Becoming bored & disillusioned in current practice - Help!

RE: Becoming bored & disillusioned in current practice - Help!

Ian M — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 15:37:03 GMT

Sure...

yep the dusty list of options,.,.,

Both the Dogs Trust and Cats Protection have a variety of roles which either specify VN qualification or it is a distinct advantage - be that nursing in shelters, regional trainer, regional welfare managers, Deputy Managers and sometimes Centre Manager (Lisa Cooper of this forum manages one of their centres). Another RVN currently works at Dogs Trust on the international team, and there are also behaviourists at DT and CP (with extra behavioural qualifications) who are nurses as well - Nicky at CP and Tamsin at DT. There are also a lot of roles in the RSPCA - not just within the Inspectorate, but within local branches. This might be doing something which is not conventional nursing (such as AWO or community engagement) which might mean that you'd have to be doing some TNR, or working with hoarders. A few nurses in there as well. I know there are one or two VNs within the RSPCA Inspectorate - people and confrontational experience are more useful than animal experience for that sort of work though. Again -Blue Cross has a few nurses in senior roles and one or two managing centres.

Nurses may need to be prepared to come in at a different level in some of these charities - and then take the chance to develop their local or remote management skills or their out-and-about skills. There's also a bit of snobbery based in some corners of the profession about recognising and understanding what others in allied professions / sectors actually do and writing it off because it's "not nursing". I've seen that a lot as well. Sometimes those with that attitude are missing out on something that is more diverse, more rewarding, more interesting, with better salaries and conditions, and more prospects too.

The main thing is to look outside the box for recruitment - not just VetNurse (sorry Big A) but sites like Animal Jobs Direct, The Guardian, Charity Job, Kookaburra and similar and also the charities' own websites. In my own case - of the last 5 jobs I have done, only two of them were in response to adverts, one of them was through me approaching a connection I had met years ago while volunteering, one of them was through a headhunt and one came from googling and noticing that the organisation was on the lookout for xxxx and that happened to match my skillset.

The other thing is - maybe a change to a new location might appeal - the Caymans have 2 jobs in practice advertised recently, Bermuda is often recruiting, as are a few other locations.

RE: Becoming bored & disillusioned in current practice - Help!

Alison Clare Hickman — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 11:57:57 GMT

Ian M

Good ideas for outside the box career suggestions. Your input much needed as, yes, the same 'mentioned before' suggestions do get the dust blown off 'em when the question is asked "what else can I do?"

Can you give us some links to jobs in your chosen role? Further info is greatly appreciated! Same applies to anyone else in a role that those of us who've ran out of fresh ideas could learn from!!!

Cheers ears!!!

RE: Becoming bored & disillusioned in current practice - Help!

Ian M — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 02:03:05 GMT

I moved away from nursing in 1998 although still dip my hand in as a volunteer. My professional roles have either been in charity or local government settings as a rehoming centre manager, senior manager in a national and international charity, and animal welfare inspector over the years. After 10 years away from "inspectoring" I returned to this area last year outside the UK. In a typical week I can be doing anything from trying to pin a magistrate down to sign a warrant, through to advising an owner how to improve the welfare of an outside dog, scooping up an injured cat, through to training animal care staff or socialising feral kittens. It's a big bugbear of mine that nurses don't look outside the stereotype routes (academia, locum abroad, insurance, rep/tech or teaching) and these staples still get wheeled out every now and again on this forum.

RE: Becoming bored & disillusioned in current practice - Help!

Sal the 1st — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 20:00:57 GMT

I went to a quieter practice about 10yrs ago - I found it hard , still do sometimes but not so bad now. My solution was to divert my brain in another direction so that out of work I am actually busier than I am at work some days. If you want a wedding reception package for up to 250 people with a 40's theme or hard to find De Havilland bits I'm your bod. If nursing can't occupy your brain diversify

RE: Becoming bored & disillusioned in current practice - Help!

Raffles — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:21:44 GMT

I think that when you move from a busy, fast paced practice it takes a little while to settle into 'quietness'. I think bear with. If you have full support from HN and partners for clinics then why not set them up your self? I find that management always welcome someone who is wiling to take control of one area. I have shifted between busy hospitals to small practices doing admin and such and it does take some adjusting. I've also done a stint out of practice and worked in pet insurance, wouldn't advise it at all, its pretty cut throat I think what I'm trying to say is, if you enjoy nursing don't come out of practice. If you like where you are, mould the work to suit, sounds like they would embrace it.

RE: Becoming bored & disillusioned in current practice - Help!

BexJ30 — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 11:31:09 GMT

I've gone back and forth from nursing for the past 25 years, I went to pet insurance after 6 years of nursing, then went back to nursing, and left after having second child. Oh did my advanced feline nursing diploma in there somewhere too. Went to uni, did an English degree, now working in a completely unrelated profession and thinking of going back to nursing... If my back will allow!

However, I am no longer an RVN as my registration has lapsed and would need to do refresher training to go back on the register, so my advice would be to keep your registration up to date if you do leave the profession. I am also looking for something related that isn't nursing or repping... Good Luck!