Welcome everybody to the September issue of The Veterinary Nurse—it gives me great pleasure to write this piece as I return to the editorial board as Consultant Editor. This month also sees me embark on another major change as I make a return to studying, starting a MSc in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia. For me continued learning is vitally important. The more I learn, the better I become as a nurse, and this reflects on my ability to care for my patients. Nurses are vital in the outcome of the cases that we see, and anaesthesia is one of the areas that I focus on within my clinic. As we improve our skills set through education and experience, our knowledge base and close attention to detail allows us as veterinary professionals to become increasingly respected and trusted members of the clinical team. Within my hospital our nurses' views on patients' treatment plans are acknowledged as being vitally important, as they are the ones who spend the majority of the time with the patients and notice the subtle changes in their clinical signs, in their behaviour and in their response to treatment.
Lifelong leaning is important as it allows us to expand our skills. The veterinary profession is ever changing and advancing, and remaining up to date is essential; continued learning allows me to follow my passions and gain further satisfaction in my role as a veterinary nurse. From a career perspective it could potentially improve my employability, particularly as we are beginning to focus more on specialisms, giving us far more defined roles. The more I continue to learn, the more I realise how little I really do know, and this makes me want to continue to do better. This learning doesn't have to be a major undertaking, or be massively expensive. If you enjoy reading The Veterinary Nurse, for example, why not subscribe with the CPD and answer the online questions each month to achieve documented CPD? In addition, there are a wealth of free webinars now available, making education and access to CPD easier than ever. As the world is rapidly changing, and veterinary medicine continues to advance, we need to remain up to date in order to be able to work with these changes, or have an impact on them. Although we aren't able to diagnose or prescribe, we can make changes in our own way. We are an essential component of the clinical team, and our feedback in terms of patients' clinical signs, their response to treatment, their improvement or deterioration, makes a massive difference to patient outcome. The vets I work with would all agree that the best nurses are those who continually give them feedback about their concern regarding their patients. We spend far more time with those animals compared with our veterinary colleagues, so they value our opinions and welcome our input when putting together patient care and treatment plans. Advancing our knowledge and understanding allows us to be this essential component of the patient care team.
This month's issue includes a particularly relevant article by Samantha Fontaine on the role of reflective practice in professional development (pp340–7)—reflection helps encourage deeper learning, and can facilitate learning from experiences, and development of self-awareness and examination.
Happy reading and learning!