In this blog for Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month, Emily Bacon, BVNA Council Member, discusses how caring doesn’t stop with our patients and their owners, but how we also need to show the same kindness and understanding to our colleagues.
Find out more about VNAM here, and how you can get involved this year.
When I think about veterinary nursing, I don’t just think about clinical skills, anaesthesia charts, or nurse clinics. I think about the small, everyday moments where compassion truly shows.
Compassion is what keeps us sitting on the floor with a nervous patient even when our knees are screaming. It’s what drives us to double or triple-check a dosage at the end of a long shift. It’s what allows us to hold space for an owner experiencing grief, even when we’re carrying our own emotional load.
Veterinary nursing is a profession built on empathy. We advocate for those who cannot speak. We translate complex clinical information into reassurance and clarity for our customers. We support colleagues in high-pressure moments where teamwork directly impacts patient welfare and safety.
But caring doesn’t stop with our patients and their owners — we also need to show the same kindness and understanding to our colleagues.
Over the years, I have seen how the emotional load of our profession can quietly accumulate. Supporting colleagues through challenging cases, navigating uncertainty, and adapting to change requires resilience — but resilience should not mean enduring in silence. Creating psychologically safe workplaces and checking in with one another are not “extras” in our role — they are essential to sustainable practice; physically and mentally.
As veterinary nurses, we are often the thread that connects patients, customers, and veterinary surgeons. We balance clinical precision with emotional intelligence. We move between theatre, wards, and front of house, adapting constantly. That adaptability is not accidental — it reflects the growth and diversification of our profession.
I am passionate about the continued evolution of veterinary nursing. We are no longer defined solely by tasks; we are leaders in governance, infection control, education, quality improvement, and team development. Our influence extends beyond the consult room into policy, standards, and the future direction of the profession.
Yet at its heart, the profession remains rooted in one simple principle: care.
Care for animals.
Care for customers.
Care for colleagues.
And care for ourselves.
Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month is an opportunity to remind the public — and ourselves — what veterinary nurses actually do. We are skilled clinicians, advocates, educators, and leaders. But above all, we are compassionate professionals who choose, every day, to care deeply.
That is our passion.
That is our compassion.
And that is what veterinary nurses do.
Emily Bacon, BVNA Council Member
