Emma Foreman is a Registered Veterinary Nurse and BVNA Council Member, and has worked in practice since 1999. This week’s VNAM theme is ‘My road map as an RVN’ – here, Emma shares how she entered the VN profession and the career this has led to:

“For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to work with animals. As a child I wanted to be a horse-riding instructor and wore out the grass in our garden running around in circles pretending to be on a horse!

“At high school, I spoke to my careers advisor about potential animal related careers, and was told that my grades would not be high enough to be a vet and to have a rethink. There was no suggestion of alternative animal-based roles that I could pursue, and I was strongly advised to look for an alternative career direction.

“I left high school and started my A-levels as I had no idea what else I should do at that point, and planned on going to university to study biology as this was the subject that I enjoyed the most (although I still had no idea what I could do as career at this point). I plodded on through my A-levels, not particularly enjoying them and actually finding them very difficult, planning on going to university whilst I decided what to do with my life. And then…

“My local veterinary practice put an advert on the sixth form notice board looking for a ‘Saturday girl’ to help the vet to hold animals during consultations and to do general cleaning and restocking in the practice. By the end of that day, I had been for an interview and been offered the job. I absolutely adored this role and had never heard of veterinary nursing before until I met the nurses in the practice and learnt all about their role. That was it! I had found my calling! I was going to be a veterinary nurse!

“Along came another mandatory visit to the careers advisor. I was full of enthusiasm to tell him that I knew exactly what I was going to do, only to be told (again) that this was probably not achievable, as the placements for training are too difficult to obtain. Had I considered my university applications yet? This time I was not disheartened, but more determined than ever to prove him wrong.

“With no help whatsoever from the so called ‘careers advisor’, I formulated a CV and covering letter addressed to the practice manager of the practice where I was a Saturday girl (who were conveniently expanding to a brand-new hospital). I was initially informed that there were no roles available at that time, but after several weeks I was invited for a formal interview. I don’t condone this, but I never completed my A-levels, I pretty much ran out of the college and straight into my role as a trainee veterinary nurse.

“That was twenty-four years ago! I am still a veterinary nurse, and I still absolutely love it.

“I have worked for mixed, referral, charity, and emergency hospitals. I have achieved the RCVS Advanced Veterinary Nursing Diploma, the ISFM Feline Medicine Diploma and have recently completed the Level 3 Award in Education Training.

“I am the Lead Referral Surgery Nurse in a first opinion and referral hospital, alongside being a level 3 veterinary nurse tutor. I am so glad that I never listened to that careers advisor!

“Fortunately, awareness of the veterinary nursing profession and other roles such as veterinary care assistants have increased massively since then and events like VNAM continue to raise awareness of the veterinary nursing profession. There are exciting times ahead as the BVNA continue the campaign to ‘Protect the Title’ as well as having an increasing presence at careers events. Hopefully now, careers advisors will be recommending the profession, instead of advising against it as in my opinion, it is the best career ever!”

Where has your career journey taken you? Why not get in touch and share your story! Find out more about how you can get involved in #VNAM2023 here.