what does a vet assistant do?

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Mark Hedberg — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:28:25 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]

[quote user="Mark Hedberg"]although for me it's 2 years[/quote]

That sounds a bit lengthy amount of time to tie you in? Can you not argue that the practice has recouped their benefit from your training in that time? It might put me off doing the training, which is surely a lose-lose situation?

[/quote]

Well, in the interests of full disclosure, I'm not in private practice anymore, so it's probably a different situation. I'm not in a rush and I haven't done the training yet, so I'm fine.

If I leave sooner, I have to pay any financing for a qualification back on a pro-rata basis, which I thought was fair - I'd be a bit annoyed at paying out a lot of money for someone's professional development only to have them immediately use it for their next job! :) (I don't have to pay CPD back, that's a separate thing.)

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Rob Loxley — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:42:47 GMT

[quote user="Mark Hedberg"]although for me it's 2 years[/quote]

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

bob lehner — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:37:33 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]So to qualify my opening gambit: they can in theory do nothing other than shovel shit but in practice can do everything a qualified nurse can do UNDER SUPERVISION. [/quote]

I fear you are on slightly dodgy ground here re Schedule 3 duties - note the infamous Panorama programme.

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Mark Hedberg — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:20:26 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]

Actually the agreement is half of what is left after I've taken off 20% VAT and 40% tax relief which is a third and I'm on the verge of giving her a wage rise, for which the first 4 -5 months the monthly payments for her bit of the course will be in lieu. So I'm not so mean after all! However I have got a bit fed up with training nurses, paying for courses and then they p**s off, so there's clause written into the agreement which is if they leave within 18 months of completion of the course they pay back the whole lot.

[/quote]

For what it's worth, my contract has the same clause - although for me it's 2 years.

You softie

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Gillian Mostyn — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:09:07 GMT

Mark - that may be what they are on. I know they were quite chuffed to get it for free.....

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:50:06 GMT

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Mark Hedberg — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:44:09 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]I've agreed to pay half of this for her.[/quote]

Surely if she's a great member of the team and is that keen to learn you could have found the £750 for her? Afterall, it will be a large chunk of her annual wage but a fairly small chunk for you?

Or am I too soft?

My students used to do the correspondence ANA at Myerscough which had a similar cost, but since that stopped the new staff have recently started a free College of Animal Welfare nursing course, which looks very similar to the ANA course. It is also a correspondence course so may be worth looking into? I don't have the details to hand but I think it is this one:

http://www.caw.ac.uk/courses/ac/acapl2.aspx

[/quote]

Actually, CAW's equivalent to the ANA course is the VCA - Veterinary Care Assistant.

http://www.caw.ac.uk/courses/vn/vcadl2.aspx

That said, by all means ring us up; the staff here are quite willing to work out what funding you qualify for and what course is appropriate for your staff.

http://blog.caw.ac.uk/?p=191&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=funding-released-for-50-more-free-vca-places-dont-miss-out

You'll have to check with them to find out if there's still funding available - the first batch of 50 went quite quickly! (Even if this offer is gone, do ask about funding anyway - there are often other programs around you may qualify for depending on your personal circumstances.)

(Oh, by the way, we've got a blog now!)

Cheers,

Mark

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

argyro koukouseli — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:34:22 GMT

you where very helpfull to me Giliian!!!paying 50% of the price sounds fair for both sides.

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

argyro koukouseli — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:17:40 GMT

thank you Martin!!.I would do the same,pay half of the courses fees.its a win-win situation....

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Gillian Mostyn — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:01:34 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]I've agreed to pay half of this for her.[/quote]

Surely if she's a great member of the team and is that keen to learn you could have found the £750 for her? Afterall, it will be a large chunk of her annual wage but a fairly small chunk for you?

Or am I too soft?

http://www.caw.ac.uk/courses/ac/acapl2.aspx

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:53:15 GMT

One of the problems is that a lot of bright school leavers who want to train as veterinary nurses can't get jobs in training practices because training practices don't want nurses with no training and if they don't have a job in a training practice they can't train so there is a catch 22 situation. One of my present batch of school leaver ANA's is going to do an Animal Nursing Assistant correspondence course which looks quite promising and isn't prohibitively expensive at www.sjsnursing.co.uk. I've agreed to pay half of this for her.

