VetNurse membership

Re: VetNurse membership

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:13:40 GMT

Don't worry, I'm not about to introduce anything that would exclude anyone.

Actually, what I meant in my previous post was that under the points scheme you would be in automatically, and immediately. But if you scored a low score, it would be hand verified, which would mean a delay before you could access the site.

Re: VetNurse membership

vickicannings — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:52:50 GMT

This does has its positives and negatives but also excludes people it shouldn't. As someone else has said they like to be anonymous and I think that is important when using the problems forum especially if needing advice about something in practice as may not want anyone you work with to see it. Could make things difficult for everyone.

Also I am currently a Veterinary Nurse for Cats Protection and am their only nurse at the Adoption Centre so I wouldn't be able to use it and am really finding it useful having this site to keep up with al thats going on especially as not in a typical 'practice' I would be really upset and quite put out to be kicked off simply because I don't have a colleague who uses the site. I am quite new to the site and am getting the hang of using it more and more and want to stay on here!

That would also be the case for any nurses who are a sole nurse in a small practice or if the other nurses don't use the site as I'm sure there are some, in my last practice I was with 6 other nurses and not one was registered so that again isn't fair that I would be excluded because of them :(

I hope you can find another way but excluding these sorts of nurses seems a bit unfair, I hope you can see what I mean by it

Vicki :D x

Re: VetNurse membership

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:45:31 GMT

Well, I didn't expect this to start such a big debate!

First things first. I think I have to bear the responsibility for people asking the same question repeatedly. Clearly I need to create a resource of information that people can find BEFORE posting the question.

Here's a start. I have now added the new career advice page. It is linked to under the main 'Jobs' menu at the top, and also from the login page of the website.

In addition, I am adding it to the message that appears when you arrive on a vetnurse page without being logged in - i.e. when you arrive at a news story from a google search).

It's a start.

The second idea I've just had is to create a new forum called 'Frequently Asked Questions', into which I transfer any threads which cover commonly discussed issues. Going forward, anyone can suggest a thread is moved into 'Frequently Asked Questions' at any stage.

Quite a few of you have suggested ways of verifying membership. Just to clarify:

VN numbers don't work, because they are freely available in the public domain.
A letter from the boss wouldn't work, because there is no way that anyone (including us) would have the time to do it.
Things are complicated by the fact that there are lots of members who are impossible to verify - such as industry members and overseas.
I've taken your point about the difficulties of having to enter a colleague's email address.
Bottom line, if we restricted the site to people we COULD verify, we'd end up excluding a lot of people, and that goes against what the site is all about!

I think on balance the answer is a mix of things:

Provision of better, more easily accessible information to answer Newbies questions (such as career advice)
Perhaps introduce a rating system for membership (coupled with some software changes for me to manage it). You get a point for entering a VN number, a point for entering a practice name, etc. etc. If your registration scores more than a minimum score, you're in. If not, you're not.

Re: VetNurse membership

mrsspider — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 09:20:33 GMT

I think if you changed the way people could join so that they had to know someone else who was a member you would stop a lot of people who are more than entitled to use the site from joining.

I am an rvn who is returning to work after a career break as a self-employed locum. I do not know anyone who is a member and also do work for a practice so I wouldn't have been able to join.

I think you will exclude lots of people if you change the way people join which would be a great shame

Re: VetNurse membership

Phrin Vernon RVN — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 23:10:27 GMT

[quote user="Phrin Vernon"]

How about it being mandatory to

a) give your RCVS no (SVN or VN)

b) give a practice address & postcode which could be (perhaps?) checked against all real vet practices via some www wizardry? To prevent people putting ABC vets, 1a smith street, 1ab c23 for example - yeah people could abuse it by putting their local vets, but I doubt anyone would dare if they knew they could be checked up on!

[/quote]

I meant to put an OR inbetween a & b btw!

Re: VetNurse membership

Phrin Vernon RVN — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:32:51 GMT

How about it being mandatory to

a) give your RCVS no (SVN or VN)

Re: VetNurse membership

Steph Phillips — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:20:04 GMT

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

[quote user="Steph Phillips"]

[quote user="Maisy"]

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

That's why I think the RCVS roll number should be used for all qualified staff and the same for SVNs. Not hard to check up

[/quote]

What about other veterinary staff (nursing assistants/non enrolled trainees) who don't have a reg number though?

[/quote]

You took the words right out of my mouth Maisy!!

I'm a nursing assistant, does that mean that I'm "not really" welcome on this site just because I'm not qualified or have a reg number??

