So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 17:17:07 GMT

Concentrate on the nursing -keeping animals warm clean comfortable nourished and hydrated Anaesthetic monitoring pain recognition especially post operatively bandaging (my nurse is much better than I am at that ) lab work

Anaesthetic monitoring is the nurses responsibility choice of pre-med /anaesthetic agent is the veterinary surgeons

Definitely not diagnosis especially telephone triage

Definitely not the NHS model where nurses can be too "highly qualified " to demean themselves with making sure their patients are actually able to eat the food left on the bedside table

Wynne

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Anthony Todd — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 09:17:51 GMT

Surely the key is in the word "nurse", pure and simple.

Not mini-vets, not para-vets not nurse-receptionist-diagnosticians not nurse-reception-triagers.

I just want them to do all the things that we vets don't, can't, won't, shouldn't have to do cos nurses[in the old days in both medical and veterinary did it better and more properly than anyone else.

They need now though to be able to unblock a drip, set up all the kit and know why 'cos many vets certainly don't.

I think they need to be trained not taught.

And, FFS, that doesn't include the insertions of all the leg muscles nor the colour of the bloody corpus luteum......

It should be an apprenticeship not a mini university degree!

Oh, and I forgot common-sense, that's needed in spades.

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Alet Engelbrecht — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 08:32:28 GMT

[quote user="minnie"]I would like nursing to be more like it was when I started out, where nurses actually nursed. Maybe I am easily pleased but I get more satisfaction from getting an anorexic cat to eat than doing any fancy stuff. That to me is nursing - and also taking a pride in how the practice presents to the clients[/quote]

Caring is the key to being a good nurse. That is not something one can train for, we have to select the right individuals for it. I have worked with really good technical nurses who would leave a dog on a drip all day without thinking to take it out for a wee, when the receptionist will be the one to take it out during her break. Equally, I had a client who came back to thank our trainee specifically for the way she helped him with his collapsed dog - the way she laid him down and made him comfortable in the kennel showed him how much she cared.

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Minnie — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:54:03 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

Let me make this plain at the start, because I shall quite understand if you then prefer to kick me out.

I do not want mini-vets trained.

[quote user="plantagenet"] I personally see grave problems arising from 'over training' and would rather see nurses fast tracked into the vet course if that route would suite their ambition better.[/quote]

I agree.

[/quote]

And I also agree with you Evelyn - I would like nursing to be more like it was when I started out, where nurses actually nursed. Maybe I am easily pleased but I get more satisfaction from getting an anorexic cat to eat than doing any fancy stuff. That to me is nursing - and also taking a pride in how the practice presents to the clients

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Minnie — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:38:23 GMT

[quote user="plantagenet"]

I think before that we have to decide what job we want nurses to do and what jobs nurses want to do.

Not all practices will be the same. I don't think many 1st opinion practices would want 'nurse practitioners' like the NHS because I think this would run into conflict between vets' territory and nurses' and when both are professionals, who will win the argument?.

In mixed or small practices, nurses are more likely to be doing reception, cleaning and even accounting and filing, this would not appeal I guess to a nurse with a surgical diploma.

On the other hand, a nurse in an enormous referral practice might not interact much with the clients - this is the experience of one of my nurses who trained at a referral center.

So, chicken and egg, we need to know what we are training them for. I personally see grave problems arising from 'over training' and would rather see nurses fast tracked into the vet course if that route would suite their ambition better.

[/quote]

I agree Plantagenet - I feel many of the problems with veterinary nursing as it is now stem from nurses being over trained for what some practices require. The training as it is now is positively encouraging nurses to overstep the mark. Vets are not happy with it and nurses are ending up dis satisfied at not being allowed to do stuff they have been taught. I would like the veterinary nursing qualification to be at a more basic level that can be built on as needed , rather than nurses being taught stuff they dont need and in many cases will never get to use because it encroaches on the vets territory. This is bound to create conflict.

Personally I would like veterinary nursing to stay as far away from the NHS system and models of nursing as possible - my experience of NHS nursing as a patient has not been good one and I would like to see a halt before we get any further down that route. I dont feel the NHS offers us a particularly fine example to be following.

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:28:29 GMT

Let me make this plain at the start, because I shall quite understand if you then prefer to kick me out.

I do not want mini-vets trained.

I agree.

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

plantagenet — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:08:29 GMT

I think before that we have to decide what job we want nurses to do and what jobs nurses want to do.

In mixed or small practices, nurses are more likely to be doing reception, cleaning and even accounting and filing, this would not appeal I guess to a nurse with a surgical diploma.

On the other hand, a nurse in an enormous referral practice might not interact as much with the clients.

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Minnie — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:07:54 GMT

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Mark Rowland — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:05:07 GMT

Exotics: Supportive care is what they need and its the nurses who provide it. Im for anything that makes them aware of how to do this and would be more than happy to help in this area.

Re: So how would you like to improve the nurse training?

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:57:36 GMT