VETS6235: Professional Competency 2A

2026 unit information

This Unit of Study extends the foundational knowledge, skills and attributes required to be an effective veterinary professional. This includes both technical skills performed routinely by veterinarians and non-technical skills that determine how a veterinary professional works and interacts with others. Key themes of this unit include clinical communication, decision-making in veterinary contexts, iatrogenic harms of veterinary care, animal welfare and veterinary care, legislation, animal handling, physical examination, and core clinical competencies that veterinarians require for the investigation and management of clinical problems. The practical component of this unit comprises handling and restraint of common domestic species with a focus on developing physical examination skills and progressing core technical competencies including clinical pathology, surgery, and anaesthesia relevant to common domestic species. This also includes veterinary teaching hospital visits to observe and apply the knowledge and skills in a clinical setting. Broadly, this Unit of Study will build on and extend professional competencies relevant to veterinary professional practice. This includes application of relevant codes of conduct and legislation, and communication strategies to solve clinical problems, manage difficult clinical encounters, address animal welfare issues, and engage effectively with the community. This unit will also expand understanding of normal and abnormal animal behaviour, reinforce safe work practices; build on safe animal handling and restrain proficiency. Application of this knowledge provides a foundation for learning to perform a physical examination, perform core technical skills, and interpret clinical findings. Risk assessments are regularly conducted for units that require the completion of compulsory learning activities that may expose students to zoonotic diseases. These assessments aim to identify appropriate risk mitigation controls, such as vaccination against vaccine preventable zoonoses. Risk assessments are regularly conducted for units that require the completion of compulsory learning activities that may expose students to zoonotic diseases. These assessments aim to identify appropriate risk mitigation controls, such as vaccination against vaccine- preventable zoonoses. Vaccination against Q fever (Coxiella burnetii) is an inherent requirement for students enrolling in this unit of study. Students must be vaccinated against Q fever before commencing the unit or no later than week two of the enrolled teaching session. Q fever vaccination is only available in Australia with the vaccination process taking three weeks to complete. Students must also submit a Q fever Vaccination Declaration upon enrolment. Students who fail to receive vaccination by the specified deadline and/or submit a Q fever Vaccination Declaration are precluded from practical learning activities and will not be able to satisfactorily complete relevant units of study and/or progress in their course more generally. Please refer to the University’s website https://www.sydney.edu.au/students/q-fever-vaccinations.html for more information on student vaccinations.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Science

Details

Study level	Postgraduate
Academic unit	School of Veterinary Science Academic Operations
Credit points	6

Enrolment rules

Prerequisites: ?	(VETS6101 and VETS6102 and VETS6103 and VETS6104 and VETS6105 and VETS6106 and VETS6107 and VETS6108) or (VETS6111 and VETS6113 and VETS6104 and VETS6116 and VETS6115 and VETS6108)
Corequisites: ?	VETS6203 and VETS6204 and VETS6231
Prohibitions: ?	None
Assumed knowledge: ?	None

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes for this unit will be available two weeks before the first day of teaching.

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

There are no availabilities for this year.

Session	MoA ?	Location	Outline ?
Semester 1 2026	Normal day	Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney	Outline unavailable
Semester 1 2026	Normal day	Camden, Sydney	Outline unavailable

There are no availabilities for previous years.

Find your current year census dates

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.

Disclaimer

Important: the University of Sydney regularly reviews units of study and reserves the right to change the units of study available annually. To stay up to date on available study options, including unit of study details and availability, refer to the relevant handbook.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.