fustration

Re: fustration

Kim Buckley — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:45:10 GMT

I have worked in practices which don't have ward assistants and I have had to do my fair share of the cleaning and I have no problem with that. But I did not train to be a cleaner and when I was working in a small practice where I did loads of cleaning because there was nothing else to do, I just couldn't stand it. Was so mind numbingly boring and not what I wanted to do.

Re: fustration

ereveley — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:31:36 GMT

[quote user="Phrin SVN"]

[quote user="ereveley"]

i don't agree with 90% cleaning, we trained to do a lot else also. Unfortunately not all practices have ward assistants and therefore as long as shared out equally amongst the nurses, everyone has time to do a lot else. The nurse i spoke of didn't really like nursing either - she just liked to carry paperwork aound and order others.

[/quote]

Where I am is only a small mixed practice, no kennel assistants or similar, but we have a rota where all the nurses rotate from everything from ops to reception on a weekly basis in each area. I think it works well - we all get to do all aspects of nursing, get continuity with inpatients, nurse appts etc,and we are lucky in having a team of vets who are, for the most part, happy to listen to our concerns, and happy to let us get on to do what we were trained to do - they don't interfere during the process of trying to get an anorexic cat to eat for example.

No, we don't do a great deal of schedule 3, but if asked the vets are happy to teach us to do minor surgery, such as stitching up, punch biopsies etc.

I also think its good that we have to do the 'less exciting' duties, such as reception and pharmacy, as it means we are kept up to date, and kept used to such duties.... even though the prospect of a week of reception makes me sad lol!

[/quote]

In ou practise, we are rota'd in each area. I agree with you, its good to be up to date. We are lucky that our vets let us do stuff and listen to our ideas and things.

Re: fustration

Phrin Vernon RVN — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:40:23 GMT

[quote user="ereveley"]

[/quote]

No, we don't do a great deal of schedule 3, but if asked the vets are happy to teach us to do minor surgery, such as stitching up, punch biopsies etc.

Re: fustration

Mac Feather — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:27:14 GMT

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]Why cant we all be taught the same so that we can work more harmoniously together? [/quote] -

I often wonder that too Sal, would make life alot easier and work would be alot more productive.

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]Respect is a two way street[/quote] Very true.

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]There is absolutely no point in training nurses if they are not being trained to do what a practice wants or needs. [/quote] Good point- being trained and not being able to apply the skills is rather frustrating and disappointing so reckon you are right Sal when you say that bolshy staff could be a symptom of the frustration.

Re: fustration

ereveley — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:19:56 GMT

Re: fustration

Sal the 1st — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 23:13:19 GMT

me too - wonder which decade or century we are looking at tho.

Re: fustration

Kim Buckley — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:09:19 GMT

I had to google what fubar meant lol

I just long for the day when vets aren't threatened by forward thinking VN's who want to push themselves. Why shouldn't they? Human nurses do and doctors certainly don't feel threatened! They work as a team which is exactly what should be happening in the veterinary world.

Re: fustration

Sal the 1st — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:02:21 GMT

yes I understand where you are coming from - I get a lot of satisfaction from just making an animal as comfortable as I can and caring for its needs and knowing I have done my best by it, but whatever you do has to fit in with what the practice wants - yes its great when you can run an idea past somebody and you see them take it on board I agree with you there, but forcing change doesnt work ,especially when you go up against the person who pays your wages

I do feel that somebody who is studying towards the veterinary nursing qualification currently that their expectations of what the job should or shouldnt be are worlds away from what a veterinary surgeons expectations or requirements of a veterinary nurse are.

best description I can come up with for the state of veterinary nursing at the moment is FUBAR

something needs to happen and happen quickly whereby nurses and vets can begin to work together better or veterinary nursing is dying a death

Re: fustration

Kim Buckley — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:22:31 GMT

I know what you are saying Sal but I got sooooo frustrated in practice when I saw things being done incorrectly but hey that's the way it's done in that practice. I'm sure whenever a nurse is pushing for change it is for the good of the patient.

