Dear Reader

Welcome to the October edition of VNJ. As I write this, the BVNA office are all busy planning for congress, taking registrations, answering questions and organising speakers, as well as juggling a few thousand other details that we on council don’t hear about. I cannot believe we are nearly there already. If you are coming along, please take the time to speak to us on the stand. It is your association and it is great to hear what you like, what you don’t like and what you think we should be doing.

One thing that many of us on council have been working on recently is the VNJ and it is with great pleasure that I write to introduce you to your new Editor-in-Chief, Sam McMillan VTS Anaesthesia/Analgesia, Dip AVN, Dip HE, RVN.

Previously, the VNJ has been run almost entirely by members of BVNA council, albeit with a great deal of support from our friendly publishers Taylor & Francis and a number of other experienced and knowledgeable people, such as our Commissioning editor, Sue Badger M Ed, Cert Ed, RVN.

Many of you may remember that a while ago we conducted a survey about membership of the BVNA, we had a terrific response and we learnt a lot about our members. One of the strong messages for us on council was that you perceived the VNJ as one of the key benefits of being a member of BVNA.

So, we decided it was time that we acted on what you were telling us and concentrate more of our energy on developing the journal and moving it forward to make it even more useful to you. We have identified key goals for the journal. We want it to be a peer reviewed

journal that supports the BVNA as the voice of veterinary nursing. We are aware that we need to cater to many audiences; we recognise that members of the BVNA represent all stages of a nursing career. We would like to publish some student nurse specific pages and for those of you who are more experienced we hope to begin publishing frontline data that we think will give you cause to reflect, to consider and possibly plan primary research projects in your own clinical setting to contribute to the growing body of specific knowledge for our profession. We also recognised that achieving all of these goals would take a lot of time and energy, possibly more time than a current council member could offer. Therefore, we recently advertised for someone to take on an Editor-in-Chief role and dedicate time to our journal.

BVNA council is thrilled that Sam has agreed to take up the role; she has a clear vision and a realistic plan for the journal. It is a really exciting time for the VNJ and I look forward to seeing it grow and develop.

Development is important, but we know we mustn’t change for the sake of change. So please be reassured that we will not be reinventing the wheel. This month I have received a letter and two emails from members congratulating the team on their hard work in producing a journal that has been both useful and enjoyable. Thank you for your feedback, I’m so glad to receive it and I hope that you enjoy this edition as much.

Author

Helen Ballantyne PG Dip BSc (Hons) RN RVN 

Editor-in-Chief

P.S. This year, we have decided to publish our congress programme within this issue of the VNJ. We hope that you enjoy planning your visit and that the lectures you select provide you with plenty of new knowledge and inspiration for our profession.

DOI: 10.1080/17415349.2015.1081375

• VOL 30 • October 2015 • Veterinary Nursing Journal