JMICAWE Veterinary Nurse keynote speaker at Scottish BSAVA Congress 2014

Hayley Walters, welfare and anaesthesia veterinary nurse for the JMICAWE team was one of only three keynote speakers at Scottish BSAVA Congress this year and the only veterinary nurse to present.

She presented three lectures on the Saturday morning to over 40 nurses on Welfare and Ethics, Best Practice for the Hospitalised Inpatient and an interactive session on case studies presenting interesting welfare and ethical dilemmas. Her lectures were well received and one of the BSAVA members of staff who initially voted for welfare to be covered at this year’s congress said Hayley had got it “spot on” after hearing all three of her presentations.

“I was so honoured to be asked to speak at Scottish BSAVA Congress this year and I think it reflects a change in attitude within the veterinary community of just how important good welfare is in practice. Good health is no longer seen as a stand-alone indicator of good welfare. I was pleased to see that the veterinary nurses attending the lectures were well informed when it came to delivering gold standard patient care and recognising areas where welfare could be improved within their own practices” (Hayley Walters)

Hayley also spoke about her experiences when working and teaching overseas in Asia and Eastern Europe and the challenges that nurses can face there:

“It opened up a really interesting discussion about how culture and religion can affect people’s views on animals, veterinary treatment and the practice of euthanasia and I was pleased to chat to some nurses afterwards about volunteering for overseas NGOs”

Hayley has now been asked to lecture to student veterinary nurses at SRUC’s (Scotland’s Rural College) Barony campus later this year.

 

Hayley speaking at the Congress, August 2014



Information about the BSAVA and the Scottish Congress can be found on their web site http://www.bsava.com/Home.aspx