What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Sal the 1st — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 15:21:58 GMT

but on a happier note - this morning during surgery saw a young cat who was 'unwell'. Quick xray and the reason for its being unwell soon became apparent. everything that should have been living behind the diaphragm was now living in the chest - so far it has survived surgery and just for it to have got through the surgery - well lets just say it feels good . and believe it or not this is our second diaphragmatic hernia this week.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Sal the 1st — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 21:06:08 GMT

[quote user="Arlo Guthrie"]

Thanks everyone, your thoughts are all really helpful.

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]Greatest threat - RCVS vision for the future re veterinary nursing[/quote]

Please elaborate!!

[/quote]

I think my views are sufficiently well known so lets keep it short and simple - the training is screwed, the practices that even bother to train these days are being royally screwed with longer training and more expenses. The nurses (well I could carry on in the same vein and say that they are being screwed, and I would imagine that still goes on in some places) but I will be polite and say they are 'burdened' by increased training fees,lack of training places and false expectations that have been fed to them - and to what end? has it improved nursing overall? questionable, very questionable.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

NuttyNu — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 16:30:46 GMT

Hi,

greatest pleasures - Achieving your dream in nursing and working within your specialist fields and some amazing animals. And getting the thanks from the clients and actually recognised for your nursing of their patient (And not just the vets). Meaning whilst I love the nursing and everything, it makes it all that little bit more worth it when the client sends in cards / letters addressed Vets and nurses! One previous practice was always at the vets... nurses weren't even really recognised by the clients!

Threats - limit to progression and further training... Meaning there is usually one course to train you on medical nursing, physio nursing etc but once done that one course... there is little other to do that is actually aimed at Nurses and not lay staff!

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Arlo Guthrie — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 12:42:58 GMT

Thanks everyone, your thoughts are all really helpful.

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]Greatest threat - RCVS vision for the future re veterinary nursing[/quote]

Please elaborate!!

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Dreamcatcher — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 22:04:44 GMT

When something you've done has actually made a huge difference to a patient. I.e the other week had a staffie in that was crying and barking constantly, she just wouldn't lay down and settle. I provided a spare orthopaedic mattress and duvet and she fell asleep and slept the whole night. Made me so happy to know I helped relieve her distress. Same when you finally get that anorexic cat to start eating! I also like theatre and find it satisfying when I can get an animal settled under anaesthetic, temp etc maintained and recovered really quickly! I'm at a new practice now and enjoying learning lots of new things (as new place sees a lot of exotics) so come home every day and bore my partner with something new I've learnt about parrots/reptiles/small flurries :-) There's not much I don't enjoy about my job... Practice politics bore me but I don't let it spoil my job, the long hours are hard sometimes especially if I'm late finishing on a night I'm supposed to have plans but I'd rather do long hours in a job I love than normal hours in a job I hate! Would always be nice to earn more money but the wage at my current practice isn't bad and can't think of anything else I'd rather do :-)

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

NIckie — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 22:08:34 GMT

Getting to work with amazing patient's

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Sal the 1st — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 11:55:05 GMT

Greatest pleasure - working alongside others(vets , clients, nursing staff) to return an animal to good health

Greatest threat - RCVS vision for the future re veterinary nursing

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Chippet — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 07:57:37 GMT

Great; Nursing my patients. I love it, slight more than surgical cases I think. Caring for an animal all week, seeing them so ill and then going home, and the happiness and relief on their owners faces. Best feeling. Not so great; Pay and those few clients that do not appreciate the effort and lengths you've gone to and don't even say 'Thankyou'.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Alison Clare Hickman — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 07:27:29 GMT

Happiness: Ward nursing with the opportunity to concentrate on nursing my patients without having the distraction of lack of time (for whatever reasons); Development of my interests in specific nursing skills, eg wound management, for the benefit of my patients; my skills will always complement, enhance, assist and (sometimes) advance those of my vet. Working as a team to create a nursing plan for my patients. Sharing knowledge/discussions with my vet. Threats to profession: nurses reaching qualified status who can't (or won't) stay in their nursing career for long enough to fully develop their nursing potential and, importantly, consolidate and then develop their practical experience both 'on the job' day to day and after academic achievement (for whatever reasons).

