By Head Veterinary Nurse Karen Macdonald
Although veterinary nurses play a vital role in every veterinary practice, our work can be more behind the scenes and perhaps not so well understood by the public.
That’s why I welcome Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month which is a campaign held every May led by the British Veterinary Nursing Association to shed light on our work and celebrate the contribution of my many dedicated colleagues across the country.
Veterinary nursing is hugely rewarding but also challenging. It is often a passion which sparked in many of us when we were still at school and realised we wanted to work with animals and help them and their owners.
One of my colleagues here at Paragon once said, people tend to think veterinary nursing is all cuddling puppies and kittens. That’s true and we do get to cuddle and play with them. But there’s an awful lot more to it.
While veterinary nurses can’t diagnose or prescribe, once the vet has told us what needs to be done, we do it. We give medications and care for the animals as they recover from operations which is a lot of responsibility. One of the most challenging aspects is administering anaesthetics. While the vet performs the surgery, the nurse monitors and manages the anaesthetic in constant communication with the vet.
A part of our work which we love is getting to know and care for our clients and their animals over months and years and sometimes a lifetime.
Nurse clinics are a great chance to do this, and veterinary nurses run clinics offering a wide variety of services which support the health of pets and help to prevent illness or to manage it. Our clinics improve many animals’ quality of life. Veterinary nurses often take extra qualifications in these areas.
At Paragon the nurse team runs clinics for weight management, dental health, seniors, and mobility and rehabilitation including laser therapy. We also do weigh and worm clinics, post operative checks, nail clips and anal gland expressing, microchipping and puppy and kitten clinics. Our Puppy Party socialisation sessions help our youngest clients get off to the best start in life.
We recently launched new confidence clinics for dogs which are scared of attending the vets. At these clinics we share game-based techniques which owners can use to build positive expectations in their dog, helping to reduce stress for pets and owners.
As veterinary nurses we play a key part in the team working for one thing - to give the best care to your animals.