Educating veterinary nurses for professional competence
Abstract
Professional competence for veterinary nurses today is not just a matter of being skilled in technical tasks such as processing a blood sample or placing an intravenous catheter. As members of a profession which is evolving rapidly in a changing world, it is vital that veterinary nurses also possess the personal attributes necessary for developing effective professional relationships. With the advances in veterinary medicine and its accompanying technology, educators too must not lose sight of the ‘human side’ of veterinary nursing; educating caring professionals as opposed to trained technicians. Therefore, it is important that a veterinary nurse model of professional competence emphasizes the emotional aspects of their practice as well as the technical skills and an ability to problem-solve. Veterinary nursing/veterinary technology curricula internationally have embraced this ethos. Hence the development of personal attributes such as empathy is regarded as pivotal in producing veterinary nurses who are able to meet the expectations of employers, clients and society today. This paper will explore some of the personal attributes that are integral to the veterinary nurses' professional competence and the implications this has for veterinary nursing curricula.
As so aptly described by Novack et al (1997) in the medical education literature, and Benner (2000) in human nursing, practitioners learn the science of their discipline, but ‘use themselves to practice its art’. This description also very accurately encapsulates the concept of professional competence for the veterinary nurse. Professional competence involves engaging the three domains of learning, i.e. the cognitive (acquiring knowledge and problem solving), the affective (concerned with emotions) and the technical (being able to perform technical procedures) domains (as in Bloom's taxonomy). The affective domain involves attributes relating to emotional intelligence or what can also be referred to as personal attributes. There has been limited research in the veterinary nursing field to date regarding personal attributes or emotional intelligence and professional competence. Therefore, at this point we must rely on research that has been undertaken in other practicebased professions such as the veterinary, health and medical sciences (Radford, 2003; Burns et al, 2006; Lloyd, 2007; Turnwald et al, 2008).
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