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Teri-Ann Baldwin — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 16:46:50 GMT

Greatest pleasure is definitely intensive nursing and rehabilitation of patients, particularly orthopaedic ops! I also think that getting recognition of your work from clients is a great pleasure.

Biggest threat for me is practices employing 'nurses' who are not training, never will train and who have never qualified and getting them to perform the same duties as an RVN would. To me it really devalues our profession and when things go wrong we get lumped in with it!

I also think a massive downside is the lack of coverage for our profession, everyone knows about becoming a vet but there isn't much out there on becoming a veterinary nurse

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

SuzyM — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 13:30:40 GMT

Greatest pleasure at work: Team work: knowing I have helped the vets to achieve a successful outcome, especially after surgery and the patient is up safely (equine surgery!).

Greatest threat to happiness at work: At the moment, probably the numbers of new grad foreign vets being increasingly employed for economical reasons into intern/nursing positions who carry out a lot of the rewarding/skilled tasks nurses used to do. I don't think this even occurs to employers or that we might feel put out.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Charley83 — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 11:02:30 GMT

I love seeing seriously ill animals gradually get better and walk out the door back to their owners.

I love the interaction with the clients and pets - particular when i'm admitting patient - I like to hear about the pet, what it likes etc Love pet stories or maybe i'm just nosy ;)

Dentals so I can scale and polish manky teeth - and send them back with pearly whites or as near as - I,m obsessed with teeth and love dentistry

Having been a clinical teacher - I would love to continue that into the veterinary field and train my own students - had them for 14 years - this is my 1st year without one by my side, feels strange.

Threats - Will probably be crap pay - left a good paying job for this - but not complaining as I knew this anyway - i'd like to eventually lecture in a university. Struggling to survival on the pay only time will tell.

Possible lack of progression, funding CPD courses to get anywhere

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Lesley M — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 18:17:13 GMT

Lots of good ones there. I would also add teaching and training the next generation of nurses. It is a great feeling when one of your students qualifies.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

enigmaticat-uk — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 17:47:20 GMT

Similar to others, my greatest pleasures are when I am actually 'nursing' a patient and feel like I have helped them and made a difference (along with purrs & head boops).

The greates threat to my career happiness really relate to a good work/life balance. I have had to make changes to my working hours as I was so physically & emotionally drained. The reduced pay isn't ideal but my sanity is worth it. The main other thing that has a big impact on happiness is the team you work with. If there are personality clashes or you feel you can't trust your colleagues, it makes for a pretty toxic work environment. It can be the best job in the world but if there's no 'team' then it can be awful.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

vickicannings — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 17:06:41 GMT

Greatest pleasures:

Nursing my patients to the best of my care
Client satisfaction
Bonding with my patients and clients
Having pride in my career

Threats:

Pay, sometimes I wonder how I will manage long term.
Undervalued by other staff
Lack of career progression
The cost of CPD and further education.
Lack of understanding among some clients/public about what our role really entails

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Heather Thorne — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 15:27:18 GMT

I agree, I enjoy all aspects from doing ops and hospital care but also the paperwork, and organising and managing a team.

I do believe that there is always room for career progression as you can always move on from a practice if your not developing, or specialise in a certain area, become a tutor to have more educated nurses as we are lacking.

The bits I don't enjoy are the never finishing on time as there's never enough hours in the day to do everything. Yes, pay isn't the best for what us nurses go through but you knew that when you started. Threats to us nurses are vets: they have authority and knowledge, but sometimes aren't knowledgeable and don't listen.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Feezy — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 10:48:26 GMT

My favourite thing about nursing...is NURSING!!! Theres so many other things to do all the time, cleaning, ordering, filing etc, that when you get the chance to intensively nurse a patient - get a cat eating again, a good dematt, dentals, doing high quality xrays unaided - thats when I get the greatest satisfaction.

