Dear Reader

With the advent of the month of October, summer is now a thing of the past – what summer I hear you ask? Whilst we may bemoan the demise of the long warm days, the coming of autumn is welcomed by many for its mists and mellow fruitfulness and because it is a season of contemplation and retrospection. Perhaps more importantly it also means that BVNA Congress is here again!

I am looking forward to the new venue and the increased facilities that it will offer as well as the excellent programme that the congress committee has designed for the delegates. An innovation this year will be the opportunity for veterinary nurses to present their research in the form of poster presentations. Whilst we will be starting in a small way this year, I am confident that this will prove to be a great forum for the dissemination of veterinary nursing research in years to come.

The success of our annual congress is largely the result of hard work and commitment of a large group of people, not least the congress committee, the team of stewards and the speakers and exhibitors, all of whom are supported by our office team who work incredibly hard to ensure that each year is a triumph. The office team have now been joined by Debbie Gray who has now taken up the reins as Education Development Coordinator, 1 am confident that she will quickly prove to be an asset to BVNA and let me take this opportunity to welcome her to Team BVNA!

This months journal focuses on the nursing care of patients, with Caroline Calder’s third article on wound management, Laura Crump’s article on nursing care of the PSS patient and Laura Daniels nursing considerations of the thyroidectomy patient.

As this is my last issue as Executive Editor I have been prompted to look back over the years at the development of the journal. The results of my research will appear in next month’s VNJ but I will say now that I found the review fascinating, not least because it served to highlight how far the VNJ and the BVNA have come. This will also be my last Editorial as a Council Member so I will take the opportunity to wish my successor Sam Morgan best wishes, I know that the VNJ will be safe in Sam’s capable hands. Finally, I must also thank everyone at BVNA and at Wiley who have been so supportive and have made my time as a Council Member and Executive Editor such a positive one over the past few years – it has been a great experience and one that I would recommend to everyone! See you in Telford!

Author

Sue Badger MEd CertEd VN Executive Editor

To cite this editorial use either

DOI: 10.1111/j.2045-0648.2012.00220.x or Veterinary Nursing Journal Vol 27 pp 358

• VOL 27 • October 2012 • Veterinary Nursing Journal