Tweet
Originally posted by Jeremy
“What do we hope to achieve today” was early in the openingpresentation in a day which was largely about recognising fifty years ofdevelopment of the Veterinary Nursing profession. What also struck me very early on though wasthat there was recognition by those governing the profession of many comments madeby VNs on social media in terms of what concerns VNs today. Broadly there seemed also to be a desire fromeveryone present to protect the title veterinary nurse.
Trevor and Jean Turner gave us much of the history but alsotalked of the value of veterinary nurses. Jean said that many clients who find it intimidating to see a vet are oftenhappy to talk to the nurse. (For me thisis key to the future development and recognition of the profession). As well as triage, health checks andmedicating patients Jean also talked of dealing with the dispensary, managementof inventory and stock control as something that was always the job of theveterinary nurse. One of the problemsJean and Trevor covered was that prior to the first introduction of a ‘list’you simply couldn’t tell where all the then Animal Nursing Auxiliaries actuallywere. The ‘list’ which becameeffectively a register of Animal Nursing Auxiliaries (RANAs) enabled thefledgling veterinary nursing profession to communicate.
As for the title “nurse”, apparently even as recently as the1980s there were problems with anybody using the title “Veterinary Nurse” asthe human nursing profession objected. Yet these problems were overcome withthe assistance of the then Registrar of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons,Alistair Porter.
In 1991 the Veterinary Surgeons Act was amended (schedule 3)and Veterinary Nurses were formally recognised in law. In 2007 we saw the introduction of anon-statutory register and in his words Trevor Turner hoped to see theintroduction of a statutory register “before he pops off”.
There are now nearly eight and a half thousand veterinarynurses and one and a half thousand listed veterinary nurses. One in ten entered their training via thedegree route and almost all qualified in the UK. Most are female and a quarter are planning toleave the profession, mostly because of pay. The average age at thirty one is well below the average age for vets atforty five.
Sue Badger and Hilary Orpet picked up on some of theeconomic challenges facing the Veterinary Nursing profession, not only in termsof pay but also the cost of training. Other more intangible issues although no less important were thedevelopment of the VN profession’s professional identity, the acceptance byveterinary practice of the importance of the nurse’s role, and raising theawareness of VNs amongst the general public. The Registrar of the Veterinary Council of Ireland gave us the positionon Irish regulation of veterinary nurses and the implications of a statutoryregister. I think there was a general agreementfrom the discussions that the existence of a register and regulation was toprotect animals and the general public from those who shouldn’t be using thetitle “veterinary nurse”.
Christian Kummernes from Norway told us that the veterinarynursing profession in Norway started only as recently as the early 1990s anddid what it could to learn from those countries where a veterinary nursingprofession was already established. Anybody watching could only have been left with the perception thattraining in Norway is every bit as rigorous as training here.
The final speaker Tim Curry from the Royal College ofNursing gave an entertaining and I thought inspiring talk on humannursing. High points for me were the wayin which not only the public’s experience of coming into contact with humannurses, but also the media in the form of television and film shape the public perceptionsof what a nurse does in the human field.
I left having been reminded of how much effort had gone inover fifty years, and of the barriers that have been overcome, to create theveterinary nursing profession we know today. And still both in the UK and in Norway many nurses leave the professionbecause of poor pay and prospects.
For me then at the end of the day whilst I cannot help butrecognise the efforts of all those who have gone before us to build the VNprofession I still cannot understand why we do not immediately recognise thefact that a Registered Veterinary Nurse is a Registered/Responsible QualifiedPerson (RQP) and ask in the next review of Veterinary Medicines Regulations2005 that RVNs are a group of people that should be permitted to independently prescribeNFA-VPS medicines.
Trevor and Jean Turner gave us much of the history but alsotalked of the value of veterinary nurses. Jean said that many clients who find it intimidating to see a vet are oftenhappy to talk to the nurse. (For me thisis key to the future development and recognition of the profession). As well as triage, health checks andmedicating patients Jean also talked of dealing with the dispensary, managementof inventory and stock control as something that was always the job of theveterinary nurse. One of the problemsJean and Trevor covered was that prior to the first introduction of a ‘list’you simply couldn’t tell where all the then Animal Nursing Auxiliaries actuallywere. The ‘list’ which becameeffectively a register of Animal Nursing Auxiliaries (RANAs) enabled thefledgling veterinary nursing profession to communicate.
As for the title “nurse”, apparently even as recently as the1980s there were problems with anybody using the title “Veterinary Nurse” asthe human nursing profession objected. Yet these problems were overcome withthe assistance of the then Registrar of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons,Alistair Porter.
In 1991 the Veterinary Surgeons Act was amended (schedule 3)and Veterinary Nurses were formally recognised in law. In 2007 we saw the introduction of anon-statutory register and in his words Trevor Turner hoped to see theintroduction of a statutory register “before he pops off”.
There are now nearly eight and a half thousand veterinarynurses and one and a half thousand listed veterinary nurses. One in ten entered their training via thedegree route and almost all qualified in the UK. Most are female and a quarter are planning toleave the profession, mostly because of pay. The average age at thirty one is well below the average age for vets atforty five.
Sue Badger and Hilary Orpet picked up on some of theeconomic challenges facing the Veterinary Nursing profession, not only in termsof pay but also the cost of training. Other more intangible issues although no less important were thedevelopment of the VN profession’s professional identity, the acceptance byveterinary practice of the importance of the nurse’s role, and raising theawareness of VNs amongst the general public. The Registrar of the Veterinary Council of Ireland gave us the positionon Irish regulation of veterinary nurses and the implications of a statutoryregister. I think there was a general agreementfrom the discussions that the existence of a register and regulation was toprotect animals and the general public from those who shouldn’t be using thetitle “veterinary nurse”.
Christian Kummernes from Norway told us that the veterinarynursing profession in Norway started only as recently as the early 1990s anddid what it could to learn from those countries where a veterinary nursingprofession was already established. Anybody watching could only have been left with the perception thattraining in Norway is every bit as rigorous as training here.
The final speaker Tim Curry from the Royal College ofNursing gave an entertaining and I thought inspiring talk on humannursing. High points for me were the wayin which not only the public’s experience of coming into contact with humannurses, but also the media in the form of television and film shape the public perceptionsof what a nurse does in the human field.
I left having been reminded of how much effort had gone inover fifty years, and of the barriers that have been overcome, to create theveterinary nursing profession we know today. And still both in the UK and in Norway many nurses leave the professionbecause of poor pay and prospects.
For me then at the end of the day whilst I cannot help butrecognise the efforts of all those who have gone before us to build the VNprofession I still cannot understand why we do not immediately recognise thefact that a Registered Veterinary Nurse is a Registered/Responsible QualifiedPerson (RQP) and ask in the next review of Veterinary Medicines Regulations2005 that RVNs are a group of people that should be permitted to independently prescribeNFA-VPS medicines.