery at the neuter clinic and through these demonstrate resourcefulness and resilience.

 

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.