References
Is veterinary nursing a visible profession? Part one
Abstract
With recruitment, returning to work and retention being key to the future of veterinary nursing what are the issues that are common across all these areas? What they wear gives veterinary nurses limited visibility in their role. There is also the lack of a media image that reinforces the veterinary nurse skills base and a lack of veterinary nursing presence in the financial aspect of both business and client relations. These factors all contribute to a role that is hard for people to visualise and define. In part one of this two part series the uniform and presentation of a veterinary nurse is examined including looking at all the aspects that present a professional image. The impact of the television image on veterinary nursing visibility is reviewed and set in the context with the history of the nursing image.
The VN Futures scheme set up by the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has identified several issues in veterinary nursing today. These are organised into themes affecting the profession, which have produced a number of ambitions for the future (VN Futures Action Group 2016):
The VN Futures working groups are aiming to address these. You may have seen the issue being referred to as the three ‘Rs’, as the below are the initial factors that were raised as issues in veterinary nursing:
However, the ambitions appear to show a hidden theme relating to the identified issues. In many senses, veterinary nurses are not a visible profession to clients, to veterinary colleagues and, sometimes, even to each other in the veterinary nursing community. The areas in which veterinary nurses lack an identity are apparent in terms of choice of uniforms, the lack of representation in financial aspects of the veterinary practice, and in their visibility, or lack thereof, in the media.
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