Things that frustrate me are the glass ceiling of nursing, the fact that however much experience and knowledge I have, the vets are always above us. So I guess that boils down to career progression as well. Plus I think vets and nurses work ridiculously hard for the measly wage we get! Sob. But we do it for the love don't we!!!

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Arlo Guthrie — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 10:29:45 GMT

OK, updated list taking into account new thoughts:

Greatest pleasure from:

Nursing patients
Nurse consultations (eg behavioural / parasites)
Satisfied clients

Threats to your happiness, or things you see as a threat to the veterinary nursing profession

Being undervalued at work
Profession attracting the wrong 'sort' (ie people who are in it for the money, then disillusioned when they find there is none)
Low pay
Long hours
Lack of staff

I wonder whether it might be interesting to explore which specific nursing tasks you particularly enjoy or dread!

Also, the second question is really looking more for things that you see as a threat to your profession. I wonder whether you see any of the following as a threat:

Increasing numbers of vets coming into the profession
Corporatisation of the profession
Falling nursing salaries (are they? Or is it just that they are and always have been low!)
Falling respect for the profession amongst the public (this is one I'm proposing to ask vets. I wonder whether respect for nurses isn't actually growing as the profession is increasingly recognised, so perhaps this question isn't really relevant).

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Alison Hague — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 00:00:35 GMT

Pleasures - helping clients with behavioural problems - which hopefully improves their relationship with their pet and makes both of them happier, and seeing everything clean and tidy, and patients settled, at the end of the day.

Threats - not having enough time to do things as well as I'd like and the levels of pay.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Ems — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 22:08:45 GMT

Hi Arlo,

It's certainly something I've come across in almost every surgery I have worked/trained in; including students. I've been qualified for about 4 years now and I know from experience that quite a few nurses/vets really dislike doing CPD (which isn't the most exciting thing but I think everyone has their subject they enjoy?!) and sometimes lack compassion for their patients and/or clients (not to the point that it's become a serious issue but it's something that really annoys me). Maybe I'm just a bit passionate but I always treat my patients how I'd expect my own to be treated

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Steph Worsley — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 20:55:31 GMT

greatest pleasures:

getting those seriously ill patients up and going again and seeing their wagging tails/hearing them purr again

getting the inappetant patients eating

talking to clients about how their pets lives can be improved in the face of life limiting conditions and seeing them realise they dont have a death sentence

taming the "wild" beasts we get in...that cats that "cannot be handled" the dogs who would bite as soon as look at you!!

Threats (not particularly mine but ones I know about):

lack of staff

lack of support from vets/senior staff

pay/hours

lack of career progression

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

kerryfeehan — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 19:43:27 GMT

My greatest pleasure is helping with species I have a particular interest in (rabbits!) as it is my time to shine and I feel appreciated. I also feel a great sense of pride and humbleness when clients are really appreciative for the care you have provided for their pet. The biggest threats to my happiness are extreme stress caused by a lack of staff! And the biggest threat to my profession is the lack of a decent salary which leads my mind to wonder what else I could be doing to earn a DECENT living!

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 18:29:24 GMT

Thank you both. Really helpful.

So on my list:

Greatest pleasure from:

Nursing patients
Satisfied clients

Threats to happiness / profession

Being undervalued at work
Profession attracting the wrong 'sort' (ie people who are in it for the money, then disillusioned when they find there is none)

Emma, I've taken that second threat from yours. Do you think this is a widespread problem that is a threat to the profession, or just something which you have come across?

Keep em coming everyone!

Thanks for your help.

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Ems — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 18:01:14 GMT

The greatest pleasure I get from being a vet nurse is nursing those really serious cases that are on the brink and managing to bring them back - it's so rewarding seeing them turn a corner! I love being a hands-on nurse and in an ideal world I'd love to have more time to be with my in-patients.

The greatest threat to my career happiness is is a lack of vets/nurses with enthusiasm for the job. Nothing worse than working with a colleague who is only there for the (not so great) cash at the end of the day!

Re: What makes you happeeee to be a nurse?

Selena Carnell — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 18:00:35 GMT

Client satisfaction and seeing an animal get better after surgery or weight loss. Undervalued by other staff members.