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Bob Russell — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:34:13 GMT

[quote user="plantagenet"]

[quote user="Mark Hedberg"]That would be an ANA (animal nursing assistant) or VCA (veterinary care assistant). Not a qualified nurse, but a qualified animal carer.[/quote]

Probably would also answer 'all the work'!

I had my Rvn (non degree) flapping that degree RVNs were beginning to belittle non-degree as lesser mortals that shouldn't be allowedto do x,y and z

I did laugh, having heard her say exactly the same about my ANA (and best nurse by miles) last year and warning her exactly this would happen.

[/quote]

Tell her not to worry! I would rather be a little cautious in my phraseology but I know which type of newly qualified nurse I would prefer to employ. I am far from impressed by the day one skills of the degree nurses compared to traditionally trained.

If they are unable to clip up a cat spay by qualification it says it all!

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:05:49 GMT

The answer is at once nothing and everything. I always used to employ one qualified VN, one who was training and what may loosely be called an animal nursing assistant or (dogsbody)! Times change, I couldn't get a VN for a while despite trying and realised that I could very well without. The rules on training centres changed and it became non-viable to train nurses so I ended up with 3 'nursing assistants' - now down to 2 in these hard economic times. These are trained by me to a standard that is as good (in my opinion) as a qualified nurse without the theoretical training. So to qualify my opening gambit: they can in theory do nothing other than shovel shit but in practice can do everything a qualified nurse can do UNDER SUPERVISION. Those last two words are critical. As plantagenet has found and I'm sure many others, some of my in-house trained ANAs have been the best nurses I've had, they just didn't have the time, money or inclination to go through the qualifiying process but a few have gone on to qualify later and risen to the top of their profession.

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

plantagenet — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:12:51 GMT

[quote user="Mark Hedberg"]That would be an ANA (animal nursing assistant) or VCA (veterinary care assistant). Not a qualified nurse, but a qualified animal carer.[/quote]

Probably would also answer 'all the work'!

I had my Rvn (non degree) flapping that degree RVNs were beginning to belittle non-degree as lesser mortals that shouldn't be allowedto do x,y and z

I did laugh, having heard her say exactly the same about my ANA (and best nurse by miles) last year and warning her exactly this would happen.

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

argyro koukouseli — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:32:35 GMT

YES,an ANA !

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Utlendigur — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:28:29 GMT

[quote user="argyro koukouseli"]

total confusion!sorry.I believe nursing assistant is what i mean.The person who is not a vet nor a nurse....if that kind of job exists in UK....

[/quote]

Is this what you mean?

http://www.bvna.org.uk/smartweb/anas/ana

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Mark Hedberg — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:27:59 GMT

That would be an ANA (animal nursing assistant) or VCA (veterinary care assistant). Not a qualified nurse, but a qualified animal carer.

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

argyro koukouseli — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:21:49 GMT

total confusion!sorry.I believe nursing assistant is what i mean.The person who is not a vet nor a nurse....if that kind of job exists in UK....

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Alison McIntosh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:34:51 GMT

I think the term 'veterinary assistant' is used in the US to mean an advanced nurse/tech. Maybe that's where the confusion lies??

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

CatherineThomas — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:08:07 GMT

do you mean a nursing assistant?

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Robin Grimmer — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:40:12 GMT

[quote user="argyro koukouseli"]

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

[/quote]

... all the work?

Re: what does a vet assistant do?

Alex Allen — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:58:38 GMT

A "vet assistant" in the UK is a fully qualified veterinary surgeon with a degree in veterinary medicine and a member of the RCVS. The term "assistant" is in no way linked to the level of qualification but really a term used to describe the position within a business.

For example the owner is the "Veterinary Partner" and the assistant is one of the employed vets. You could have an "assistant" with a diploma in a specialised subject.

Another term would be "veterinary associate" - again no reflection of level of qualification.

Hope this explains the terms.