It is with great pleasure that I, along with my fellow editorial board members, introduce the first issue of The Veterinary Nurse, an exciting new journal for veterinary nurses and technicians worldwide. We aim to bring you informative evidence-based clinical articles, while a series of ‘How to’ articles will provide advice on improving your practical skills. Professional and ethical issues will be discussed and most importantly the journal will include articles that document the results of research specific to our profession, further enhancing the recognition our profession is developing and certainly deserves.
The editorial board comprises members from both the UK and overseas bringing to the journal a good range of specialist knowledge in all areas of practise; we can learn much by sharing experiences and practises with veterinary nurses and technicians in other countries.
Although the veterinary nursing qualification in the UK celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2011 the profession is still relatively young when compared with others. In recent years, however, veterinary nursing has undergone many positive developments, with veterinary nurses themselves contributing towards shaping their own profession, statutory regulation being the ultimate goal (see p65–68).
Veterinary nurses draw on their past experiences and knowledge to identify the nursing interventions their patients require, but they do not currently have a specific veterinary nursing research base to support the nursing decisions they make. It is for this reason that the profession needs to develop its own research and a specific body of knowledge; The Veterinary Nurse will provide nurses with an opportunity to document and publish their research. I would hope that in the future, with support and encouragement, more veterinary nurses will feel able to take on the challenge of writing an academic paper for publication; we would welcome your contributions and ideas for future articles. Guidelines for authors are available on the website and an online site is available to make the submission of articles an easy process to complete.
As well as developing research in veterinary nursing, it is also important that nurses consider the value of reflective practice. Reflection not only helps us to evaluate the effectiveness of our clinical nursing but informs our future practice and that of our colleagues. Professional development is vital for members of any profession and should be an ongoing process — we are never too old to learn! This issue includes an article evaluating the need for continued professional development (CPD) and discusses some of the methods by which CPD can be obtained. We understand that there is a need for registered veterinary nurses to complete verifiable CPD and for this reason each issue of The Veterinary Nurse will publish an article accompanied online by a series of questions that can be answered and submitted, providing the reader with access to verifiable CPD.
So, do we need a new peer-reviewed veterinary nursing journal? In my opinion the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ as I am sure you will agree.
The journal sets out clear aims in its mission statement:
‘The Veterinary Nurse is a new clinical, professional and educational journal for veterinary nurses in the UK, as well as overseas, who wish to enhance their practice and understanding of veterinary nursing. The Veterinary Nurse will provide high quality peer-reviewed articles on a full range of therapeutic areas of interest and relevance to veterinary nurses. The journal will promote research into veterinary nursing and encourage veterinary nurses to comply with their CPD requirements’.
I hope the journal is successful in fulfilling these aims and I would be very interested to hear your thoughts and comments on this first issue. I hope you enjoy reading The Veterinary Nurse.