Five Hartpury Veterinary Nursing graduates showcased their work at the recent British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) Congress after their research posters were selected for presentation.The national scale event, which is a key date in the veterinary calendar, was held at Telford International Centre in Shropshire. Thousands of visitors and exhibitors from the veterinary community came together to share research and to help spread good practice in a learning environment.The posters were based on the undergraduate research projects that the students undertook in their final year. Isabell Riley explored hypothermia in equine patients undergoing general anaesthesia on her poster and Daniel Jones displayed her work on owner perceptions of veterinary medical emergencies.Clare Haskins had investigated owner perceptions of body condition scores in dogs. She discovered misconceptions of body condition when over half of the respondents to her questionnaire underestimated the condition of the dogs shown.Verity Hughes presented her work on the use of nursing care plans in veterinary practice after gathering responses from qualified veterinary nurses. Most of the nurses that completed the questionnaire agreed with combining care plans with hospitalisation sheets.Joanne Shilston examined client knowledge of feline stress using a questionnaire distributed among UK cat owners. She presented her work which found female owners and those with a higher level of feline education had greater knowledge of stress in cats.Jane Williams, Head of Department Animal Science and Agriculture, and Catherine Phillips, Head of Department Veterinary Nursing and Equine, helped the students throughout the process from research to poster. On the day Suzannah Harniman, who is Senior Lecturer on the Veterinary Nursing course, also attended to support the students who were presenting.Hartpury University Centre has more than 1500 students completing Foundation degrees, Honours degrees, HE Diplomas and postgraduate qualifications in Sport, Equine, Animal, Agriculture and Veterinary Nursing on a specialist 360-hectare campus located near to Gloucester and Cheltenham.It is the world’s largest equine education facility and our University Centre sports teams regularly win national titles in rugby, football and equine, while many more students are involved in recreational sport. Hartpury also boasts an extensive animal collection, animal science laboratories with industry standard equipment and a fully working farm.
Hartpury University Centre has a growing reputation for producing high quality research and graduates that make a real difference to the industries we serve.
