Posts Tagged ‘RVN’

A Day In The Life Of… Samara, RVN at Barking

Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month is a time to celebrate the dedication and skill of our veterinary nurses. We are proud to have Samara at our Barking branch, who joined us in 2010 and qualified as an RVN (Registered Veterinary Nurse) in 2018. Sam is the feline advocate at the branch and has completed the ISFMCert in feline nursing. We caught up with Sam for a quick glimpse into A Day In The Life Of…

What is your morning routine?

On arrival, I care for our resident practice cat Tilly, clean and change her litter tray, and set her up ready for the day in reception where she generally sleeps on the desk and ignores us all! I then check the procedures list, prepare the kennels and paperwork such as consent forms and GA sheets and ensure the consulting room is fully equipped for consults. I then check through emails and PetsApps (our telemedicine platform) and reply in order of urgency and mark for the attention of the relevant team member. Once the practice is ready for the day, we open up and welcome clients in. During this time I will run admissions for the day’s routine procedures which involves a sit-down discussion and going through the consent forms, procedure, and any extras.

What is your afternoon routine?

My afternoons are either in theatre whereby I assist the vet with surgical procedures, placing intravenous catheters and prepping the patient for the procedure, monitoring anesthetics/sedation, or performing minor procedures such as dental descales and polishing and radiography. 

Or, they are filled with nurse consultations! These are generally post-operative checks, second vaccinations, blood pressure monitoring, subcutaneous fluid administrations, client education, ProActive Pets examinations (our preventative healthcare plan), weight clinics, and blood sampling. After all this comes evening consultations and discharges.

What are your responsibilities as an RVN?

As the Barking practice’s main RVN, my responsibilities vary but typically include overseeing the everyday running of the practice, ordering medications/consumables/equipment, training and mentoring junior staff members, running nurse clinics, giving dietary and nutrition to clients, monitoring anaesthesia/sedation, blood sampling, conducting minor procedures such as teeth cleaning, placing IV catheters and preparing patients for procedures. As an RVN, I am also responsible for overseeing the hygiene and sterility of the practice, the maintenance of clinical equipment and most importantly, the well-being of our patients. I have a certificate in feline nursing which allows me to assist new kitten owners give their kitten the best start in life. I also help by advising clients in cat behaviour/care and providing information on feline behaviourists where necessary.

What do you enjoy most about your role as an RVN?

Client interaction and consulting. I am currently undertaking a certificate in nurse consults, tying this with my certificate in feline nursing. This is the part of my job I thrive on and love to help and guide clients along the way to help maintain harmony at home and hopefully create a long-lasting happy relationship with their pet.

I have been at the Barking practice for almost 12 years and love every animal that comes through the door as if they are my own. I love watching them grow and develop and keeping the bond that only animals can provide.

We are very proud to employ so many great RVNs like Samara and, as it’s Vet Nurse Awareness Month you may see #VNAM and #OurProfessionMyResilience across social media, so, if you do, please click on them to see what vet nurses are up to. You see, we value our vet nurses for the care they bring to you, your pets, and the veterinary team. If you are interested in joining the Goddard Veterinary Group, please check out our opportunities online or learn more about our very own Nursing College!

Veterinary nurses – why they are invaluable!

Here at Goddard Veterinary Group, we are lucky enough to provide veterinary care to a large number of pets across our practices and veterinary hospitals. We have teams of amazing veterinary professionals working every hour of the day, every day of the year to cover all your pet’s needs – from flea prevention to emergency care.

You might think this means we are reliant on vets for all our patient care – if it’s an emergency surely the vet is the key person to employ? While the vet is the face you may see most often, and are obviously very important, the real power behind the scalpel is the Registered Veterinary Nurse (RVN).

We are very proud to employ so many great RVNs and, as it’s Vet Nurse Awareness Month in May, we wanted to share all the great things about these cornerstones of the veterinary team. You may see #VNAM and #OurProfessionMyResilience and if you do, please click on them to see what vet nurses are up to. You see, we really value our vet nurses for the care they bring to you, your pets, and the veterinary team.

What’s in a name?

Before we go on to all the roles the vet nurse undertakes we just want to clarify what we mean when we say ‘vet nurse’ or ‘RVN’ we mean someone who is registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) as a veterinary nurse. Just as all our vets are on the MRCVS register all our vet nurses are on the RVN register.

This is very important as the registration for vet nurses is relatively recent – it only became a compulsory register in 2015 – replacing the previous List and Register that had run alongside each other since 2007.

The RCVS has also protected the title ‘Veterinary Nurse’ meaning that those in a veterinary practice cannot refer to anyone as a ‘Veterinary Nurse’ or ‘RVN’ if they are not on the register.

We feel this is important as it provides the same level of protection as seeing a vet when seeing a vet nurse and as they do so much for your pets we know that peace of mind will be important to you. When we say vet nurse, we mean VET NURSE!

Different roles

As we mentioned earlier, you may find vet nurses appearing in a variety of roles across our vet practices. We like to make sure our vet nurses can follow their passion and expand their skills so you may find them undertaking roles in:

Theatre

  • “scrubbed in” to support the vet
  • Assisting with anaesthesia

Medical care

This list can be very long but vet nurses help with…

  • Administering medication
  • Feeding patients who can’t eat for themselves
  • Monitoring a patients progress after treatment

Puppy parties

  • Socialising new members of your family
  • Sharing helpful information on correct feeding
  • Advising on the importance of flea and worm treatments for young pets

Feline friendly

We’re proud to have our nurses push forward with making practices feline friendly

  • An accredited scheme, vet nurses make a real difference with helping your cat have a stress free vet visit

Nurse consults

A consultation is not just for seeing a vet. A space and time to speak to a vet nurse can help with:

  • Weight management
  • Behavioural help
  • Post-operative care

A vet nurse is not just for clinical work

Outside clinical work, we like to keep our vet nurses busy and you might find them training our student vet nurses, helping with case administration, and managing teams.

We hope you will agree that we are right to be proud of our vet nurses and we know that they bring an added value to the care of your pets. They bring the “added value” to our vet teams and to your pet care that is often hard to quantify.

This May, if you’re in one of our practices you’ll most likely meet one of our vet nurses and it would make their day if you asked about their valued role in your pet’s care.

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