May is National Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month. What better opportunity to shout about the amazing job our fantastic qualified nursing team do in helping care for your pet!
As pet owners, you will mostly see our nursing team for nurse consultations or admissions and discharges. But there’s much more to being a qualified veterinary nurse than client-facing clinics. Responsibilities range from taking bloods, running urine and blood analyses, placing catheters, scaling and polishing teeth, intubating pets (placing breathing tubes pre anaesthesia), giving medication under the direction of the vet, prepping pets for surgery, x-ray and ultrasound positioning and inpatient care to carrying out laser therapy, triaging pets and even clinical coaching – helping to train future qualified nurses. The list is infinite, and this is just a snapshot of the possible duties in a day in the life of a vet nurse!
This is one of our qualified nurses Renée monitoring a pet under anaesthesia. As well as constantly assessing the anaesthetised patient, responsibilities include monitoring heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen levels in the blood, carbon dioxide levels in expired air and blood pressure. Careful monitoring means a quick response can be made to any change in patient status.
It’s important to note that not all veterinary nurses who wear a ‘Veterinary Nurse’ badge in other practices are necessarily qualified. Sadly the term ‘Veterinary Nurse’ remains unprotected so anyone can use it regardless of training or ability to undertake the role.
Qualified (or ‘Registered’) veterinary nurses have been through a minimum 2.5 year rigorous veterinary nursing diploma, and on passing, are registered with their governing body, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), to whom they remain accountable. And did you know that Registered Veterinary Nurses are required to continually update their learning, and have to complete a minimum of 15 hours of new role-related learning ever year?
We are incredibly grateful to have a brilliant team of five Registered Veterinary Nurses at 387 Vets: Amy, Jodie, Sophie, Sharon and Renée. Between them, they hold a wealth of additional qualifications in addition to their RVN status, in areas they are particularly passionate about. The team are an invaluable support to the vets and the smooth running of practice, and their expertise means you can be assured your pets get the very best of nursing care.
Huge thanks to our registered veterinary nurses for all you do on a daily basis. We would be lost without you.
Click here to watch a short animated video created by the RCVS on the vital role of registered veterinary nurses.