A Day in the Life of a Veterinary Nurse

This month is Vet Nursing Awareness Month, and we asked our two VNs, Hayley Walters MBE and Jess Davies, to put an article together to explain their vital role in the care and treatment of their patients.

What does the veterinary nurse actually do?!

Our day begins with making sure that all the inpatients have everything they need. Medication, food, water, access to toileting and a clean comfy bed are the basics. But staying in an, albeit caring, but unfamiliar environment can be very upsetting for many animals and so we try to not just focus on their physical needs but also their psychological. For instance, making sure that the food they have is actually what they like to eat and not just any old food! Cats usually appreciate a box to hide in to make them feel secure and dogs often enjoy a comforting cuddle session to ease their anxiety from being away from their owner. Vet nurses are trained in understanding animal behaviour and assessing pain which allows us to highlight our concerns for a patient.  If we have any particular worries, we can discuss them with the vet in charge and make sure they are attended to quickly.

Veterinary nurses are more highly trained than many people think. We have to train for up to 4 years either in college or university, complete hundreds of hours of practical work within approved training centres, be signed off as competent in many different skills, complete assignments, and pass written and practical exams before we can qualify and go on the national register of veterinary nurses. This means we are qualified to do a plethora of jobs from taking blood, bandaging, cannula placing, and X-raying to anaesthetic monitoring, consultations, physiotherapy, and minor surgery. Vets rely very heavily on veterinary nurses to help them and the relationship is certainly symbiotic!

No two days are the same. We might be teaching an owner how to inject their diabetic cat with insulin one moment and holding a dear old dog for euthanasia the next. We might be resuscitating puppies born by caesarean one day and emptying anal glands the next! The hours can be long and sometimes it can be difficult emotionally, but those things are temporary and the good times always outweigh the sad. Knowing we are doing my best to improve the lives of animals is the most rewarding job in the world and if we had to choose my career again, we would both choose veterinary nursing in a heartbeat.