Introduction to Small Animal Ultrasound

We have two main venues for our practical modules and CPD courses:

Courses and sessions marked as ‘Swindon’ will be held in our Clinical Excellence Centre, which can be found on the Ground Floor, Delta 1200, Delta Business Park, Welton Road, Swindon, SN5 7XZ.

Courses and sessions marked as ‘Sheffield’ will be held at Benchmark House, 8 Smithy Wood Drive, Chapeltown, Sheffield S35 1QN.
Find out more about our venues and facilities.

Start times vary between 09:00 and 09:30, depending on the course you are attending. Please refer to communications from your Programme Coordinator or Practical Course Coordinator, or check the online learning platform for details. UK venues open at 08:30 to give you plenty of time to get settled in.

You will have a short morning and afternoon break to get refreshments and an hour-long lunch break.

Improve Veterinary Education established the Pet Gifting scheme several years ago, which allows local veterinary practices to offer clients the option to donate their pet to us at time of euthanasia. Please contact us or speak to a member of the team at the venue if you would like more information.

Practical surgical sessions, held in the wet labs, will have PPE provided (surgical gowns). You may chose to bring scrubs, if you wish. For modules/courses involving live dogs (including ultrasound and physiotherapy courses), we recommend bringing a scrub top. No open-toed shoes are to be worn for practical modules.

Delegates attending face-to-face or practical CPD from overseas may require a Visa in order to participate in sessions. Please seek advice from your local embassy in relation to exact requirements. Improve Veterinary Education (IVE) does not provide support in obtaining Visas, but we can supply documentation to support your application. Please also note that a Student Tier 4 Visa is not applicable because IVE is a private education provider.

No, we do not sedate dogs used in practical CPD courses, including ultrasound scanning courses. The dogs we use are chosen for their relaxed and compliant temperament and if they show signs of distress, they are removed and allowed to settle.

The dogs we use are clinically fit and healthy. We are not able to source animals with specific problems and we feel that would be unethical. Learning to accurately scan and assess normal physiology is the best approach when teaching ultrasonography.

We are very grateful to the owners of dogs who allow their dogs to be used for our ultrasound CPD. We always ask the owners whether their dog can be clipped and make them aware of the benefit to our vets and nurses of having a clipped patient. However, clipping is sometimes denied, especially if the dog has previously had clipper rash, as many of our ultrasound scanning dogs are return patients. We find enabling the ultrasound gel to soak in by applying in advance allows non-clipped dogs to be used.

We do not provide cats for any practical ultrasound courses or modules, due to the stress this would cause to the animal through transportation and restraint. As it is not clinically necessary to scan the cat, it would not be ethical to use them for learning purposes.