Dear Reader

How do you get on with your colleagues? Is your workplace happy and productive, full of clear, open communication and mutual respect? I do hope so. Reading this month’s VNJ has made me reflect on team work. More and more, the clinical articles in our journal describe how veterinary nurses work alongside other professionals as part of a multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

The phrase multi-disciplinary team is widely used in human medicine. There is MDT involvement, MDT meetings and MDT care plans as medical teams acknowledge and respect the skills and knowledge of their colleagues. So, dieticians, consultants, nurses and physiotherapists rub shoulders, and discuss cases with the common goal of making patients better.

The veterinary MDT is talked about a lot less and yet it could be argued that it is more established than we acknowledge. Consider a fairly average case of a cruciate repair. It may involve a vet, a RVN, a physiotherapist, a receptionist and a practice administrator; additionally the team will also involve the owner, whose specialist subject, their pet, makes them one of the most important members of the MDT.

As I flick through the pages of this and other editions of the VNJ I see evidence of the MDT on almost every page. RVNs working with vets, with physios, the police, the charity sector and MPs all with the aim of making an animal’s life better.

The members of the BVNA council are an excellent example of a multi-disciplinary team. We have nurses from first opinion and referral practice, from industry, from education and from human healthcare. We have nurses who run their own business and nurses who work with large animals, small animals and exotics. Each member brings their own particular skills, knowledge and understanding to the table so that hopefully, all sides of the story are considered when issues are being debated.

Across the industry veterinary nurses are now equal members of the multi-disciplinary team as we move into the realms of regulation and professionalism. With this promotion in status comes responsibility. Therefore if you don’t work in a friendly and fulfilling environment, now it’s time to ask yourself what you can do about it. Maybe it’s time you learnt more about the roles of your colleagues to help you to understand the stresses and strains they feel at work. Maybe your team needs some rest and relaxation, or a chance to get to know each other to ease working relationships?

As we read tragic stories of our professional colleagues struggling with mental health issues, feeling lonely, depressed and frightened it can be hypothesised that in a cohesive, friendly, multi-disciplinary team the signs and symptoms of mental health problems may be detected earlier. Early recognition may lead to successful interventions that may prevent serious life changing deterioration. Because, not only does working together facilitate excellent clinical practice for our patients, it helps us too.

Author

Helen Ballantyne PG Dip BSc (Hons) RN RVN 

Editor-in-chief

DOI: 10.1080/17415349.2015.1006447

• VOL 30 • February 2015 • Veterinary Nursing Journal