Qualified Veterinary Nurses

tankgirl1

Just curious about the publics perception of us..

What do you think of us? Do you know how to recognise a qualified veterinary nurse?

What do you think we do all day?

I really want to know how the pet owning public see us?

Please post away

nonnatus

Well I think you're all great and I'm very jealous! You are the vets right hand woman aren't you, doing everything except operating, but you're allowed to do anaesthetics I believe?

There's a trainee Vet Nurse job advertised near me and I'd LOVE to go for it but couldn't afford to. Absolute crime you get paid so poorly when Vets make an absolute FORTUNE.

(Is that positive enough? Why do you ask? Have you had some odd comments?)

brook2jack

nonnatus wrote: »

There's a trainee Vet Nurse job advertised near me and I'd LOVE to go for it but couldn't afford to. Absolute crime you get paid so poorly when Vets make an absolute FORTUNE.

(Is that positive enough? Why do you ask? Have you had some odd comments?)

This is very unfair. The vets I know earn about £28000 a year, including the value of benefits such as accomodation and a ratty car, as they , like the majority of vets, are not practice owners. They studied for five years on the most competitive course to get into and have very antisocial hours and have to move where the jobs are.

This is not a huge amount for the level of skill and training and student debt from 5 years of uni. The statistics would seem to bear this out http://www.prospects.ac.uk/veterinary_surgeon_salary.htm

fairymoneysaver

OP, I would be interested in what you do all day. In our local practice there are 2 registered nurses and 2/3 trainees. I know who the registered ones are as they wear the dark green, the others wear light green. The thing is that when we see our vet there is never a registered nurse in with us only a trainee (which is fine as they are lovely). When our dogs have had surgery it is always a trainee that sees us afterwards and tells us how they are doing etc, so where do the registered nurses fit in?

It seems to me that the vets are always rushed off their feet and the nurses have time to chat away in reception. I have hardly seen the registered nurses, in fact i don't think I have ever spoken to one of them, but know the trainees quite well. I am sure you are busy but if we never see you how can you build any sort of relationship with your clients and their pets?

Artytarty

Huge respect for them. At the practice we use they hand out the medicine to the owners, explain how to administer etc. one of them deals with all the Petplan claims, they assist in surgery, reorder surgical supplies and run the weight clinic. They still have time to know the clients by name and their pets.
I dread to think what they are paid to do all this as I believe vets are poorly recompensed....£28000 did someone say?so it must be less than that.

NoahsPennilessMummy

I would like to know too. I have often wondered as when we take our cat to the vets I have never seen the nurse in the room. The nurse is always at reception booking appts etc.....surely that isnt what they trained for? I am sure there must be more to it that we the public see

dizziblonde

Being honest - I won't go to appointments made with the one at our vets (she's the one bugbear I have with what's otherwise a fantastic vet's practice) - because she did a checkup with the dog after his snip, his assets weren't deflating in the correct way (despite him NOT having licked them - he'd been very very closely supervised) and she just looked at me and accused me of lying and then did her "oh he's your first dog" sneer that people tend to do when they imply you shouldn't ever own a pet at all (!!!!!! everyone's got to start somewhere).

Subsequent checkup by the vet verified it wasn't in fact scar tissue and he just had a stubborn nutsack! But she actually made me cry with the way she spoke to me - think she kind of realised when I waited in the waiting room and sent hubby in next time cos I couldn't deal with another altercation with her!

elsien

The vetinary nurses are the ones who draw the short straw when mutt has chewed her bandage off her foot every day for a fortnight (twice a day if they're really lucky) and have to devise ever ingenious uses of buster collars to try to stop her! Endless patience all round.
And do the stitches, and the wound dressings, and the post op stuff and advise on all the things I forget to ask the vet or don't think of till later. Do the weigh-ins, nail trims etc. Check that things are healing right. And make useful suggestions -so when they could see I wasn't coping with mutt and lack of sleep for weeks on end after an op, it was the nurse who suggested valium (for the dog, unfortunately) and got the vet to prescribe it. And socialise and make a fuss of nervous dogs when we call in our way past. And generally make the place run a lot smoother.
I'm guessing you do a lot of the post op monitoring and that sort of thing as well?
I wouldn't know how to recognise one, though, unless it said so on the name badge.

Fridaycat

I've always got on really well with the veterinary nurses at our practice, as well as the vets themselves. My understanding from what I see is that they will assist with operations and be responsible for aftercare. They have always been there when I've picked up my cats when they've had various operations and given me advice on feeding etc.

When I go to the vet for a surgery appointment, they are the ones behind the desk booking people in, making appointments etc. They are never in the actual consulting room, nor treating pets themselves. But it is only a small practice with one full time vet (locums when he's away) and I think about 2 or 3 nurses? Or perhaps some of those aren't actually nurses? Not really sure about that, sorry

Whatever, they all do a fantastic job, and I'm not just saying that for the sake of it

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

In one practice, was prepared to argue with me in front of all the other clients when I asked, as one item had the active ingredient/generic name of **** and as I could get that OTC in exactly the same formulation, could she check whether I could give that instead.

Apparently, there is some mystical process when they leave the drug factory that happens after they are sealed in the packaging that makes them completely different when placed in the cabinet behind her head.

The vet came out to get the next patient and confirmed I was right - I had been polite, she was being really snappy - and once he had gone back in through his door, as I left, I heard 'some people shouldn't be allowed to have animals.'


Next time I saw her, she was outside the Job Centre. Maybe this was a common thing with her?



Other than that, I don't tend to have much dealings with nurses other when making appointments or paying bills. So they come across as receptionists - which doesn't really help their image when I know they do much, much more than that.

meritaten

I view Vetinarary Nurses as highly skills medical personnel - who also get the nasty jobs! at the smallest vet practice (1 vet 1 nurse) I went to the nurse was usually in the room with the vet unless she was caring for patients in the little operating/recovery room. I got the feeling that the vet relied on her and she was very skilled at handling the animals. I know she assissted with operations, and that she took care of the animals when the vet wasnt in and I have seen her handle emergencies (a cat who had just been run over and was in a terrible state) on her own.
I assume at larger vets that there are more rooms on the premises (this village vets was being run in a tiny house), and that the nurses are working in areas we dont see.
Its a highly skilled job and it takes a person of courage and compassion to do it!
So I think vet nurses are wonderful actually!