Veterinary Nursing

National Certificate in Veterinary Nursing

Are you an informed and skilled assistant to a veterinarian? Do you have eight-plus years of workplace experience?

Are you adept at animal care and handling?

Are you able to demonstrate knowledge and skills in safe working practices, diagnostics sample collection, anatomy and physiology, recognise behaviours and monitor health and environmental standards?

Can you also prepare animals for surgery, assist with surgery and dispense drugs as directed by the veterinarian?

Do you also have great interpersonal skills?

Now there is a way of recognising your veterinary nursing skills without spending years in a classroom. You can obtain a qualification based on your real world expertise.

The National Certificate in Veterinary Nursing (Level 5) programme has been developed with the input of representatives from organisations such as the New Zealand Veterinary Association and the Animal Science Technicians’ Association. These teams identified the skills required to work as a veterinary nurse or laboratory technologist within an animal-related workplace.

View further information about this programme (PDF)

If you can demonstrate skills and experience equivalent to those required in the unit standards that make up the Certificate, you may already qualify for all, or part of this qualificatio

How will my skills and understanding be evaluated?

You will be assessed against unit standards. You will make an oral presentation to a specialist Veterinarian assessor with solid industry experience who CAPABLE NZ has selected and trained. During the presentation you will be required to discuss your understanding of veterinary nursing practices in relation to your own work, present attestations to validate your experience and demonstrate for observation some veterinary skills.