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Becoming A Vet Nurse


flame ryder
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Just wondering if anyone can help me with this...

My Daughter would dearly love to become a vet nurse (and maybe later a vet) but we live 5 hours drive from Adelaide where the TAFE course is.

The course she is looking at doing is 2 years fulltime study at TAFE in Gillies plains in Adelaide. That would mean she has to move out and live in the big smoke for 2 years...not practical. She is a country girl and would prefer to remain here but she also really wants to be a vet or a vet nurse.

She has visited with some of the vets in this area and they sometimes offer traineships, and when they do they are advertised, so we will wait and hope.

But in the meantime does anyone know of any other options she may have?

It's rather frustrating that most things seem to revolve around the major cities. Us country folk are sometimes forgotten.

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Get her to call Gilles Plains Tafe and talk to the co-ordinator of the certificate she wants to do, I know Cert IV is changing starting next year [it's now shorter than 2 years]. I'm currently studying Cert IV first year and we are the last year to do the 2 year course.

Parts of it can be done external, but that is up to the discretion of the Tafe [i'm going to be doing some subjects next year external]. External students still need to come down to the Tafe at certain times to complete the practical side of those subjects.

The problem I can see if she doesn't want to move down and do the course internal is the completion of the log book and practical competencies. We have practical lessons nearly every week for each of the subjects we do and some subjects have practical exams where we have to put our knowledge into practice. We do rotations through surgery, consult, grooming, merchandise with the lecturers/vets and have a log book that the supervisors need to tick off the skills we are competent at. There are two sections and the first must be completed before the internship and the second by the time the internship is over.

The only real way to avoid having to come down here would be to get a traineeship in your area. Although I know the trainees we have still come in at least 1 day a week.

We have a student who is from Keith, which is 3 hours from Adelaide-who stays with rellies for the days she is at Tafe and drives back home each weekend-is that a possibility? If she is really passionate about it, moving to Adelaide for a period of time to complete the necessary education [either Vet or Vet Nurse] shouldn't be too much of an issue [she should be able to get Student Allowance whilst living down here to help pay for accomodation]. I know the city sucks [i can't wait to get out of here again!] but it would only be a temporary move.

Personally I would be very wary of online sites offering the course, do your research on the site before signing up-some can be rather dodgy. OH's ex was burnt by an online course [not vet nursing]-forked out $1000s only to find out once she completed it, that the 'certificate' was not recognised by the relevent boards! So she basically wasted all that money for a useless piece of paper.

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Animal Industries Resource Centre runs the Provet courses and I can vouch for them as being extremely professional and supportive. I enrolled two years ago and was steaming through my studies. I completed a 6 month course in 6 weeks and was well ahead in my Cert IV Companion Animal Studies when i got very ill and was unable to do my course work. They were very understanding and supportive and I am now back in to trying to complete the remaining two subjects. Provided you keep them advised of where you are at with your study and any difficulties you are having, they will provide you with any and all support they can.

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Thanks for the replies. We looked into similar on-line courses before, she actually took the paper-work to the vet and asked. They said that they wouldn't recommend the on-line training either.

Ravyk...we were once told she could do the same - that she could do the same TAFE course as you are doing partly on-line just going to Adelaide for the practicals, Then she rang TAFE and asked them about it only to be told "no" she'd need to attend classes every day...? If this option was available this would be better, although she'd still lose 2 days just driving to and from Adelaide.

anyway...still thinking. Can I ask....how long your terms are? Are they the same terms as normal school or shorter?

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Who did she talk to? Make sure she chats to a course-coordinator [preferably the co-ordinator of the cert she wants to do], not just the reception people. Whilst they know basic info about the courses, for more particular information she needs someone who knows the course inside and out.

Our terms are similar to school terms. Approx 10 weeks in length, with a 2 week break in between. Next week is our last week for term 2. We aren't there every day but this may change with the course change next year. 1st term we were there 3 days a week, this term it was 4 days a week and term 3 & 4 are 4 days [3 of which are clinic rotations].

