The end of the year is always viewed as one of reflection and a stepping stone to a new year. Change is not always a negative, but even as a positive, change can be difficult. As a profession, no matter which country you are in, we have developed as a whole in the last year. A change in one country acts as a catalyst for others to follow the lead. In the United Kingdom momentum is building towards updating the Veterinary Surgeon's Act to recognise the title of Veterinary Nurse. In Australia the Veterinary Nurses Council of Australia (VNCA) launched the Australian Veterinary Nurse and Technician (AVNAT) Registration Scheme on 1 April 2019. AVNAT is the national registration scheme for veterinary nurses and veterinary technicians involved in clinical, management or academic areas. Through the creation of the AVNAT Registration Scheme, the VNCA has established a thorough and transparent self-regulation programme that has set standards of professional practice across the veterinary nursing industry nationwide, really pushing the standard of veterinary nursing forward. In many European countries the development of the more formalised role of veterinary nurses is making huge leaps forward.
There are many examples of the promotion of the veterinary nursing industry that acts as a benefit to us all. We all learn and benefit from each other. This journal is an active example of that, it is a publication that enables us to learn from each other. The Veterinary Nurse supports the publishing of research conducted by veterinary nurses, practical case studies and literature reviews. One of the roles of the editorial board is to help review submitted articles, this includes giving the authors feedback and helping the authors to develop their piece through to publication. The diversity of the editorial board enables experts from all fields to help cultivate authors of the future. It is so important that we have a wide range of authors, we need a varying range of views and opinions to create a better profession. Remember how difficult it was to find papers on the subject that you were researching, why not then take the paper you've just written for your course and submit it for review? Your paper might just help the next person looking for veterinary nurse research papers. It makes a huge difference to our profession as a whole.
The journal has become a leading international scientific journal for the profession. This has only been possible with the phenomenal leadership of our Editor Georgina Grell, who as of the new year will be stepping down from this position. Georgina has been with the journal from the start and has helped develop it into the market leader that it is. Any change in leadership will create some change, but the journal will continue in its main goals to promote and support veterinary nursing. We wish Georgina the very best for all the new ventures that she will encounter in her next step and thank her for all that she has done for the veterinary nursing profession as a whole, which has been monumental and shouldn't be underestimated.
So what will 2023 bring? There are things (opportunities) on the horizon for the many of us in different ways. We are instrumental in creating these opportunities and the change that these opportunities brings might seem daunting at the time but can have a lasting positive effect on us and the profession as a whole.