For example:

Had a recumbent dog in practice who was urinating on himself and was getting urine scalds. I asked if an indwelling urinary catheter could be placed. Was told no. Maybe it was because it was my idea, maybe it was because the practice didn't follow that protocol. I just wanted to do it to make the dog feel more comfortable and prevent further problems. It is such a disheartening situation.

I now work at a referral practice where I am allowed to nurse to the standard I was taught. My favourite part of nursing is being on the wards and providing basic care. I love getting a patient to eat or working hard with an animal and getting it well enough to go home. Yes I do enjoy seeing exciting and different cases but I came into the job to nurse animals and I want to be able to do that to the highest standard I can.

Re: fustration

Sal the 1st — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:32:55 GMT

my head to head comment - let me explain

at the moment it seems that vets may be taught one way and nurses another. Why cant we all be taught the same so that we can work more harmoniously together?

Veterinary nursing now has been turned into something it was never intended to be, originally veterinary nurses were there to support/assist the veterinary surgeon and now I fear the extra training has spawned some monsters, you only have to look at some of the posts on here. There is nothing wrong with ambition but if there is no room for it in your practice then either tone it down or find somewhere else you will fit in. IMO nurses are now being taught too much in some ways but in others not enough . Basic animal care - and I mean BASIC gets forgotten ie taking a dog for a pee, making sure it isnt left lying on sodden bedding because all and sundry are just too engrossed in wanting to practice cannulating veins or wanting to do stitch ups. Hygeine - what is wrong with taking a pride in keeping your practice clean?

OK just because you have been taught how to do something it doesnt actually entitle you to do it unless you are competent to do so and more importantly if the vet you are working with/for actually wants you to do it, - if they dont want you to do something then yes by all means ask why not and try to understand their reasons but at the end of the day it is their patient and their decision, try and respect that.

Respect is a two way street if you cant give it dont expect it back - there are far too many bolshi nursing staff out there at the moment ( is that maybe a symptom of the frustration they feel because they have had to learn loads of stuff they wont actually ever use or be allowed to use?)

who is actually benefitting from all the stuff that is being taught at the moment - is it the patients? is it the practice? or is it the rash of colleges that have set up courses. There is absolutely no point in training nurses if they are not being trained to do what a practice wants or needs. How many of these courses are actually being taught by academics who have had minimal exposure to working in an actual veterinary practice?

Re: fustration

Kim Buckley — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:40:26 GMT

[quote user="ginny"]

Personally, i think the VN profession needs to slow down and let the vets catch up or as Sal says we will be head to head with them.

Although some vets are happy to run with the nursing profession as it develops some are not , especially those in regular practice. They (vets) seem to be an easily threatened species! They need educating in what nurses are capable of doing and of what they are being taught these days at college. They need to realise we are not out to be mini vets. Some of them still don't see veterinary nursing as a profession in its own right. Some of them think vet nursing doesn't require any use of brain - a young vet said to me not long ago that they imagined degree nurses dropped out because they were too clever for the job! In my experience they leave through lack of money. As a VN i don't need to be told by a vet that i can "try the cat thats not eating on a little bit of pilchard"! I would have done that long before they even thought of it!

I think i'm lucky as i work with vets who are always studying themselves so encourage others to do so. I use my DipAVN when training students as it gave me a more indepth, broader knowledge of day to day stuff like anaesthesia.

end of moaning....

[/quote]

Well said!

Re: fustration

ginny — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:15:29 GMT

Personally, i think the VN profession needs to slow down and let the vets catch up or as Sal says we will be head to head with them.

end of moaning....

Re: fustration

Kim Buckley — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:01:29 GMT

[quote user="ereveley"]

i knew a nurse that didn't have additional qualifications but said that she didn't train for 2 years to clean!!! Don't know what she thought she trained to do.

[/quote]

I meant to quote you in my previous post. I certainly didn't train to clean!

