VIN

VSPN

The current VIN date & time: Eastern

SHEL102-0224: Lifesaving by the Numbers: Effective Population Management in Animal Shelters

The lectures for this course will be presented via Zoom.

Presenter: Erin Katribe, DVM, DABVP (Shelter Medicine Practice)
Course Open: February 21-March 9, 2024
Real Time Sessions (RTS): Wednesday, February 28, 2024; 8:00-10:00 pm ET (USA) World Clock Converter
Total CE Credit: 2
RACE Category: 2 hours Medical


Enrollment is closed.  

Tuition: Member $46 ($41 early bird special if enrolled by February 7, 2024)
Non-Member $110 ($99 early bird special if enrolled by February 7, 2024)
Prices are listed in US dollars.


Course Information:
Proactive population management is a cornerstone of health and welfare for shelter populations. Reducing length of stay in animal shelters reduces the risk of infectious disease, as time in the shelter is the top risk factor. Behavioral welfare is improved when animals spend less time in the shelter.

Strategies to reduce length of stay include daily population rounds, tracking animal flow through the shelter and removing bottlenecks, pathway planning, open selection, managed admissions, and fast-tracking of highly adoptable pets. The course will also cover practical strategies to build efficiency in medical programs, as many of the common bottlenecks are related to the provision of veterinary care. Additionally, while daily population rounds are crucial for collaboration across shelter teams and are key to ensuring animals keep moving on their shelter pathway, they can be challenging to implement, particularly in large shelters.


Learning Objectives: Upon completion of the course, the participant should be able to
  • discuss the benefits of reducing length of stay on individual animal health, lifesaving capacity of the shelter, and individual animal behavioral welfare.
  • define capacity for care in a shelter.
  • discuss how to determine average or median length of stay.
  • define pathway planning.
  • dDiscuss the following strategies for reducing length of stay:
    • Pathway planning
    • Fast-tracking
    • Open selection
    • Managed intake/admissions and intake diversion
  • discuss the goals and practical implementation of daily population rounds.
  • discuss the importance of tracking key metrics in shelter populations, including length of stay, intake and outcome metrics, and disease incidence metrics.


Level and Prerequisites: This basic VIN CE course is open for enrollment to veterinarians and veterinary technicians/technologists interested in strategies to reduce length of stay while also reducing infectious disease spread in the shelter setting.
Credit Approval: This course is approved for 2 hours of continuing education credit by RACE for veterinarians and veterinary technicians/technologists. (RACE 20-1139746)


Course Agenda:

Week 1 (Real Time Session February 28, 2024): Effective Population Management in Animal Shelters
We will discuss not only what and how to do daily population rounds, but we’ll cover a practical approach to getting started, and using data and metrics to monitor your population and improve outcomes.


Successful completion (scoring 80% or better) on the end-of-course test is required to earn a certificate of completion for the course. To learn more about the requirements for earning a CE certificate, please refer to Receiving Your CE Credit and Course Completion Certificate.

Course Materials: Course materials will be available in the course library prior to each Real Time Session.
Required Textbook(s): There is no required textbook for this course.


Enrollment is closed.  

Tuition: Member $46 ($41 early bird special if enrolled by February 7, 2024)
Non-Member $110 ($99 early bird special if enrolled by February 7, 2024)
Prices are listed in US dollars.


*To ensure participants are ready and prepared for classes, enrollment will close on February 27, 2024 at 5 pm ET (USA) or when the maximum number of participants is reached.

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


Enrollment qualifications:
  1. VIN CE Courses:
    1. VIN CE courses are open to VIN member, VIN student member, and non-member veterinarians.
    2. Veterinary support staff must be VSPN members in order to enroll in a VIN CE course open to VSPN member enrollment.
  2. VSPN CE Courses:
    1. VSPN CE courses are open to veterinary support staff and veterinarians.
    2. Only VIN and VSPN members can enroll in a VSPN CE course.
    3. Veterinarians will only receive credit for those VSPN CE courses that specify in the Accreditation statement that the course is accredited for veterinarians.
  3. Please check the course Level and Prerequisites, Accreditation, and Tuition before enrolling.
  4. Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org and @vin.com addresses.
    1. Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
  5. For further assistance call 800-846-0028 ext. 797 or email CEonVIN@vin.com. Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.


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 office 800-846-0028 ext. 797 to discuss eligibility for a pro-rated refund.

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

Katherine James, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM)
VIN Education Director

VIN CE Services: CEonVIN@vin.com
800-846-0028 or 530-756-4881; ext. 797
or direct line to VIN/VSPN from the United Kingdom: 01 45 222 6154
or direct line to VIN/VSPN from Australia: 02 6145 2357