In 1984 the title ‘veterinary nurse’ was first used and since then the role of the veterinary nurse has been constantly changing. This essay will analyse the role of the veterinary nurse and how it has changed over time due to new laws and new legislations coming into place. The essay will also analyse how veterinary nurses use nursing care plans in their day to day work.
The veterinary surgeons act came into place in 1966 and was amended with schedule 3 in 2002, schedule 3 effected the role of the veterinary nurse (Cooper, Turner and Mullineaux, 2011). The veterinary surgeons act schedule 3 is only suitable for registered veterinary nurses or registered student veterinary nurses. Under schedule 3 the veterinary surgeon can direct any registered veterinary nurse or any registered student veterinary nurse to carry out minor surgery that does not enter a body cavity. Although schedule 3 states that the veterinary nurses or student veterinary nurses may perform minor surgery, they have to feel competent in what they are asked to do (Rcvs.org.uk, 2018).
In 2006 the animal welfare act came into place this meant that veterinary nurses had to then make sure that the animal was kept in conditions that met the correct standards and had access to the correct necessities during their stay at the veterinary practise (Mullan and Fawcett, 2017). If the practise is based in the UK there is two welfare acts that could affect the practise these are; the Animal health and welfare act (Scotland) 2006a or the animal welfare act 2006b (Mullan and Fawcett, 2017). The animal welfare acts states five needs that need to be met for all animals, these five needs state that an animal has a need for suitable environment, for a suitable diet, to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns, the need to be housed with or apart from other animals and the need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease. In a veterinary practise veterinary nurses need to be able to try and meet all these needs for the animal (Rspca.org.uk, 2018). Although the animal welfare act 2006 states the 5 needs which should be met at all time sometimes it is hard for veterinary practises and veterinary nurses to meet them.
When animals are brought into a veterinary practise they tend to be in pain and cannot exhibit normal behaviour due to the environment, this means that already two of the five needs are not being met. Also, when an animal is due for an operation which they will need to be put under anaesthetic the animal is not aloud food or water therefore a suitable diet is not being met. These five needs not being met counter act one part of the animal welfare act but there is also another section called the Quality of life. The Quality of life states that the animal should have the opportunity of living a natural life and sometimes if this means operations which can cause stress and pain the five needs will be skipped in order to help the animal get the opportunity the live a normal life (Cooper, Turner and Mullineaux, 2011). The quality of life can also be linked to euthanasia, when a veterinary nurse must talk to a patient’s owner over if the animal is well enough or if it would be suitable to euthanize the patient the quality of life aspect has to be taken into consideration (Webster, 2016).
A role of veterinary nurses is to do holistic care. Holistic care is defined by Mosby (2012) as ‘A system of comprehensive or total patient care that considers the physical, social, economic, spiritual, and emotional needs of the patient, his or her response to illness, and the effect of the illness on the ability to meet self-care needs.’ (Evans, 2013). As stated by Mosby (2012) holistic care covers the physical, emotional, social and economical needs of a patient. For veterinary nurses to do holistic care, care assessments need to be carried out such as nursing care plans. Care plans are strongly needed when trying to improve an animal’s health and welfare. Care plans can also be referred to as nursing models. There are 3 main types of nursing models that could be used by a veterinary nurse in a veterinary practise. There is the ability model which was created by Orpet and Jeffery in 2007. This model has 10 abilities that a healthy animal should be able to achieve, the model also has a lifespan section as it is an influencing factor on how the abilities are carried out. This model can be carried out as a questionnaire which the veterinary nurse asks to the patient’s owner. The information acquired from the questionnaire can be used to identify actual problems and identify potential problems that might occur in the animal (Orpet and Welsh, 2011). Another nursing care plan model is the Roper, Logan and Tierney model. This model consists of five parts; the activities of living, the patient’s lifespan, how dependent the animal is, the factors affecting the activities of living and the individuality in living. In the activities of living there are twelve activities of living starting at breathing, eating and drinking and ending with expressing sexuality, sleeping and dying. When questioning a client’s owner in what the client does in a day to day most owners would list of some of these activities. The lifespan section runs from neonate to geriatric. When a veterinary nurse uses this model, they will be able to work out the animal’s usual routine, the animal’s actual problems and what potential problems could lead on from the actual problems. (Roper, Logan, Tierney, 1996). The final nursing care plan is Orem’s model, Orem’s model focuses on the idea that an individual patient is healthy and self-caring if they can manage certain steps effectively. These steps are; the maintenance of normal growth and development, the control of diseases, the promotion of wellbeing, the support of normal functions and the prevention of disability. When a veterinary nurse is using the Orem’s model they can see where nursing action will need to be put into place to help the animal be able to care for themselves again. (Mullineaux, Jones and Pearson, 2007). Care plans are written so that anyone in the veterinary practise such as other veterinary nurses or veterinary surgeons can see what is going on with a patient and what the actual problems are and what potential problems the actual problems could lead to.
