Dear Reader

As I write this editorial, I am still buzzing from a fantastic BVNA congress. The 2010 congress was a vintage year and offered a full and varied scientific programme in which the standard of the lectures was very high indeed. Many positive comments were received throughout the weekend and I would like to thank all those involved for their enthusiasm and hard work. Aside from the top notch scientific programme, my highlights included the iphone app, which I found very useful and satisfied my inner geek! The Christmas party on the Saturday night went down a storm and I was particularly impressed at the effort that went in to the fancy dress costumes, and that everyone got in to the Christmas spirit in October. There are several pages in this edition devoted to the congress review.

In this edition of the VNJ, there are two articles on the topic of wound management – Georgie Hollis writes about the Veterinary Wound Library, which is a valuable resource set up for veterinary practices. Wound management is one of the many areas in veterinary practice in which nurses can play an instrumental role in patient recovery and Alison King demonstrates how the theory of wound management can be put into practice in her case reports.

I am sure that most nurses have experienced the nervous apprehension associated with assisting in monitoring an anaesthetic on a small furry patient at some point in their careers. When my (now long gone) pet gerbil suffered a fractured femur some 15 years ago, the only treatment option offered was amputation. At the time, I was an inexperienced student VN and although the surgery was successful, and little ‘Mushroom, the aforementioned gerbil, made a full recovery, I was a nervous wreck at the prospect of assisting with the anaesthetic. Had I had access to Stan Livy’s article on fracture repair of a femur in a gerbil at the time,

I would have made good use of the advice in it, which apart from illustrating the lateral thinking needed to deal with anaesthetising and operating on such as small patient, gives useful information on anaesthetic considerations for surgery on gerbils.

Lisa Cooper has written an informative article which will be of interest to those readers who have made, or are considering, the move in to practice management. Her observations are based on experience of taking on a managerial role at her practice a few years ago and the article gives an insight in to what is involved in running a veterinary practice. The role of many senior and head nurses incorporates elements of practice management and Lisa advises on accessing suitable CPD and building the skills which are required of a manager.

Elsewhere in this month’s VNJ, there are articles on quantitative versus qualitative research written by Liz Mossup, character assessment of guide dogs by Rena Trybocka and management of pelvic fractures by Laura Daniels.

As part of the continuing celebrations of 25 years of the VNJ, Claire Fraser has produced an article entitled ‘Who was Saint Francis of Assisi’. Many of us are aware that St Francis is the patron saint of animals and that his image features on the VN badge and the BVNA logo and Claire’s article investigates this amazing man’s life and works, which are an inspiration to us all.

Author

Helen Field Cert Ed RVN MBVNA Executive Editor

• VOL 25 • Noll • November 2010 • Veterinary Nursing Journal