I am writing this editorial sitting at home in my office surrounded by things that remind me of the BSAVA Congress. There's the red rucksack, still full of goodies, sitting forlornly on the floor, the Twix on my desk from Sunday's lunch bag (how long will it stay there!), numerous business cards from people I met and exchanged ideas with, and the essential Congress proceedings which will be my constant source of inspiration until Congress next year.
What I love most about Congress is the chance to meet my readers — it was so nice of you to come to the stand to share your positive feedback. We're now on volume 7, and over the years I've had the pleasure of meeting some of you regularly at Congress so that I now know many of you by sight, if not by name! It's great to hear your thoughts and what you particularly enjoy about the journal. It seems that the Patient Care Reports are going down well, and that you're finding the Nursing Care Plans useful — this kind of feedback is valuable, it means I can ensure you are getting what you want and need.
I love meeting my authors — during the process from submission to publication I often work quite intensly with you, and feel like I've got to know you just a little. Then the article is published and the relationship ends. Meeting you gives me the chance to express my thanks and talk about future articles… and it's great to talk to people who would like to write for the first time — it can seen daunting, but I am there to help and to encourage.
But Congress would not be Congress without the talks. It was interesting to see this year how the nursing stream has evolved and how the areas deemed appropriate for nurses have progressed. For example, there was a whole stream on Thursday devoted to haematology and transfusion medicine. It had never occurred to me that blood could be transfused from dogs to cats, but it seems that a positive, if relatively short-lived effect is seen (the transfused RBCs have an average lifespan of 4 days). Subsequent transfusions performed more than 4–6 days after initial exposure, as might be expected, caused anaphylaxis and were often fatal.
On Sunday one nursing stream was devoted to exotics, and it seems that this area of veterinary medicine is rapidly expanding in both interest and knowledge. Not so long ago people didn't think twice about leaving rabbits alone in undersized hutches in the back garden, but now nurses are being taught not only about recognising the effects of poor housing in rabbits, but about how to recognise pain and stress in exotics. It is important for veterinary nurses to be able to recognise both pain and stress in their patients so that they do not compromise patient welfare. In order to do this an understanding of the habits of the species, including whether they are prey or predator species, is essential.
We are now familiar with the idea that rabbits need space in which to run around, and that they like to be able to stand upright to look around, that they require appropriate food with hay making up the largest proportion of the diet, and we know that they are social animals and like to be with at least one companion (we have an article on rabbit bonding planned for inclusion in the May issue). Rabbit Awareness Week this year is 18th to 26 June — it would be great if every practice made an extra effort to extend this knowledge to their clients with in-practice displays, information on their Facebook pages and in newsletters.
Thank you once again for taking the time to come and say hello. If you didn't find time you can always email me and tell me your thoughts. I think I'll have a coffee and a chocolate bar now! We hope you enjoy this issue.