What do other older nurses do when they cannot do the normal nursing role?

RE: What do other older nurses do when they cannot do the normal nursing role?

Charlotte Rydz — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 09:12:53 GMT

Ha ha funny first line!

Though as RVNs we do have many skills, there are limited roles we can apply for that use these skills without retraining or having a degree. Which is a true shame. Maybe one day this will change?

I was thinking just this week how a joiner has so many transferable skills that can all be monetised. What a neat skill to have! Mine are neat too, if any of my friends, family, neighbours, have a veterinary issue my skills come in handy, they just don’t make me money

RE: What do other older nurses do when they cannot do the normal nursing role?

Charlotte Rydz — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 08:54:09 GMT

Wow Clare, what a wonderful practice you are a part of. Though it is sad I’m surprised, this should be the normal. Practices should be doing all they can to keep great staff.

RE: What do other older nurses do when they cannot do the normal nursing role?

Louise Royle RVN CertCFVHNut — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 19:26:16 GMT

Dream of retirement and winning the lottery! I think it depends if you want to stay in practice or move into a more hands off role such as insurance claims assessor, drug rep or similar. RVN's have many many stings to our bows, some that you may not have considered but would require a bit of retraining: Physiotherapy? Councillor? Behaviorist?

RE: What do other older nurses do when they cannot do the normal nursing role?

Clare Espley — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 09:24:39 GMT

For me it was due to health and mobility issues rather than age initially, but now its definitely age related as well :D

I asked to move into a primarily consulting role, although I don't see large dogs for any procedures that would involve me getting down to floor level to deal with (i.e. nail clips and wound checks). I've always loved consulting so it was an easy move for me, and I have furthered my interests in nutrition, feline medicine and behaviour through CPD, so I can run more specialised clinics. I also have taken on a lot more admin, such as insurance claims. My practice have been very supportive of this, especially as some of our nurses do not enjoy consulting!

I had a VN colleague who moved into practice management for the same reasons and thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you want to stay in practice, it is worth sitting down with your manager to discuss what could be done for you in practice that would benefit you both.

Retraining and teaching students could be an option if you wanted to move out of the practice entirely or even being a rep for a vet drug/nutrition company.