Learning Outcomes:
Each farm placement should provide students with the following experiences:
- hands-on experience while conducting routine husbandry chores with food producing animals and horses,
- experiences of the key elements of the main production systems at farm level, such as stocking rates, housing requirements, grazing management, winter feeding, breeding policy, welfare, disease prevention and principles of good husbandry for optimum health, welfare and productivity of animals.
Students that are lacking experience with companion animals will be required to obtain experience for two weeks at a small animal hospital/clinic. Here the student is permitted to:
- handle, feed, clean, exercise and carry out routine chores on dogs, cats and other companion animals.
- learn how to approach, handle, restrain, and examine companion animals in a competent professional manner. This experience will give the students, who have limited experience with companion animals, the ability to carry out routine procedures such as lifting, restraining, nail clipping, ear cleaning, tablet administration, with confidence before entering their clinical years.
It is important to note that this companion animal handling experience does not constitute any part of Clinical EMS and, for the benefit of the student, the emphasis should be on routine basic animal care and husbandry as opposed to veterinary clinical care.
How do I organise pre-clincal EMS placements?
- Students self-source their own placements and make their own arrangements with the enterprise they wish to attend. Pre-clinical EMS experience can be undertaken outside Ireland, although it is recommended that a % be undertaken within Ireland.
- EMS placements must be approved by the student’s EMS Supervisor at least 30 days in advance of the commencement of the placement. Approval is submitted via ‘My Placements’ on SISWeb.
- Students identify and record the learning objectives for each placement for review by their EMS Supervisor. Students should discuss these learning objectives with their placement host at the start of their placement.
- Feedback from the placement host on a student's performance must be submitted at the end of each placement by completing the applicable Myprogress feedback form.