Leona Anderson, BVNA Regional Rep, has worked in veterinary practice since the age of 14, qualifying as an RVN in November of 2018. As well as having an interest in anaesthesia and analgesia, she also enjoys diabetes management and diagnostic imaging.

Here, Leona shares a few ideas that can be used to help raise awareness of the roles in our veterinary profession in your local community and beyond.

It has never been more important than it is now to raise client and public awareness of our profession. Client’s and the public should be educated as to who they are seeing in the veterinary practice, the same way they know who they are seeing when they go to the hospital.

With our profession advancing and diversifying more and more each year, the need to educate the public and our clients also increases. There are a few different ways in which awarenesss can be raised for veterinary nurses both during Vet Nurse Awareness Month (VNAM), but also all year round.

Here are a few ideas that can be used to help raise awareness of the roles in our veterinary profession in your local community and beyond!

1. Having a display board in your clinic of staff members and their roles; sometimes simply having a role/title to help clients and the members of the public identify who they are speaking to (particularly if there are no specific identifiable uniform colours) can help massively in advertising the many roles that are in veterinary practice.

2. Having a board for VNAM- make a beautiful display board in your waiting area, advertising all that RVNs can do!

3. Get out into your community! This can be having stalls at local markets and shows, and visiting schools to educate the younger generations.

4. Open our doors! Getting young farmer communities in for tours of the practice or even holding practice open evenings, to give the community a ‘behind the scenes look’ into a veterinary practice.

5. Social media; I know social media can sometimes be a very negative place, however we can make it a positive platform! Having a Facebook/Instagram page for your practice, introducing members of staff to the public on these platforms by showing what they do in practice. Posts can be funny and they can also be packed full of information; creating a presence in the community for clients to feel like they belong somewhere is so special.

6. Holding information evenings. These can be done in a variety of different ways; puppy parties,  agricultural meetings, training evenings for pet owners to ‘learn the basics about owning a puppy’ or ‘emergency first aid’. All of which can help clients become more educated not only in the roles in practice by who is giving these information evenings, but also in topics that will undoubtedly interest them.

There is so much we can do to raise awareness to both our clients and the public, not only as RVNs but by becoming part of and building a relationship with our local community.

Find out more about how you can get involved in #VNAM2023 here.