Veterinary nurse (VN) Hayley Walters was invited to speak
at VN day in London recently to the newly qualified VNs graduating that day.
As a previous Golden Jubilee award winner, Hayley was
asked by The Royal college of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to give a 15 minute
presentation to showcase what a VN can do and help inspire them as they start
their careers.
Hayley qualified in 1999 from a mixed animal practice in
Derbyshire and since then has worked with bears in China and dogs in Bosnia; taught in vet schools in Sri Lanka and Vietnam; taught final year vet students
on their anaesthesia rotation in The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies,
examined students in their practical exams and created free online teaching
resources used all over the world.
“Veterinary nursing has come a long way since I qualified 20 years ago. The aim of the talk was to help demonstrate to these new VNs that there is so much you can do with your career now. If you want to stay in general practice then that is fine but if you want to be an army VN, go into research, teach, work for an animal welfare charity, or specialise in referral, then that is all possible now. And since the British VN qualification is well respected all over the world, there is a lot of opportunity to work overseas too. Not many jobs offer this much diversity!”
Hayley received very positive feedback and was approached
by many of the new veterinary nurses afterwards who had aspirations to progress
their career.
A donation to a charity of Hayley’s choice was given by
the RCVS in return for her talking. Hayley chose Dogstar Foundation; a high
welfare catch, neuter, vaccinate, return project for free roaming dogs in Sri
Lanka.
