I have recently started to Tweet and I have to say that although reluctant at first I have started to rather enjoy it. As a form of communication it can be what you want it to be — a way of getting information from people you respect, a mode of exchanging witty banter with friends, or a way of following stories as they develop. One thing that has particularly struck me is the number of dogs and cats that are lost or stolen — I know, of course, that this is in part a reflection of who I am following, but still every day a handful of lost dogs and cats appear, far more than the numbers of soft toys or wallets.
It has made me wonder what changes the microchip database companies and animal rescue charities have seen since April 6, when microchipping of dogs became a legal requirement. The Blue Cross ran microchipping events at their centres in the run up to the law coming into force, and microchipped a total of 1253 pets from March to May of this year; on average they usually chip between 60 and 70 per month, so clearly the awareness of the change in the law was good. Since April they haven't seen many pets coming into their rescue centres without microchips and have only chipped a handful in the last few months. Hopefully the impact of this is filtering through to the dogs that are lost, and more are being reunited with their owners; and hopefully it makes stealing dogs less appealing. Each year over 3000 dogs are stolen — in the past they have been sold on on the black market for vast amounts of money, held for ransom, or worst of all used as ‘bait dogs’ in illegal dog fighting. The fact that a dog is microchipped must at least have had an impact on the onward sales of stolen dogs?
The ability of the microchip to reunite pets with their owners is, of course, only as good as the information the databases hold. It is essential that owners update their details when they move house. We can all help to remind owners of this via all means of communication: all forms of social media including Twitter, via posters on walls, and in person when they visit the practice.
Two of the articles in this issue of The Veterinary Nurse stress the importance of effective communication in practice. The Education article by Helen Tottey and Libby Sheridan looks at preparing for end-of-life (p372–77); it is the first in a series of article we will be including with the aim of supporting veterinary practice staff during this difficult stage. The article stresses the importance of good communication with pet owners — compassionate, carefully chosen words can help to validate the way the owner is feeling about the loss of their pet, and could lead to a decrease in client attrition following euthanasia of their beloved pet.
The research article by Nicola Smith (p418–25) tackles the important issue of compassion fatigue, with some interesting results. Nicola has shown that, like human nurses, veterinary nurses are at risk of compassion fatigue, and that the risk of secondary traumatic stress is exacerbated by dealing with clients. Learning effective communication techniques and enhancing grief counselling skills may be of benefit in dealing with stressful situation, but it is also important that veterinary nurses are made to feel worthwhile and empowered in their role.
Humans are able to effectively communicate when they are in pain, but in animals (especially prey species) it is important to be able to recognise the signs as well as aniticipate when pain is likely to be present. Deborah Richardson (p400–5) looks at pain in rabbits and explains how very subtle changes in behaviour can indicate pain — in order to provide gold standard care it is important to be aware of these signs. In her article on dental pain Claire Bloor (p408–13) explains how through using pre-emptive, multimodal analgesia our silent patients can stay pain free.
Today's methods of communication where we make contact in person, via print and via social media are all important and work well together to ensure that the message, whatever it may be, gets across to the right person. Please follow me on Twitter @TheVetNurseJnl and if you're at the BVNA Congres come to stand D7 for a good old fashioned chat!