STAF160-0413: Disaster Preparedness for Veterinary Practices

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INSTRUCTOR(S): Chuck Cubbison, MA, AAS, CVT and Rebecca Rose, AAS, CVT
COURSE OPEN: April 2-May 3, 2013
REAL TIME SESSIONS (RTS): Tuesdays, April 9, 16, and 23, 2013; 8:30pm-10:00pm ET (USA)
Course RTS Times in Your Area: World Clock Converter

Practice Sessions: In order to prepare you for a successful experience in your CE course, we request you attend a Practice Session prior to the first Real Time Session. Please arrive promptly at the start time; each Practice Session is up to 1 hour in length. For more information, please visit the CE Practice Area.

*The instructors for this course will be using audio which will require you to have a headset or speakers to listen. If you have any concerns regarding your computer's audio capabilities, please be sure to attend a Practice Session.

Level and Prerequisites: This intermediate course is geared toward veterinarians, practice managers, veterinary technicians or team members taking a key role in the development and creation of an emergency plan for their veterinary hospital or facility.

VSPN CE Course: This course has been RACE approvaed for veterinarians and veterinary technicians and VHMA approved for CVPM credits.

Course Description:
Are you and your practice or facility prepared for an unexpected disaster, whether large or small, when threatened? Is the staff prepared to respond and prevent injuries to themselves, clients, and patients, and to minimize damage to the facility or practice? This course will give you an understanding of basic steps that can be taken to prepare for disasters and ideas for integrating preparedness into the overall business plan and day-to-day procedures. While many practice managers, owners, and veterinary professionals understand the need to prepare for disasters, it is difficult to make this a priority. This course emphasizes the basic principles that any planning is better than none, and that planning should be a viewed as a continuous process rather than something to "check off" your to-do list. The course will also emphasize that all staff can and will play a role in preparedness.

This course will consist of three (3) ninety (90) minute Real Time Sessions, supplemental library materials, interactive message board discussions, and a mandatory end-of-course test. Successful completion (scoring 80% or better) on the end-of-course test is required to be considered for a course certificate of completion.

**The lecture portion of this course will have an audio component, please be prepared to listen.

Upon completion of this course, the participant should be able to

• analyze the greatest risks to the facility and address the concerns of the staff.
• design a written disaster plan.
• demonstrate the disaster plan and personal preparedness principles to the staff.
• integrate preparedness plans into the overall business plan and procedures.
• conduct a facility exercise/drill to test the plan and revise the plan as needed.

Course Materials: Course materials will be available in the course library prior to each Real Time Session.

Required Textbook(s): There is no required text for this course. There will be several links and resources included in the course library.

About the Instructors: Chuck Cubbison is a CVT who has been involved with animal disaster response since Colorado's Hayman Fire in 2002. Most recently, he worked for the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation (now PetAid Colorado) as an Animal Emergency Planner for the Denver Metropolitan Area (20011 to 2012), assisted with animal sheltering after the May 2011 EF5 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, served several terms as president of the Animal EVAC Volunteers (AEV), and has worked to plan and coordinate animal disaster response between volunteer organizations, animal control, and first responders. He currently lives in Alaska and is a full time dogsled musher. Rebecca Rose has been a CVT for several years and is a current practice consultant for Red Valley Rose Consulting, LLC. She has authored two texts on veterinary technician careers, writes peer reviewed articles, is a contributing author in a text book for veterinary technicians as well as sits on several professional councils and committees.

Course Outline:
Week 1: (Real Time Session April 9): Introduction and Impacts of Disasters on the Veterinary Practice
Content: In this first class we will cover the basics of what constitutes a disaster on various scales from small to large and consider who might be affected including the practice/facility, staff, patients, clients, and community. We will consider a variety of reasons why it is important to prepare and identify some of the basic principles you should consider including getting "buy in" from the owner or practice manager and the idea that any amount of planning is better than doing nothing. We will begin outlining the recommended steps in the planning process.

Course Outline:
Week 2: (Real Time Session April 16): Preparing a Written Disaster Plan-the Details
Content: We will focus on the first couple of steps in the process: information gathering and preparation of the written plan. Primary consideration and discussion this week includes encouraging participants to not become overwhelmed during the planning process, addressing planning systematically, and not getting caught up in every little detail. Plans can and will be revised and expanded in future years; the goal is to get started.

Course Outline:
Week 3: (Real Time Session April 23): Implementing the Plan and Ongoing Preparedness
Content: Once you have completed the written plan, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment...you have done a lot of work and feel that your facility/staff are more prepared for an emergency than ever before. But if the plan is just on paper, it will have no value. You have to more work to do to truly be ready. We will discuss why plans fail and how to implement change. This week will include simulation videos and interactive discussion of situational awareness, response team and personal plans, and an assignment to include how the participant will implement what has been learned in the course into his/her practice.

CE CREDITS: 4.5

Tuition: $90 ($81 early bird special if enrolled by March 19, 2013).
* Students currently enrolled in and taking at least 2 classes or 5 units at an AVMA accredited or CAAHT approved Veterinary Technician Program may be eligible to receive a 50% discount off the regular rate for this course (upon verification of student status).
*To ensure participants are ready and prepared for classes, enrollment will close when the maximum number of participants is reached or at 5pm ET the day of the first Real Time Session unless otherwise noted. If the first Real Time Session is on a weekend, course enrollment will close on the Friday before the first Real Time Session.

*For more information on how online CE works, see the Participant Resource Center.

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1. Enrollment qualifications: VIN CE courses are open to VIN member and non-member veterinarians. Veterinarians enrolling in a VSPN CE course must be a VIN member. Veterinary support staff must be a VSPN member to enroll in a VSPN CE or a VIN CE course open to VSPN member enrollment.
2. Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org and @vin.com addresses. Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
3. Each person is individually responsible for his/her own registration. To ensure that all information received is secure and correct, please do not enroll for a course on behalf of another individual.
4. For further assistance call 1-800-700-INFO (4636) or email (VIN CE) CEonVIN@vin.com or (VSPN CE) VSPNCE@vspn.org. Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.

*Note: "This course has been approved for 4.5 continuing education credits in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE approval; however participants should be aware that some boards have limitations on the number of hours accepted in certain categories and/or restrictions on certain methods of delivery of continuing education."Call VSPN/VIN CE at 1-800-700-4636 for further information. (Attendees are encouraged to check with their licensing jurisdiction(s) for information regarding recognition by their board).

Course withdrawal and refund policy: A complete refund of the paid course price will be issued when your withdrawal request is received prior to the listed start date of the course. If you wish to withdraw after the start date please contact the VIN/VSPN office 1-800-700-INFO (4636) to discuss eligibility for a pro-rated refund.
* Note: To ensure rapid handling of your request for withdrawal, we recommend that you call the VIN/VSPN office at 1-800-700-INFO (4636).

*For more information on VSPN's upcoming CE courses, check the VSPN Course Catalog.

Nanette R. Walker Smith, MEd, RVT, CVT, LVT
VSPN Content Director & CE Coordinator

VSPN CE Services: VSPNCE@vspn.org
1-800-846-0028 or 1-530-756-4881 or direct line to VIN/VSPN from the United Kingdom: 01452226154
Barb Burri (Barb@vspn.org); ext. 764 (New Hampshire)
Charlotte Waack (Charlotte@vspn.org); ext 193 (Illinois)
Chris Upchurch (Chris@vspn.org); ext 197 (Florida)
Debbie Bess (DBess@vspn.org); ext 178 (Nevada)
Nanette Walker Smith (Nanette@vspn.org); ext 187 (Colorado)

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