A day in the life of a veterinary nurse … just a routine day or not?

Like many other veterinary nurses, my day begins to the sound of what seems to be a tractor ploughing its way across my head. And as I begin to stir, I realise it’s the four-month-old kitten I appear to have acquired after saying, “Oh. I’ll take it to hand rear. I’m not looking for a cat!” Suffice it to say, her paws are now quite firmly under the table!

After feeding the cat and the dog, I set off on my 25-minute journey, through the glorious Peak District, to work.

My working day generally starts at 8am, when I arrive at work (Figure 1). My first duty is to tend to any in-patients that we may have – its always nice to see a ‘waggier’ tail or hear a brighter ‘meow’ than when you left the previous day.

Figure 1: The main surgery – one of three

Once the in-patients are medicated, walked, fed and watered, it is time to prepare for the day’s operating list. Then it’s not long before the clients start to arrive – “Daisy for spaying”, “Monty for castration”, “Ellie for a dental”… And so begins another routine day!

Today, I’m the ‘in-patient’ nurse and, as the title indicates, my job is to make sure all the in-patients are cared for properly, clients are kept updated on their pets, and any new admissions are tended to.

Amber alert

Having recently acquired my Graduate Diploma in Professional and Clinical Veterinary Nursing from the Royal Veterinary College, I am at home with my in-patients, working through their care plans, making sure that they are comfortable, and putting all my recent learning to good use. Indeed, it is not long before there’s a case in point when, suddenly, one of the vets rushes through with an emergency.

Amber, a cat, had been found that morning by her owners, salivating and twitching in the kitchen and by the time she reached the surgery she was almost collapsed. Whilst the vet had been examining Amber, she had also passed a small amount of green/blue faeces on the table. She was rushed in for blood tests, intravenous fluid and supportive therapy for suspected metaldehyde poisoning.

Along with another veterinary nurse, I proceed to take a blood sample and place an intravenous catheter, while the vet discusses the prognosis with the owners and then contacts the poisons unit for further advice. I settle Amber into a kennel with her fluids and give her intravenous diazepam as requested by the vet, then update her hospital chart.

Watching the blood pressure

Once I have finished looking after my in-patients, it is time for a quick tea break and to find out how the bps list’ is going. A few extras from the morning consultations have appeared – an X-ray, a rabbit dental, and a cat for a blood pressure check. All of which mean more work for me, especially as I enjoy monitoring blood pressure (BP), and currently have several renal and hyperthyroid cats that come in regularly for checks.

I soon get my new patient settled into the cattery and try not to create the ‘white coat effect’. We usually leave our BP patients to settle for an hour or so with the blood pressure monitor attached and then take several readings over the course of the afternoon. Generally, we find most patients tolerate this well and we seem to get accurate results.

Then, it’s another hospital round to check the in-patients, and to help with any of the remaining bps’, cleaning of theatre and general tidying up (Figure 2). Amber seems to be doing well and the diazepam has worked wonders as she is no longer twitching.

Figure 2: A content in-patient

One of the good things about working in a small first-opinion practice is that, whilst we all have our duties as laid down in the rota – including, laboratory, in¬patients, theatre, prep, and consulting nurse – when all our jobs are done, we all muck in and help each other.

Lunchtime brings a chance for a sit-down, a bite to eat and an update on everyone’s day. Breaks are a good time to discuss new developments in practice, plus a chance to look at the current VNI and, above all, to have a ‘natter’.

Before long, it is back to my in-patients who are all doing well. Drips are running well, medications given and any toilet breaks tended to! My BP cat seems nicely settled and has even eaten a bowl of food – always a good indication of a settled cat!

Initial measurements of just over 200mmHg indicate a hypertensive cat. 1 leave him for a bit and go to check if the student nurse is free for some tutorial time. We currently have one student who is in her first year and enrolled on the new Level 3 Diploma. So far, the new Nursing Progress Log (NPL) seems to be working for us, although there is still the age-old problem that most practices have – of finding sufficient quality time with your student in order to achieve the suggested percentage of work completed per month (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Logging on to the new Nursing Progress Log INPLl to check my student's progress

The afternoon ends with discharging in-patients and ops, taking final BP measurements, and conducting a hospital round with the evening nurse. Our BP cat seems to have coped well and final readings indicate a measurement of around 190mmHg. Amber, our poisoned cat also seems to have coped well during the day – her blood tests showing no sign of liver or kidney damage at this stage and supportive care will be continued.

At the end of the day…

Once I am happy that my patients have been handed over, it is time to grab my coat and head off home – just enough time for an evening stroll in the Peaks with my dog Lucy! But life in veterinary practice is never as simple as that and when you think your day is done, the emergency case comes through the door or, in this case, a collapsed Scottie!

Off comes the coat. On goes the nurse head and it’s back to work! Blood tests, intravenous fluids, a supportive heat source, several X-rays and an ultrasound later, it’s into theatre for a ruptured spleen. Who says first-opinion work isn’t exciting? 

Author

Nicky Doyle GradDip RVN A1

Nicky qualified in 2001, and after working in several small and mixed practices – and for some time in the veterinary sales sector – she now works for Carrick Veterinary Group [CVS UK Ltd], which is a first-opinion, small animal pr
actice in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

In 2010, Nicky was one of the first of a cohort of qualified veterinary nurses to achieve the Graduate Diploma in Professional and Clinical Veterinary Nursing through the RVC and University of London.

To cite this article use either

DOI: 10.1111/j.2045-0648.2011.00133.x or Veterinary Nursing Journal Vol 27 pp 26-27

Veterinary Nursing Journal • January 2012 • VOL 27