BEVA Congress Registrations this year show that many more vet practices are now recognising the benefits of Veterinary Nurses attending Congress (8-11 September 2010) and are actively encouraging their VN teams to attend, say the organisers.

Apparently, Veterinary Nurse registrations are already looking healthy compared to 2009.

BEVA Congress hosts a Vet Nursing day each year, with themed lectures aimed specifically at the profession and presented by a combination of vets and vet nurses. Pete Ravenhill MRCVS, partner at Willesley Equine Clinic (now part of B&W Equine Group Ltd) at Tetbury, Gloucestershire, who will be speaking at Congress this year, is always keen for as many of his practice's VNs as possible to attend. He said: "We tend to send three or four of our vet nurses each year, as a part of their annual CPD budget. In our experience they come back informed and enthusiastic, having received masses of information and ways to apply it in their own day-to-day jobs. It also enables our Vet Nurses to realise how much we value them as professionals and how heavily reliant the quality of our service is on their skills and professionalism."

This year the VN day will run on Thursday 9 September and will encompass a broad programme, including Ethics in Nursing. This sensitive topic promises to generate strong interest and debate as well as extend knowledge on making decisions on euthanasia and how to manage bereavement issues.

James Yeates BVSc BSc CertWEL of the department of clinical veterinary science at the University of Bristol, will be exploring Coping with sick horses - when is enough enough. He will consider how improvements in quality of life can be maximised with the use of pain assessment tools, quality of life methodologies and welfare-based care plans. He will also examine the risk of perpetuating suffering, how best to assess and balance the welfare harms and benefits and how best to communicate assessments to owners.

Belinda Johnston, MA VetMB MRCVS, at West End House vet practice at Higham, Suffolk, will explore the topic of Bereavement management - supporting the grieving owner. She will explain the normal grief patterns that can be expected and why it is so important to provide compassionate, empathic care for grieving owners and how practices need to have a clear, proactive idea of how they handle bereaved clients.

Other subjects to be covered on Vet Nursing day at BEVA Congress include Complementary Therapeutics and Rehabilitation, Medical Nursing and Nutrition and Supportive Care. The full day counts as 7 hours of Vet Nursing CPD.

BEVA Congress runs from 8-11 September 2010 at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham. For further information and to register visit http://www.beva.org.uk/

PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vet nurses.