Dear Reader

Well, it’s coming up to 2 years of me working at the BVNA and what a weird and wonderful time it has been. I can remember how nervous I was at the very prospect of even going for the interview; I’d been working at the University for 13 years and had put my heart and soul into the FdSc VN programme. There were still things I wanted to achieve but had reached an impasse and found myself becoming a grumpy old woman which wasn’t entirely due to the menopause.

I know quite a few people, like me, who stay in a role because they don’t know what else they can do. I was lucky enough to start my vet nursing career at Liverpool University Small Animal Hospital in the days when we were known as animal nursing auxiliaries (yes, I’m that old). I moved for love (as a lot of us do) to an independent first opinion/orthopaedic referral practice in Nottingham developing my interest in orthopaedic patients and rehabilitation.

After many years, I got to a stage in practice where I thought I quite fancied having structured lunch breaks, being able to sit down for more than 10 minutes during the day and finishing a shift on time, so started looking for what else I could do, still within the veterinary industry. I took a chance and applied for a sales rep job with Mars UK, I was shocked to be offered a position and quite frankly, terrified, when I showed up for my first day which was a 3-day sales course. At least twice a day I thought I was well out of my depth and so far out of my comfort zone, I couldn’t see the way back. What stopped me from leaving as soon as possible, was the support from the managers who coached and helped us all through the induction process.

I enjoyed 12 years of working at Mars, moving through different sections of the business from the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition (WCPN) to training the sales force on a new database. One of the great things about working for such a big company is that you can try out lots of different career paths and complete amazing CPD. I will be forever grateful to Mars for the experience and confidence they gave me.

Next step, after having 2 children, was teaching. I have always had an interest in teaching and have basically tried to include it in any role that I have had. I accepted redundancy at Mars, which was scary, and applied for a job at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). Whilst I wasn’t successful, one of the managers phoned me to mention a new role that was about to be created and I should keep an eye out for the advert and reapply then. Within a month, the advert for programme leader of the FdSc veterinary nursing course appeared and I applied. The course hadn’t been written at the time and that would be part of my role as well as teaching on other courses until mine was up and running. A strange thing about teaching jobs is that you have to have experience to get the job, and you often can’t get experience until you have a teaching qualification. To complete the teaching qualification, you need to be doing some teaching. I know, crazy isn’t it!

My advice to anyone trying to get into teaching is to do anything to gain experience. I incorporated teaching into my nursing role at WCPN by delivering some first aid training, parasite control and reproduction to the dog walkers. This enabled me to gain the 30 hours teaching I needed to complete a level 3 teaching qualification. It wasn’t ‘official’ teaching, but it was enough for me to gain experience and reflect on how I could do better. I was then able to get a part time job

teaching on an animal management module at University of Lincoln as an hourly paid lecturer (HPL). I was lucky as I could reduce my hours at Mars to four days a week and teach one day a week. I know not everyone will be able to do that. This meant I had the teaching experience to get the job at NTU as well as the professional experience of veterinary nursing. Another confession, I had no idea just how hard it was to write a course, especially one that had to conform to both academic standards and professional body regulations that often contradicted each other. My communication skills were definitely tested during this time and I wouldn’t have managed it without my fabulous manager, Heather.

Within a few years, I was surrounded by an amazing teaching team and we had a fantastic course which attracted enthusiastic students. I really couldn’t have got through all those years without my team especially Alison and Emily. Working in private practice as a weekend nurse also saved my sanity as it reminded me of what it was all about. I know it added extra hours to an already bad work-life balance, but I really needed it.

After 13 years a friend of mine pointed out the BVNA advert for Head of Learning and Development & Editor in Chief of the VNJ; my initial thought was that I didn’t have the right skill set. I then sat back and thought about it, I had a huge number of transferrable skills which could be adapted to the role, so I took the plunge and gave them a ring to find out more about it before applying. I think speaking to prospective new employers before applying is really important as it enables you to get a sense of the sort of environment you will be working in and the attitudes of the people you may be working with. Now, any of you who have had the opportunity to meet or speak to Robin Millar, who was the Strategic Director at the time, will know, he is a force of nature who sweeps you up in his passion and enthusiasm for the veterinary nursing profession. We spent 45 minutes talking about the future of veterinary nursing and the role that BVNA would play in this. I was definitely hooked and was lucky enough to be invited for an interview and offered the job; the rest, as they say, is history.

Now two years on, I have never regretted making that leap and leaving the safety net of academia at the age of 56. We are a small, but powerful team; with myself, Huw, Katie, Charlotte, Angie, Lisa and Danni working closely with our Council Members and Regional Representatives. I’m proud to represent the veterinary nursing profession and we want to hear from you about how you want us to speak for you. Our Council Members are members of significant working groups such as Legislative Working Party, VN Futures and Diversity and Inclusion Group. We collaborate with major stakeholders such as BVA and RCVS and more importantly, we listen to you. You can get in touch with any of our Council Members by email: council@bvna.co.uk

If you want to have a go at writing an article, please don’t hesitate to contact me to have a chat on nicola@bvna.co.uk

I look forward to seeing you all at BVNA Congress 2-4 October at Telford International Centre. Visit our website to see the amazing programme we have on offer for you and how to purchase tickets. It promises to be an incredible event.

Author

Nikki Ruedisueli RVN

Head of Learning and Development (Editor-in-Chief) 

nicola@bvna.co.uk D0l:10.1080/17415349.2021.1968614

VOL 36 • September 2021 • Veterinary Nursing Journal