Where to fit in nurse consults?

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

Alison Clare Hickman — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 15:45:46 GMT

[quote user="PHA86"]It’s actually really nice (but difficult to recruit) a dedicated person[/quote]

I love consulting - I'd be at my happiest doing that and nothing else apart from lab-work. Really now rather 'meh' about everything else if I am honest. You do get to a stage in nursing where you want to specialise in your area of interest... I'd defo work at a practice that employed me to be their dedicated Consulting Nurse. BLISS!

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

bumble bee — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 10:16:57 GMT

We do 2nd vacs,s/o,nails,anal glands,weight clinics.flea & worm admin ,6 month health chks discussing neutering . We have a nurse who likes dog behaviour & I have ISFM Cert FN so enjoy cats very much . Vets do POC's,has been practices policy for years.I would like to do senior cat clinics but think time would be an issue as would probably need a hand to do bloods & BP checks.

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

Sal the 1st — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 19:06:23 GMT

when I worked with one of the corporates all I did was nurse consults, pharmacy, lab, reception and the odd theatre job when I was covering lunch breaks. Loved it, my appointments were sometimes busier than the vet appts - and actually in spite of nurse appointments being 'free' they still generated a sizeable income for the practice with nail clips, bloods, anal glands, dressing changes, waiting room sales, vaccination policies etc, etc. I more than earnt my keep in that job

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

Robyn — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 09:47:24 GMT

Sometimes having nurses see nurse appointments can help with how busy things are too. If that then gives vets a little slack time then they can get caught up on repeat pxs and any paperwork we need from them, and if they're especially good vets (like mine!) then they can help get bloods packaged/get their room cleaned down/check inpatients/get pxs made up/etc. Teamwork!

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

Robyn — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 09:41:57 GMT

We have scheduled time for consults, normally at the same time as the vet so I don't have a free vet needing me to help sedate things etc when I'm trying to see a weight clinic. My appointments are quite quiet though, normally only 3-4 across the day so it's relatively easy to fit it in. Normally in he mornings I see appointments at the same time as the vet and prep theatre in between etc. It's definitely possible to squeeze consult time into a full day, it just means there's lots of multitasking!

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

PHA86 — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 08:49:36 GMT

It’s actually really nice (but difficult to recruit) a dedicated person, so the clients bond with a particular nurse rather than seeing a different one each time. Also better for continuity with weight clinics, diabetic clinics etc...!

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

Catriona88 — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 08:27:26 GMT

Awesome, that's kinda what I was thinking.

All our nurses are happy to do POCs, stitch removals and nail clips which is a great start. When it turns into doing more nurse clinics like weight clinics, senior clinics, 2nd pup vaxes, dental clinics, behavioural consults etc does every nurse in your clinic do all of these areas or do you have nurses who 'champion' different areas?

And out of interest, what consults are your nurses performing?

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

bumble bee — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 11:26:57 GMT

We have a daily rota for all jobs to be covered.Nurse clinics,wards,pharmacy & prep. Obviously sometimes things have to be juggled around due to holidays & sick days but it does work well. It means reception know who to ask to see clinics rather than wasting their time asking everyone.

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

Heather Bacon — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 08:17:04 GMT

We also have a dedicated nurse for consults. We roughly have 5 nurses on shift every day (depends on some working part time, some on holiday etc). So each nurse does one day a week of consults. Nurse consults run 9-5:30 every 15 minutes and most of the time are nearly fully booked (charity clinic). I have worked in places where management wanted the nurses to start consults "as and when" they were booked in, rather than have a dedicated consult nurse, and it didn't really work to be honest, as like you say, the nurses are generally busy doing other things like monitoring a GA.

RE: Where to fit in nurse consults?

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 06:52:25 GMT

We are a busy first opinion and ECC Hospital. We have a well established nurse appointments slots on a daily basis. Doing an array of consults. In the past we have struggled to cover both ops and nurse appointments. Last year we decided that it would be better to have a dedicated nurse assigned to consults on a daily basis. The same is done on a Saturday morning also. This works a lot better. We are now developing the clinics. This nurse is also responsible for pharmacy, such as dispensing medication put up by vets as well as dealing with Repeat prescriptions