Pregnant veterinary nurse

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Vicky RVN — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:55:10 GMT

Ah that's good, they are very helpful! Zookeeper, you must go to college with our 1st year

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

xXx Cat xXx — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:26:11 GMT

[quote user="Vicky SVN"]

[quote user="zookeeper"]

Hi Guys

Can someone help?

My head nurse/assessor is pregnant, I started my NVQ 2 in Jan, and we have a 2nd yr student who started in January.

What happends if my practice is unable to get another assessor?

Does this mean Training aborted......

Thanks

[/quote]

Hey. Firstly, don't panic! My accessor is leaving, so myself and other (first year) trainee will have no assessor until we find a new one. I have chatted to college about what happens if you loose your assessor, and they said they'd be able to help out, so have a word with your college. What college do you go to?

[/quote]

Hey Vicky

zookeeper goes to MYF like us I would have thought she will speak with them today while at college.

xXx

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Nick Shackleton — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:27:43 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]

[quote user="Emma Forde"] i choose to x-ray[/quote]

Don't!! You can position the animal etc BUT you CANNOT be in the room when the power is running to the machine (ie the red light is lit). It really is against all H+S rules - a little bit of radiation can be harmful to an early stage foetus. And if the machine goes bang and releases a lot of unexpected radiation (nothing is infallible) it may cause severe harm. As a VN you are going to have to expose youself to minor risks - but that is one you really should steer clear of.

[/quote]

too right radiation is a scary thing you can't see it so you don't know what's in the air!!!

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Gillian Mostyn — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:17:56 GMT

[quote user="Emma Forde"] i choose to x-ray[/quote]

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Kim Buckley — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:25:42 GMT

Yeah we've got a first year degree student who is doing the same course as me and she doesn't have to do the porfolio but just needs to get everything signed off by her mentor or any qualified member of staff. She also needs to write case studies and reflective pieces. Not fair if you ask me!

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Vicky RVN — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:06:17 GMT

It's all a bit of a pain with the change of training atm!

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Kim Buckley — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:03:19 GMT

Hmm true! Tricky one! Hopefully it will sort itself out for you!

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Vicky RVN — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:00:46 GMT

That's what college said they'd do for us if we needed it. The difference now is that no more people will be training as assessors.

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Kim Buckley — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:59:19 GMT

I'm sure that my when my practice lost it's assessor, college sent out an assessor to help out until one of the vets trained to take over.

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Vicky RVN — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:54:40 GMT

[quote user="zookeeper"]

Hi Guys

Can someone help?

My head nurse/assessor is pregnant, I started my NVQ 2 in Jan, and we have a 2nd yr student who started in January.

What happends if my practice is unable to get another assessor?

Does this mean Training aborted......

Thanks

[/quote]

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:14:15 GMT

I think it depends on the practice TBH. My old practice had 3 pregnant nurses. They did no lifting, anaesthesia, surgical assistance, they did position for radiography (althou didn't take exposures). Stayed well away from CT and MR (althou no evidence has been shown to affect baby with MR). Althou peeps in the NHS are not scanned for 1st trimester. the main concern is for patients being scanned due to the high audio frequency delivered during scanning process.

Also none of our nurses did recovery either

Althou, each pregnant nurse did an individual risk assessment depending on her needs.

I personally think you'll find it hard getting locum work during pregnancy.

Do you have assessor qualifications??? Could you do that maybe??

Sorry if it's not the answer you wanna here

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

zookeeper — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:05:00 GMT

Hi Guys

Can someone help?

My head nurse/assessor is pregnant, I started my NVQ 2 in Jan, and we have a 2nd yr student who started in January.

What happends if my practice is unable to get another assessor?

Does this mean Training aborted......

Thanks

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Emma Forde RVN — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:34:27 GMT

Thanks for the input Ladies. The practice I work in at the moment is really great, i choose to x-ray and do anaesthesia etc. I know that it wont do any harm if the proper day to day health and safety is in place anyway. The lifting is a good point and certainly something to ponder when thinking about applying for certain jobs.

All I can do is apply and see what they say. Fingers crossed!

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Mac Feather — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:41:16 GMT

I suppose it all comes down to comunication and honesty on both sides.

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Sal the 1st — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:43:18 GMT

as long as employers know you are pregnant before you start the locum and are happy with it shouldnt be a problem .I remember working one place where we took a locum for a months cover - didnt say anything the first day but 2nd day she produced a lot of H+S documentation and a declaration for us to sign as she was pregnant

basically she wasnt doing anaesthetics - but was happy to do sutures etc? wasnt cleaning,wasnt doing xrays, wasnt handling drugs, wasnt doing nurse clinics, wasnt unpacking order because of bending up and down, and wasnt handling/carrying animals. She said she was happy to cover reception but not to clean reception area or clean up any mishaps and would also be happy to do insurance forms. I know she had to ensure herself and her babies safety but I had to keep the practice running. Boss asked her not to come back after the third day - and she then said he was in breach of her 'temporary contract' and threatened to sue for loss of earnings!

I am not suggesting for one minute you are anything like this! - but people like this make it so much harder for anybody in a similar situation coming behind them

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Louise B — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:33:36 GMT

I cannot say I'd be keen to employ a pregnant locum nurse TBH. Locums are there to make the rest of the team's life easier - why employ a locum that is not going to be so versatile. I am sorry as I am sure that's not what you want to hear

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Honeybadger — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:29:11 GMT

We recently had a 6 months pregnant vet locum at our practice. I guess a nurses job is a bit more physical though.

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Dawn Seabrook — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:23:51 GMT

From an employer point of view I have employed a pegnant locum as she was some one who had locumed for us before, we had to make some adjustments I mainly put her on inpatients with vet care assistant support for lifting etc, dispensary and consults again with Vet care assistant support.

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:15:53 GMT

Speaking from the perspective of an employer, you must ensure you make it clear on application. Although in our bigger practice I wouldn't have a problem employing a pregnant locum, in one of my practices where the nurse is often on her own with the vet + receptionist, it would cause severe problems. We need the nurse there to be able to xray, lift etc etc. The rules about not being able to discriminate against someone who is pregnant don't apply where the locum is unable to do the job, and it would cause a H+S infringement for them to do so.

Re: Pregnant veterinary nurse

emmRAR — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:05:24 GMT

I have no useful advice, but congratulations :)