[/quote]

It was not meant to come across that way I was merely commenting that Qualified/Student staff could be checked via there number. As for VAC/ANA's surely a simple letter to confirm employment from your boss would be ok

[/quote]

To be honest I'm not all that bothered to go that far to join a forum! - Can you imagine: to a boss "can you please write a little letter for me to say I work here.. I want to join a forum!" - Can't see it myself!

I think if this site is going down the route of "proving who you are".. then your work address and phone number is more than enough! Arlo or mods can then check up if they suspect anything..

Re: VetNurse membership

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:56:51 GMT

[quote user="Steph Phillips"]

[quote user="Maisy"]

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

That's why I think the RCVS roll number should be used for all qualified staff and the same for SVNs. Not hard to check up

[/quote]

What about other veterinary staff (nursing assistants/non enrolled trainees) who don't have a reg number though?

[/quote]

You took the words right out of my mouth Maisy!!

I'm a nursing assistant, does that mean that I'm "not really" welcome on this site just because I'm not qualified or have a reg number??

[/quote]

Re: VetNurse membership

Steph Phillips — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:05:21 GMT

[quote user="Maisy"]

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

That's why I think the RCVS roll number should be used for all qualified staff and the same for SVNs. Not hard to check up

[/quote]

What about other veterinary staff (nursing assistants/non enrolled trainees) who don't have a reg number though?

[/quote]

You took the words right out of my mouth Maisy!!

I'm a nursing assistant, does that mean that I'm "not really" welcome on this site just because I'm not qualified or have a reg number??

Re: VetNurse membership

BengalcatRVN — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:27:03 GMT

Do new members get a welcome email with their information on? Only was thinking if they did Forum Rules could come up, and could potentially include advise on using the search box and things, to try and make things easier on new and current members. I like the idea of a report button.

I find this forum very welcoming, and am sad that a simple request for help by Arlo seems to have some members feeling pushed away. We don't want you to feel like this, wether in or out of practice. I do agree that I do seem the same questions come up, or posts get published multiple times on the same topic, and can understand it's frustrating to some members. The search button is easy to use, I have!

Arrrggg! Feel rushed to right this, need to finish lunch! Vet needs me!

Re: VetNurse membership

Sal the 1st — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:38:29 GMT

sorry I made you feel so unwelcome - it obviously doesnt get to like it does me, but there are definitely more people using the search facility now and I had tried to point this out nicely endless times over the last couple of yearsand lately if I could be bothered I have even posted links to previous threads answering some of the questions and then thesame question gets asked again and again and again so yes I am becoming a little short tempered over this. It can save so much time if the question has already been asked with lots of information and lots of answers from different people and then if the answer you are looking for isnt found there is nothing to stop somebody starting a new thread - but at least take a look first! This forum is actually a lot more tollerant of this than other forums I have membership to - perhaps too tollerant and maybe its more than me that is getting fed up?

Re: VetNurse membership

loopylou711 — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:44:10 GMT

I do agree a membership of some sort is a good idea. But To be honest if I was newbie on this forum reading this thread, I would not post. I feel so unwelcome by many of the posts. I understand it is a vet nurse forum. But i come on here as someone who was an svn and is no longer is looking for and hopefully one day will find another training practice. I understand it is for VN's, but I don't think telling people they should do a search 1st or the site should be divided helps anyone. I think sticky threads telling people this information would be good and any questions can be added and answered. I understand it is a VN forum but the thing I a;ways felt was welcome regardless of my status! I will seriously consider before I post again.

Re: VetNurse membership

Maisy — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:16:21 GMT

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

That's why I think the RCVS roll number should be used for all qualified staff and the same for SVNs. Not hard to check up

[/quote]

What about other veterinary staff (nursing assistants/non enrolled trainees) who don't have a reg number though?

Re: VetNurse membership

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:47:40 GMT

[quote user="Claire 'Duke' York"]

[quote user="Rachel Jayne RVN C-SQP MBVNA"]

With reference to the original title of this thread, I agree it's about time this site had tighter access controls.

Part of the reason I hardly come on here anymore is I'm sick & tired of there being "newbies" who aren't even working in practice, asking the same wquestions over & over about "how do I get into practice.." , "what grades do I need" etc etc, and even one instance I remember of a mother posting on here posing as her son to ask some questions about work experience...

The main tag line of this site "the site for veterinary nurses" doesn't really have the same ring to it when the site is mainly clogged up with people who don't even work in practice...

