What does your current role involve?

Working in an emergency and critical care clinic means that I work long night shifts, weekends nights and days, bank holidays and Christmas (pets have no sense of timing when to be ill!)

My role includes triage, patient care, assisting with surgery, anaesthesia, and lab work as well as all the usual first opinion practice house-keeping jobs. We don’t see routine cases, we don’t start a shift with a schedule and our clients often need as much nursing care as their pets do. It’s always varied and requires a high level of knowledge as we often work autonomously, albeit under the direction of the veterinary surgeon. You learn how to manage and prioritise your time to ensure critically ill patients are provided with the very best level of care.

On a clinical level, where a first opinion practice would have a bitch spay, we have a pyometra, with a potential second sitting in the kennel underneath. Where a vomiting dog presents at day practice, we get the GDV. Complex nursing interventions such as blood transfusions, ECGs, and polypharmacy have become routine.

What is your favourite part of your current role?

I love that there is no schedule, no plan and that you are forced to think on your feet. Every shift there is a challenge, I have to apply my assessment skills and combine it with my clinical knowledge to get the job done. I enjoy working in a small team, where you learn the idiosyncrasies of your colleagues, and sometimes, how to work around those quirks of character. Working within a small team also means that we are all part of every case, from the receptionist through to senior veterinary surgeon, we work together, learn together and take pride in our work together.

The best part of my job, though are the patients; the resilience and strength of some of these animals and their owners astound me. An RTA dog springs to mind, who was battered and bruised, brought in by his equally battered and bruised owner, who had

also been hurt in the accident, but couldn’t bear to go to hospital until he had checked his beloved collie was ok. It was only once we had his dog stabilised that he would then go to A&E with his wife to get himself checked over.

Good advice as a student …

As a student, I was always taught to take opportunities as they present themselves, so if you have five minutes with a patient, have a cuddle, but do it while you are practicing finding a pedal pulse. Spend time observing the normal as it will make it so much quicker to pick up on the abnormal. Don’t be passive in practice, think about the blood tests results you are writing down, don’t just pass them over to the vet. Every conversation about a case can be a learning opportunity, grab it with both hands and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge and experience that you are undoubtedly surrounded by.

Mentor   

My mentor was my assessor when I was a student, Helen Foster RVN. She taught me to put myself in situations even when I felt apprehensive, she always had faith in my ability, even when I didn’t have it myself. She pushed me just at the right time, knowing that I was capable. She was the person who taught me to think, take a deep breath and jump. This is a philosophy I have continued to apply throughout my career, and for that I thank her.

What nice patient.

Several years ago, Freya was a lurcher who presented with a PCV of 9%, she was diagnosed with immune mediated haemolytic anaemia and her owners were given a guarded prognosis. Freya was lovely, calm, quiet and very sweet. This case taught me how important nursing is. We performed a blood transfusion, the first one I had seen in practice, in the days before the pet blood bank. But that was about as technical as it got, the rest of Freya’s care was nursing. Encouraging her to eat, physiotherapy, mental stimulation and administering regular medication without increasing her stress. Freya did well, went home and thrived. I was thrilled.

Freya’s case was the first time I really made the effort to read up about a condition, I developed a thorough understanding of the disease and the healing process and saw how my knowledge enhanced the way I nursed her, it set a precedent for me and my passion for acute medicine started.

What advice would you offer to nurses who are reading this and thinking “I want that job”?

Carry out CPD and never be afraid to learn new things. When working as an emergency and critical care nurse you are required to think on your feet, in order for you to do this you need to have up to date knowledge at your fingertips. Procedures and protocols change frequently as veterinary medicine advances and you need to stay abreast of these changes.

You need to learn to take the rough with the smooth. Emergency and Critical Care nursing can be the most rewarding and fulfilling job, your shift can end with all of your patient’s thriving and all of their owner’s happy. However, it can also end with you losing the patient that you have spent 13 hours nursing.

What do you think is the biggest challenge to veterinary nursing at the moment, and do you have the magic bullet to fix it?

As the BVNA and RCVS campaign for the protection of the Veterinary Nurse title and we move towards achieving a professional status. I feel that the biggest challenge we face is making members of the public and parliament aware of how far the profession has come from the days of “being the veterinary surgeons assistant” and how we deserve the recognition of this evolution. And the magic bullet…. Well that is composed of the Veterinary Nurses across the country joining the campaign and standing loud and proud!

Author

RVN A1 CertVN ECC Emergency and Critical Care Nurse Vets Now

Emma trained at Beechwood Veterinary Hospital, Doncaster and attended college on a block release basis, qualifying in 2004. She remained at Beechwood until she made the move to Vets Now to work in the Emergency and Critical care environment. Whilst working for Vets Now Emma achieved her Certificate in Emergency and Critical Care in 2014.

Emma is currently combining her love of Emergency and Critical Care nursing and teaching by working as an RVN on a part-time basis and also teaching Veterinary Nursing at Bishop Burton College, Beverley.

Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 31 • January 2016