Re: fustration

Kim Buckley — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:42:24 GMT

I except that cleaning is part of my job as a nurse but when I was in a job where I was cleaning 90% of the time I did think why did I bother doing my degree. I became a VN to nurse animals, not to scrub walls 5 days in a row because there is nothing else to do.

In my current job I hardly do any cleaning because we have ward assistants whose job it is to keep the wards tidy. This leaves the nurses to nurse. I'm not saying I'm too good for cleaning at all because I will do it if it needs doing and I actually quite enjoy a good cleaning session but it can become a bit brain numbing if you have to do loads of it and it takes your time away from what you were trained to do.

Re: fustration

ereveley — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:26:05 GMT

i knew a nurse that didn't have additional qualifications but said that she didn't train for 2 years to clean!!! Don't know what she thought she trained to do.

Re: fustration

Diane Chrismas — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:25:49 GMT

She should count herself lucky she has a job!!!

Re: fustration

Mac Feather — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:32:40 GMT

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]everybody wants to be special[/quote]

Have heard of an RVN in a general practice, (not referal or such like) that refused to take part in the everyday cleaning of theatre, clinical areas etc as she is a 'specialist nurse' and shouldnt do what ordinary nurses do

.[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]

qualifications arent everything in this job - a lot is to do with how you come across

[/quote]

Re: fustration

Rachel Everitt — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:28:49 GMT

like it! :-)

Re: fustration

Sal the 1st — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:00:34 GMT

have noticed this myself and to me -and I know I have said it before - unless you are working in some high powered referral centre specialism is not what is needed in general practice, in fact as more people are beginning to realise it can put you at a distinct disadvantage. There is nothing wrong with being a good all rounder and being up to date with your knowledge and doing your best without all the extra quals and courses and it is true that if the nurse has better knowledge or professes to have better knowledge than their employer on a given area it isnt going to make for a pleasant working relationship. There are far too many courses out there now offering this that or the other and really its about time we got back to basics which in my opinion are suffering). At the moment everybody wants to be special (and there is nothing wrong in that) but make yourself too special or too precious and employers dont want you.

and Lord alone knows why this has just come out in Itallics

The way things are at the moment veterinary nurses are going head to head against veterinary surgeons (and not in a good way)

to use a tv show analogy everybody is seeming to want to play an ER nurse with all the toys when in reality they are working in a MASH style practice.

I have nothing against people wanting to increase their knowledge or 'better' themselves but you can only do what needs to be done in your particular practice and trying to force it into being something its not is going to cause conflict

qualifications arent everything in this job - a lot is to do with how you come across

Re: fustration

dippy2000 — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:13:46 GMT

It is ridiculous - i agree! All the qualifications I could get, I have, yet I can't get a new job!!!! Been for loads of intervews yet never get an offer. Maybe I scare them???? Perhaps I should leave all my quaifications off my CV - except RVN???

Re: fustration

ereveley — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:50:50 GMT

i want to do more courses and get a certificate, been qualified since 2008, have 8 years in practice experience, have been told by one if the partners that i appear to have been qualified for a lot longer but when it came down to applying for the head nurse position in the practice iv always worked they said i was newly qualified and didn't have enough experience. I was told that they think i would make a good head nurse one day.

Re: fustration

ereveley — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:46:58 GMT

I never understand how you can be overqualified - its just away of not paying as much.

Re: fustration

PaperTiger — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:40:56 GMT

Overqualified! what a ridiculous word. I also was turned down for a job for being overqualified. You would imagine practices would want to say they have top qualified staff to treat clients pets but no, it appears they want younger, inexperienced staff who won't say no to the bosses. Rant over.

Re: fustration

dippy2000 — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:14:06 GMT

I seem to have the opposite problem - got my DAVN, as much CPD as I can do - can't get a new job cos i am over-qualified!!!!!

Re: fustration

Kim Buckley — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:55:15 GMT

What is the exact situation? Can understand if you don't want to post it directly on the forum but feel free to PM if you want to have a rant x