Farm Animal Nursing

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

pugwon — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:04:26 GMT

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]

[quote user="pugwon"]

Apparently the RCVS are going to consider putting Large animal nursing into the VN syllabus in the future. Would be great for those that are interested!

[/quote]

I know and I find that worrying - fair enough give people the chance if that is what they want to do but adding this into the syllabus will either make training longer and more expensive or mean that other areas are cut short to compensate. For the amount of work a Vn is able to do in this area this should be an add on qualification for those that need or want it not rolled out to all irrespective of whether they want or need it. Sorry to put a downer on this but LA nursing is still very much a minority group.

I have nothing against LA nurses btw - my first job was mixed practice and I think it is a good experience, just not to be forced on everybody

[/quote]

I completely agree. Large Animal Nursing is very much in the minority. I think it makes much more sense to have it as an additional qualification like equine, rather than enforcing it on those that are not interested and may never work within a large or mixed practice. I do think however that there may be an increased need in the future for Farm experienced nurses. 'Farm only' practices seem to have popped up all over the place, but at present I don't think nurses are utilised as much as they could be in this area. For qualified nurses it would be great to have another area for specialisation and further qualifications.

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Phrin Vernon RVN — Mon, 30 May 2011 20:58:59 GMT

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]

[quote user="pugwon"]

Apparently the RCVS are going to consider putting Large animal nursing into the VN syllabus in the future. Would be great for those that are interested!

[/quote]

I have nothing against LA nurses btw - my first job was mixed practice and I think it is a good experience, just not to be forced on everybody

[/quote]

Hi Sal

I was under the impression it would be a seperate qualification as it were, in the way that EVN's learn a different syllabus to SA VN's

I may be wrong, but that's how I read it....... wherever it was I read about it

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Donna France — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:04:30 GMT

the regular tests we do in house are worm egg counts, scour samples to test for Rotavirus, Corona virus, E-coli and Cryptosporidium (they come in test strips)

blood sample to check Mg, K and Ca levels.

Serum protein levels on the refractometer

I have done some blood sampling of cows too when TB testing,

We do all the above in house, (apart from the blood testing!)

Not sure if this was the answer your looking for but hope it helps

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

hayleyw — Mon, 30 May 2011 12:57:15 GMT

Hello everyone,

Sorry to steal this thread but seemed an obvious place to ask as you're all here..

I have an exam question on "testing for disease in farm animals and the veterinary nurses role in this process",

Was just wondering what peoples experience was of this in practice.. what in-house tests are done? Do the VNs do them? Are VNs involved in collecting different types of samples? etc. I have no idea, I have worked at a mixed practice but the vets tended to do all the farm stuff including the lab testing bits. Would just be interested to hear from some VNs who have experience of this in practice, I just want to make sure my answer is realistic!

Thanks

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Sal the 1st — Sat, 28 May 2011 09:43:09 GMT

[quote user="pugwon"]

Apparently the RCVS are going to consider putting Large animal nursing into the VN syllabus in the future. Would be great for those that are interested!

[/quote]

I have nothing against LA nurses btw - my first job was mixed practice and I think it is a good experience, just not to be forced on everybody

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Katie Mansfield — Sat, 28 May 2011 07:39:08 GMT

That'd be excellent - I love goats and cows from working with them on the National Diploma in Animal Management. We did a bit of basic A&P - they're fascinating.

K x

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

pugwon — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:53:26 GMT

Apparently the RCVS are going to consider putting Large animal nursing into the VN syllabus in the future. Would be great for those that are interested!

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Katie Mansfield — Thu, 26 May 2011 07:23:06 GMT

Baaaa - that makes sense now

K x

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

pugwon — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:26:27 GMT

[quote user="Katietaz"]

[quote user="Jeni"]Im a sherdess every year[/quote]

Sorry, thick townie - what's that?

K x

[/quote]

I think she meant Shepherdess!

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Katie Mansfield — Tue, 24 May 2011 07:17:50 GMT

[quote user="Jeni"]Im a sherdess every year[/quote]

Sorry, thick townie - what's that?

K x

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Eira Davies — Mon, 23 May 2011 23:50:03 GMT

I work within a mixed practice and i have to say that we have quite a bit of hands on in both areas. We are very busy with SA's, but also hospitalise LA's in a different part of the practice, such as calves, lambs, and sheep :) We also have a knock out room so occasionally get the odd horse and cow/bull in too! We tend to go on visits with the vet in order to do colt castrates etc (for anything else they go on their own), and help out during sheep ceasers on the practise premesis. We do hardly any paper work as thats reception duty (we have alot of receptionists), but do carry out alot of lab work and dispencing of meds on weekends.

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Phrin Vernon RVN — Mon, 23 May 2011 22:19:28 GMT

I've only worked in one mixed practice, and to start with it was a bit of a culture shock, as the farmers tended to wander into the office/staff room (wierd practice layout), and make themselves comfy before telling you what they were there for - loved it for that though!

On the clinical side, all we did really was dispense drugs, and frantically chase vets for a px ok when a farmer walked in looking for 4 bottles of strep, some dry cow tubes, oh and a jab of that stuff for pneumonia lol! Oh and spend hours tracking down vaccines of various sorts!!

HN helped with LDAs sometimes, but the quantity of both farmers/farmhands and vet students meant we were never called on.... I did help castrate a few horses once mind... but just the once..

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

hayleyw — Mon, 23 May 2011 21:52:10 GMT

I haven't come across any.. but I live in hope! Sounds like you actually do quite a bit to me, doubt you'll find anything better than that.

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

Jeni — Mon, 23 May 2011 11:47:52 GMT

Hello Luckily you can do these, I work in the branch practice of a mixed practice and any large animal work i can get my hands on i do but its all volunteer and out of normal working hours as nurses arnt really needed to this kinda of work as said farm hands help out if needed.

I would really enjoy the idea of a farm animal nurse but its not looking like a possibility. Im a sherdess every year but thats as much large animal work i can find. Either that or trying to take a step up to vet or a step down to large animal assist but this would be in certain areas.

Re: Farm Animal Nursing

h.jarvo — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:18:27 GMT

In my (limited) experience, the vets usually do the LA visits alone, and use the farmers and herdsmen to assist if they need any help. The farm workers are used to working with their animals, are always willing to help, and are used to administering IM injections, etc anyway, so vets see very little point in using payed nursing staff. This is a shame, because I love the LA work that I've been lucky enough to do, and I would love to have the opportunity to do more.

Please, if anyone's experience is different. please let us know :-)