Sorry if this comes across as quite b*****y but I'm not sure how else to get my point across.

As long as the know-a-member rule isn't implemented against long-standing members of the site such as myself, then that's fine, as I currently don't personally work with anyone on here.

[/quote]

I second that

[/quote]

That's why I think the RCVS roll number should be used for all qualified staff and the same for SVNs. Not hard to check up

Re: VetNurse membership

Claire Cameron — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:28:29 GMT

[quote user="Rachel Jayne RVN C-SQP MBVNA"]

With reference to the original title of this thread, I agree it's about time this site had tighter access controls.

The main tag line of this site "the site for veterinary nurses" doesn't really have the same ring to it when the site is mainly clogged up with people who don't even work in practice...

Sorry if this comes across as quite b*****y but I'm not sure how else to get my point across.

As long as the know-a-member rule isn't implemented against long-standing members of the site such as myself, then that's fine, as I currently don't personally work with anyone on here.

[/quote]

I second that

Re: VetNurse membership

mouths — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:58:53 GMT

Not wanting to seem like a stalker; I'd better post something. Personally, I've learnt a lot from this forum (being a SVN), but I tend to be reluctant to post on any forums, or talk about my internet usage. Most of my colleagues wouldn't use the internet and don't know I'm on here. I'd be discouraged from joining, just because I'm shy.

I like the anonimity of the internet, but I can see how selfish reading and not posting seems! The idea about having to apply to a moderator's a good idea though :)

Re: VetNurse membership

Rachel Jayne — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:29:22 GMT

With reference to the original title of this thread, I agree it's about time this site had tighter access controls.

The main tag line of this site "the site for veterinary nurses" doesn't really have the same ring to it when the site is mainly clogged up with people who don't even work in practice...

Sorry if this comes across as quite b*****y but I'm not sure how else to get my point across.

As long as the know-a-member rule isn't implemented against long-standing members of the site such as myself, then that's fine, as I currently don't personally work with anyone on here.

Re: VetNurse membership

Claire Cameron — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:01:06 GMT

Arlo can I please raise the question, why are non-veterinary personnel allowed access to the full site?

People wanting advice on how to get into Veterinary Medicine are surely not granted full access on the VetSurgeon site?

Re: VetNurse membership

Nieky van Veggel — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:45:55 GMT

There is ofcourse always the case of foreign VNs who use this forum to keep up with what happens abroad (like me ). Even though I am now working in the UK, I don't have a practice address, RCVS number etc...

Self policing might just be a good thing... a report button seems to work in other fora.

Re: VetNurse membership

BengalcatRVN — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:04:22 GMT

How about 2 yr work based training (usually with one day at college) or 3-4 yrs doing the uni course (although I thought it was 5!)

Or maybe just chop out the years taken......as it depends on where you went!

Fantastic Arlo! Your awesome at this

Re: VetNurse membership

Sally Seddon — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:01:11 GMT

Does it not depend on the college you attend? Where i go does it over 2 years but ive been told some are doing it over 3. I could be wrong so correct me if i am. I like what you have written Arlo

Re: VetNurse membership

Honeybadger — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:04:34 GMT

No thats right - NVQ's took 1 year each to do. (I did the day release at college for 2 years) The only full time course used to be the degree which would be 3 years or 4 years if you did a placement year.

Re: VetNurse membership

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:02:08 GMT

[quote user="Bizzy McClure"]This should say 2 years part time day release or 3-4 years full time at university.[/quote]

Er - 2 years part time, or 3-4 years full time, you sure it's not the other way around???

Re: VetNurse membership

Honeybadger — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:50:56 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]

The most common training route used to be via the NVQ Level 2 and 3 in Veterinary Nursing, which took two years full-time, or four part-time.

[/quote]

This should say 2 years part time day release or 3-4 years full time at university.

Re: VetNurse membership

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:47:00 GMT

Thanks for pointing that out Maisy

I have rewritten the para concerning NVQs as follows, and just checking with the author / RCVS that it is OK. Then yes, will also add links to RCVS and BVNA stuff.

New para:

The most common training route used to be via the NVQ Level 2 and 3 in Veterinary Nursing, which took two years full-time, or four part-time. This is now being phased out, and replaced with the Level 3 Diploma in Veterinary Nursing which takes between 2 and 3 years to complete. Again, it can be undertaken either full-time, or alongside a job in an RCVS-approved training practice. Alternatively the student can undertake a Veterinary Nursing Foundation or BSc Honours degree in veterinary nursing at university.