ABSTRACT: Nurses have several roles in the animal welfare movement, and have unique skills, compassion and experience that often make them best placed to drive animal welfare improvements. RVNs have a role in patient care, can act as owners’ consciences as Welfare Ambassadors’, and can also play a role as veterinary surgeons’ consciences, in particular in promoting analgesia and good handling. They are also well placed to improve welfare in the local community, volunteering for charities and at community events for animals that might never otherwise get veterinary attention. More than anything, the veterinary nursing profession can speak out about welfare issues in veterinary practice

Author

James Yeates BVSc BSc(Hons) DWEL DipECAWBM(AWSEL) PhD MRCVS

 Dr James Yeates is Chief Veterinary Officer of the RSPCA, which has around 40 veterinary clinics and works with most practices in England and Wales. He is also Honorary Lecturer at the University of Bristol and is the author of Animal Welfare in Veterinary Practice (2013; UFAW/Wiley- Blackwell).

Dr Yeates was the keynote speaker at last year’s BVNA Congress and has kindly reproduced his lecture outlining the importance of today’s RVN in the promotion of animal welfare both within veterinary practice and also in the wider community.

Keywords: Feature, Veterinary, Welfare

To cite this article: Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 29 (07) • July 2014 • pp250-251

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