This year’s VNAM theme is ‘progression’ with the aim of highlighting the diverse range of skills, abilities, and career pathways of veterinary nurses. We asked our RVNs and SVNs how they feel they have progressed during their time nursing, here’s what some of them had to say:
Cat: When I thought about progression as a theme I thought about our personal progression within our careers as well as the progress we see with our patients. It is mandatory that RVNs complete 15 hours of CPD per year, and the subject areas must be relevant to our day to day work. In recent years, possibly as a link following on from the pandemic restrictions, I feel we have been seeing more pets that are wary of coming into the practice and are less willing to be examined and treated.
We always aim for fear free visits for both cats and dogs. I’ve always had an interest in cat behaviour but lately I’ve felt I could improve my knowledge of dog behaviour. I have chosen to complete some CPD in this area this year and hopefully using this knowledge will help our nursing team make fear free visits more achievable for our patients. It’s so lovely to see the progress some of your pets have made when they have been coming for socialisation and confidence building clinics. I can think of some dogs who wouldn’t even walk through the door without trembling who now feel at ease enough to play, take treats and follow commands.
Zoe: In the past year, I feel like I have progressed in my anaesthesia monitoring skills. I have carried out various CPD courses in the subject and I have been lucky enough to be able to transfer these skills practically during my time working at the University of Liverpool teaching hospital and since then bringing these skills with me to first opinion practice at Hollybank.
At the University, I also made my own tutorial on recovering patients from anaesthesia in order to help and support other nurses in this area of anaesthesia, to improve our knowledge and provide the highest standards of care possible during this crucial time.
Laura: I love guiding students through real-world clinical scenarios. Seeing them grow and develop their clinical skills is very rewarding.
Alicia: Over the years in practice, I feel like I have progressed a lot in educating our clients. When we start out as a nurse, we have a good basic knowledge of pet care but over time we keep learning and pick up lots of valuable information that we can share with you. It can be daunting when first starting out to talk through advice, but my confidence has grown during my time as a nurse and now I feel comfortable talking to our lovely clients and helping them give their pets the best care.
Holly: I feel I have made progress with in-patient care. When I came to Hollybank, I had never worked in a Veterinary hospital before so a lot of the medications that were given to in-patients were foreign to me. It’s a great feeling to be able to easily understand what is expected of me when, given the same task a year ago, I would have panicked.
Becky: I feel like I have really progressed in both anaesthesia after completing my BVNA Learning Pathway in Anaesthesia course and in dentistry since completing my Oral Care Nurse Certificate. I also feel that I have had lots of opportunities to gain more experience in both areas in my first 18 months of being qualified which has really boosted my confidence and aided my progression!
Charley: During my veterinary nursing student placement, I feel like I have progressed particularly in monitoring anaesthetics, but I have also recently completed my Nursing Progress Log (NPL) covering all areas of nursing, which I have progressed through during my placement at Hollybank.
