Veterinary Nurses

Veterinary nurses are an essential part of the team who care for your animals in a modern Veterinary Practice.

In the surgery the nursing team is made up individuals of a variety of grades:

• Auxiliary nurses, are responsible for feeding and walking the inpatients and changing bedding. They are also responsible for the laundry, instrument cleaning and sterilising and the restocking of the car kits which the vets use when going out on calls. The auxiliary nurses are often called on to transfer patients to and from the Maple street surgery for inpatient treatment.

• The qualified nurses take instruction from the Vets as to the treatment of patients and are responsible for monitoring inpatients throught the day. The nurses will check and record important information like temperature and respiratory rate and relay any concerns to the vets. The Qualified nurses can administer certain drugs prescribed by the Vet. Qualified Veterinary Nurses also monitor anaesthetics during operations and record their monitoring on record cards. Nurses also run clinics to discuss preventative healthcare treatments, help with weight management, remove stitches following an operation and much more besides.

At Donaldson’s Vets we have a team of 16 Qualified Nurses and 8 Auxiliary nurses. We are also a registered RCVS Approved Training Centre and have 2 trainee nurses who are working towards their formal qualifications.

Next week I hope to explain more about the training process for Veterinary Nurses.