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If her ultimate ambition is to be a vet, she needs to get into that sooner, rather than later because it is a lot of years study. She will not be able to do that in the country and would have to go to a major university. The University of Adelaide have a 6 year course but does she have the HSC marks to get into Vet Science? It is one of the hardest courses to get into and she may even have to condsider a uni in another state if that is really what she wants to do. If she doesn't have the marks to get straight into vet science she would be better doing a science degree at uni, rather than vet nursing, then transfering to Vet Science later. She may be able to do a science degree through Open Universities by correspondence before heading to the city to complete her Veterinary studies.

BTW, Adelaide may be the "big smoke" compared to were you are but it is a country town compared to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. Much smaller and easier to get around than the bigger capital cities. It is a beautiful little city.

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Animal Industries Resource Centre runs the Provet courses and I can vouch for them as being extremely professional and supportive. I enrolled two years ago and was steaming through my studies. I completed a 6 month course in 6 weeks and was well ahead in my Cert IV Companion Animal Studies when i got very ill and was unable to do my course work. They were very understanding and supportive and I am now back in to trying to complete the remaining two subjects. Provided you keep them advised of where you are at with your study and any difficulties you are having, they will provide you with any and all support they can.

I can vouch for AIRC also as they are who I have done my Cert IV through. They are very thorough and accomodating. They do expect alot from their students in the way of assignments etc (case studies :eek: ), but I beleive you are a better nurse for it.

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Animal Industries Resource Centre runs the Provet courses and I can vouch for them as being extremely professional and supportive. I enrolled two years ago and was steaming through my studies. I completed a 6 month course in 6 weeks and was well ahead in my Cert IV Companion Animal Studies when i got very ill and was unable to do my course work. They were very understanding and supportive and I am now back in to trying to complete the remaining two subjects. Provided you keep them advised of where you are at with your study and any difficulties you are having, they will provide you with any and all support they can.

I can vouch for AIRC also as they are who I have done my Cert IV through. They are very thorough and accomodating. They do expect alot from their students in the way of assignments etc (case studies :eek: ), but I beleive you are a better nurse for it.

What kind of practical work do you do through the AIRC course?

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My practical work is done at the RSPCA Fairfield shelter but I'm only doing a Cert IV not Vet nursing, so very basic so of stuff.

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Animal Industries Resource Centre runs the Provet courses and I can vouch for them as being extremely professional and supportive. I enrolled two years ago and was steaming through my studies. I completed a 6 month course in 6 weeks and was well ahead in my Cert IV Companion Animal Studies when i got very ill and was unable to do my course work. They were very understanding and supportive and I am now back in to trying to complete the remaining two subjects. Provided you keep them advised of where you are at with your study and any difficulties you are having, they will provide you with any and all support they can.

I can vouch for AIRC also as they are who I have done my Cert IV through. They are very thorough and accomodating. They do expect alot from their students in the way of assignments etc (case studies :eek: ), but I beleive you are a better nurse for it.

What kind of practical work do you do through the AIRC course?

When you join you can opt to take part in the study groups. In the study groups sometimes there will be some practical work - like folding drapes, examining a lecturers dog etc. Mostly however it is theory. I would have loved more practical training when I was doing the course and I think that has improved recently.

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Animal Industries Resource Centre runs the Provet courses and I can vouch for them as being extremely professional and supportive. I enrolled two years ago and was steaming through my studies. I completed a 6 month course in 6 weeks and was well ahead in my Cert IV Companion Animal Studies when i got very ill and was unable to do my course work. They were very understanding and supportive and I am now back in to trying to complete the remaining two subjects. Provided you keep them advised of where you are at with your study and any difficulties you are having, they will provide you with any and all support they can.

I can vouch for AIRC also as they are who I have done my Cert IV through. They are very thorough and accomodating. They do expect alot from their students in the way of assignments etc (case studies :eek: ), but I beleive you are a better nurse for it.

I have been a nurse mentor for a few nurses going through the Provet / Crampton Consulting vet nursing courses. The organisation of the course and standard of information provided is very good. Keen students will get a lot from it if they put the effort in. Although the course information is provided as theory, most nurses are also working in practice to develop the required practical skills.

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I am currently completing my cert IV vet nursing through provetlearning, theirs is a nationally recognised course and I think they are great... I would definantly suggest your daughter look into it... it can also be done as a gov recognised traineeship, they are a registered training organisation...

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OK well one of the vets here have heard of it. So it may be an option. Just wondering for all those already doing the provetlearning or any other distance/on-line type of course....would she qualify for the HECs loan?

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