Re: french nurse work

Celine — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:54:19 GMT

Hi Christelle,

You should look at the British Veterinary Nursing Association website for information about what nurses in the UK do

http://www.bvna.org.uk/smartweb/careers/what-is-veterinary-nursing

In order to perform certain tasks in the UK (like taking a blood sample) you will need to be registered as a Veterinary Nurse with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. They will require you to prove your qualifications, and assess them to see if they are the same level as the UK training. The information is on their website also

http://www.rcvs.org.uk/registration/how-to-register/overseas-qualified-veterinary-nurses/

I did all of this a few years ago as I was qualified in New Zealand, and the process was quite simple, but it did take a long time (several months) and I paid two large fees!

I haven't met any french nurses, is it normal to have vet nurses in clinics in France? I often find that my european friends don't know what a vet nurse is. Of course, neither do some of the english friends

There are a lot of things nurses do in the UK, but in a general small-animal practice (ie not farm animals) you may:

Check the patients in the morning and discuss with the nurse or vet who has been looking after them overnight, give medications, check or put in IV fluid lines and cannulae, prepare any animals that need surgery, telephone owners to tell them how the animal is, clean out everyone and walk the dogs, set up the theatre for surgery (also, in England they call the clinic a "surgery" which is very strange and confusing!) and once the operations start you will be helping to hold animals for intra-venous anaesthetics and then monitoring the anaesthetics. Some of the drugs used may not be the same and we use a lot of gas anaesthesia. This means you will be assessing the animal once anaesthetised and making the decisions about how much gas to administer. Occasionally you may be required to "scrub-in" and become sterile to assist with the operation (but another nurse should always be monitoring the animal while this happens)

Obviously there is always helping to clean up after surgery, packing instruments to be sterilised, helping the vets with any difficult animals during consultations, running laboratory samples (many practices have blood machines) and there are often appointments for the nurse to see because the vets don't need to - like cutting claws and weighing pets who need to lose weight and discussing these things with the owners.

Sometimes you will open the practice in the morning, small practices you may do some reception duties but larger places usually have receptionists to allow you to concentrate on nursing.

Good luck!

Re: french nurse work

Charmaloo88 — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:27:16 GMT

Hi there!
My cousins wife works as a veterinary assistant in South France and from what she's told me nursing is pretty much the same! Of course it will depend on what sort of practice you end up in, but if you have taken all the relevant exams there should be no restrictions, just give it a bit of time to begin with as your new practice will want to see what you are capable of.

Hope this helps!