Upgrade information is completely free and is supplied as Microsoft Word files.

To download an upgrade file, right click on the file that you want (the underlined text), then select "Save Target As" and then select where you want to save the file to - please remember where you save the file to so that you can find it again on your computer!

The upgrade files are supplied in Word 97/2000 file format. This may present problems to people using older versions of Microsoft Word. If you have problems opening any of the files that you download from this site please contact Sasquatch Design. Just click on this underlined link and e-mail Sasquatch Design stating which wordprocessor you use. Sasquatch Design will then endeavour to send you the upgrades in the correct file format.

As we have described above, you can easily download any of these files. However, some of them are quite large and it may take some time. To speed things up you can download ALL the archive files in a compressed form by clicking on the link below.

ALL the archive files as a ZIP file. (221kb)

If you do not have software that can unzip the ZIP file you can download a free sample of WinZIP from the internet by clicking on this underlined link. This will extract the Word documents from the ZIP file.

If you have any questions regarding ZIP files, please e-mail
info@sasquatch-design.co.uk

The electronic version of the RCVS Portfolio contains word-processing problems which many students will find very frustrating, and there are a number of tips on how to get the best out of the electronic Portfolio if you intend to write your own Portfolio on your computer and print out the result for your Assessor.

If you have already started your Portfolio and made several logsheet entries, you may have to continue and deal with these bugs when you get to them. The following download will help you if you are not very experienced with word processors.

Download Portfolio Problems for the fixes for these problems (42k uncompressed Word download)

However, if you would like to start from the beginning with a fully debugged blank copy of the electronic Portfolio, we have done it for you. Notes on how to use them are found at the beginning of the Part 2 Portfolio document.

Download Debugged Part 2 Small Animal Portfolio (264k uncompressed Word download)

Download Debugged Part 3 Small Animal Portfolio (436k uncompressed Word download.)

Download both debugged files as a ZIP compressed file (81k download.)

Because of incorrect and misleading guidance contained in the introductory pages of the current RCVS Veterinary Nurse Training Portfolio, in 2004 we wrote new Guidance Notes for the Portfolio and posted them here on our website.

These have already been through several improvements, and the latest version is shown below. If you downloaded the old files, please delete them and replace them with the new upgrade below. This latest version is called 'Portfolio Guidance Notes Revised 2005’.

These new guidance notes make understanding the Occupational Standards and the Portfolio much simpler. They are also designed to help Assessors and student nurses understand better how to link the Occupational Standards and the Portfolio.

They also make redundant all the Log Sheet number and content requirements which currently appear on the introductory pages of every individual Module under the headings of Module Guidance Notes and Log Sheet Guidance Notes.

As an Appendix to the guidance we have provided an Evidence Tracking Grid of Performance Criteria, Knowledge & Understanding and Scope against Case Log ID which Jacqueline Buck and I have developed for use in our practice and which has proved extremely useful for showing the parts of the Standards which have been completed and for allowing the I/Vs to see immediately where the evidence for each Standard is. It allows I/Vs to sample effectively rather than looking through the entire Portfolio as they have done previously.

Included with the Grid are specific notes on how to use it and a completed example for a fairly complicated Element to illustrate the Grid in use. These three further documents are included as an annexe to the main guidance notes. However, it goes without saying that students who are already using some form of tracking grid should stay with what they and their Assessors are already using and know best.

There are also two further very useful Appendices provided by Vicky Hedges and Julie Dugmore, both EVs. These are the Candidate Induction Record, to show that the student has read and fully understood the guidance notes, and a chart of Case Log Number against Unit.

You are very welcome to download these and use them in your practice. We have just one request. If you can think of any way of making these notes better, please e-mail us and let us know as soon as possible. If your ideas are good, they can be included in the notes.

If you like them as they are and think they are an improvement on the Guidance Notes which you all have in the front of your Portfolio books, PLEASE TELL US. Then we'll know we're on the right track to make sure that student nurses and Assessors are all able to understand what the Occupational Standards and the Portfolio are all about.

Thanks,

Charles M Ross, BVMS MRCVS

Jacqueline M Buck, BVM&S, MRCVS, VN

The following notes have been written to REPLACE the section in the current RCVS publication 'Veterinary Nurse Training Scheme Edition 3, 2002 - Portfolio - Small Animal Evidence Route - Section A - Work Based Assessment in Veterinary Practice'.

Portfolio Guidance Notes Revised 2005 (208k uncompressed Word download)