In 1991 the RCVS veterinary nursing syllabus stated that student veterinary nurses should be able to recognise and be familiar with the ethics behind the veterinary nurse practise. The ethics behind the veterinary nurse profession are classed as non-statuary regulations. (Mullan and Fawcett, 2017). These ethics can come into place in different situations. One of the major ethical decisions a veterinary nurse may have to make is if an owner brings in a healthy animal that they want to be euthanised. Ethically the veterinary nurse may not want to be involved in this procedure however due to the laws that veterinary nurse must work by they are not aloud to do anything without consent of the owner otherwise this could mean them being taken off the veterinary nurse register. (Cooper, Turner and Mullineaux, 2011). In cases like this the veterinary nurse would have to discuss with the patient’s owner if they would go down other paths instead of euthanasia such as putting the animal up for adoption or perhaps any other method. If the patient’s owner is still wanting to go forward with euthanasia, then the veterinary nurse can ask to not be apart of the procedure.
In the veterinary profession all animals and pets are classed as property therefore this means that veterinary nurses must not harm any animals. (RCVS, 2014) Anyone working in a veterinary practise which includes veterinary nurses and student veterinary nurses have a duty of care. This duty of care is to clients and colleagues, veterinary nurses must remember that although they have a moral obligation there is no legal obligation which they hold towards an animal, the legal obligation for the animal is held by the owner. (Pullen and Gray, 2006).
Negligence takes place when the animal has not been provided with the correct standards of what someone would expect. A veterinary nurse is expected to hold up the correct standards and when this is not done a procedure called whistle blowing can be taken into action. Whistle blowing is the term used for reporting malpractice (Bva.co.uk, 2018). Whistle blowing takes place when an individual such as a veterinary nurse raises a concern about someone else usually one of their colleagues, since whistle blowing takes place in 1998 the public interest disclosure act came into force. This act is a piece of UK legislation that protects the individual in this case the veterinary nurse. In a veterinary practise if a veterinary nurse is concerned about another employee or someone that they believe to be doing malpractice then there are steps that they should follow in the whistle blowing procedure; first, the veterinary nurse should try to reach an internal solution – this can be done by talking the head veterinary nurse or the owner of the veterinary practise. The step after this if it carries on or has been deemed serious is to contact the professional association which in this case would be the RCVS. Once this is done the RCVS will then investigate the case and if the case is found out to be true the case will go public and the individual who was in the wrong will be taken off the register. (suff, 2017). Depending on what the individual did will depend on how long they are taken off the register for, sometimes it can just be a couple of months however due to the case going public the individuals name will be published and available for anyone on the RCVS register to see. As a veterinary nurse if anything is seen that could be misconduct or malpractice it is there responsibility to let the correct people know for the safety of themselves, their colleagues, the patients and the owners.
To conclude the veterinary nurse has many vital roles in a veterinary practise from legal roles to non-statuary roles and roles that allow other colleagues to help care for the animals. Veterinary nurse play a major role in the care and wellbeing of animals and have to discuss a lot of different things with the patient’s owner. For a veterinary practise to run smoothly the veterinary nurse needs to be able to maintain all their roles and responsibilities. Veterinary nursing is all about caring and trying to maintain the patient’s quality of life. For a veterinary nurse to be able to perform any treatment they need to be on the register. Once the veterinary nurse or student veterinary nurses are on the register, they can then do certain things such as minor operations that don’t enter a body cavity, as stated earlier on in the essay, as long as they have been directed to do this by a veterinary surgeon. The role of the veterinary nurse means that veterinary nurses must do care plans that could mean that not all the five needs are met. In the long run veterinary nurses’ role is to help an animal get better and to keep a good quality of life, sometimes to maintain or get the animal back to being healthy steps must be taken that compromise the needs of an animal this is stated earlier in the essay when talking about the 5 needs and the quality of life. Holistic care is also a major point for a veterinary nurse to do as this will be something they do daily in their job. The RCVS also expects veterinary nurses to be aware of what they should be doing and to be willing to report anyone who they believe is not doing their job properly so that any misconduct does not take place. Overall due to all the changes in the veterinary nurse role since 1984 when the title was first used the role could keep changing allowing registered veterinary nurse and registered student veterinary nurses to do more and more roles under a direct order from the veterinary surgeon.
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