We all know in the veterinary industry it’s essential to keep skills and knowledge up to date. Things can change so quickly and you know your clients are using Dr Google, so now more than ever it’s important to ensure your knowledge is current.
So what are your options?
Every year there are over 500 veterinary training events on offer in Australia including conferences, workshops, seminars, webinars and online conferences. That’s a LOT of training!
You can keep up with ALL the training on offer with Vetanswers ‘What’s on? Veterinary CPD Calendar’ so not being able to find relevant training is hardly a problem! But the real issues are probably time and money.
Conferences are a good place to start..
There are a number of amazing veterinary conferences on offer every year, but yes they can be expensive especially if you need to factor in travel and accommodation. BUT you do get a wide range of excellent speakers and the networking and social aspects are invaluable. Conferences also offer the opportunity to discover new and interesting drugs, products and services via the trade exhibition, so that’s another big plus.
Apart from cost, the other problem with conferences can be the wide range of presenters speaking for relatively short periods of time. Most sessions don’t allow for much detail and you can often be left wanting to know more. You also need to be very disciplined or run the risk of ending up with so much information that it becomes overwhelming on your return to work, and then nothing changes.
You could also consider workshops
Half day, full day or a couple of days spent on one topic is perhaps one of the best ways you can upskill and really get to the nitty gritty of a topic although they can be expensive and may also involve the added expense of travel and accommodation. But, in general you can't beat detailed workshops for developing new skills that can then be introduced to your workplace.
Then there are evening seminars
Often these shorter events offer more focused information, are normally available in your local area and, depending on who is running them, can be either free or reasonably priced. They often just require you to make a commitment of time and perhaps a bit of a drive to the venue.
What about webinars or online learning?
There are some awesome training events offered completely online and sometimes for free, including online conferences. These events can provide many of the benefits of a normal conference by offering a range of speakers without the expensive registrations, travel and accommodation issues. Some also have online trade exhibitions which allow you to connect with trade exhibitors.
What can you do to attend at least some of the CPD available?
Just as you need to put money aside to keep your car and house in good repair, you should also budget a certain amount each year to keep your skills and knowledge up to date.
Although with the often low rates of pay in the veterinary industry this can be a challenge, so perhaps if it hasn’t already been offered you could consider asking your practice owner to help out. After all, it will be his or her business that will also benefit from your increased skills and knowledge.
Concentrate on the value…
If your practice owner doesn’t seem keen on paying for you to attend training events it may be because he or she doesn’t see the value so this is the first thing you need to consider:
How will attending the training event add value to your work place?
What are the benefits?
Before discussing the training with your practice owner, prepare some information.
Start by listing the knowledge or skills you’ll gain from the training (every good training event should list some objectives or key outcomes from the session) and then detail exactly how these key outcomes will benefit your practice. For example, will it help manage a difficult situation you’ve all experienced? Will it allow you to introduce a new service? Will it allow you to deliver an existing service more effectively or efficiently? Will it allow you to improve your communication or general service to clients? Will it allow you to feel more confidence in an area you’re currently lacking?
How will you share the knowledge?
The next step is to demonstrate your willingness to share your new skills or knowledge by explaining how you can share the knowledge with others in your team. For example, a lunch time meeting? During a next staff meeting? Before or after work session? Writing a paper with all the relevant information to share with the team?
If you think the cost of the training is still going to be an issue you could offer to go halves, or at least add something to the cost. This gesture demonstrates you’re serious about attending and are willing to meet part way.
Resource: CPD Request Form
Presenting all the relevant information regarding your request to attend a CPD event professionally may also help to demonstrate how serious you are about attending your chosen event/s. You can click here to download a word document to help you out: Vetanswers Resource: CPD Request Form.
What suggestions do you have for funding CPD events? Share them in the Comments section below.
Then click here to find the most recent edition of the Vetanswers What's on? Veterinary CPD Calendar and start planning your future!