Charlotte Flaxman from Work Psychology Group (WPG) has won an important award at the recent Association for Business Psychology (ABP) conference for her joint work with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and the British Small Animals Veterinary Association (BSAVA).
Earlier this year, the three organisations collaborated on a project to evaluate the effectiveness of the Professional Development Phase (PDP) that helps veterinary graduates to transition from the structured environment of veterinary school to the less predictable, day-to-day challenges of actual veterinary practice.
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At the ABP conference each company shortlisted within the Wellbeing, Health & Inclusiveness award category was asked to host two round-table discussions on the key findings and outcomes of their project. Charlotte explained the objectives and the methodology involved in supporting the selection of undergraduate students, including stakeholder consultations, and the development of a questionnaire to evaluate employer and graduate perceptions. Crucially, this evaluation led to the RCVS’ decision to consider updating the PDP to further support new graduates and their employers.
She says: “We are delighted to have won this prestigious award. It really is a team effort, with a lot of hard work from RCVS and BSAVA as well as WPG. Veterinary training is long and extremely rigorous and graduating as a veterinarian is a real achievement. It is also a highly demanding career and it’s right that graduates should receive appropriate help and support when they first enter the profession. We were delighted to have used our experience of implementing evaluation methodologies within the medical profession, even if the end user has four legs instead of two!”
